Body searches and Europe’s struggle with degradation

Speaker: Professor Tom Daems, KU Leuven

Searching the human body is a widely used control measure adopted by police and prison systems across the globe. Body searches are perceived as indispensable to increase security and are applied in a wide range of settings, eg on the street, at dance-festivals or inside the prison.

However, these are also invasive and potentially degrading control techniques. It should not come as a surprise, then, that body searches have been widely debated and regulated, including in Europe, e.g. in rulings of the European Court of Human Rights and the monitoring work of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). However, notwithstanding such regulatory activity it seems difficult to civilize body search practices: why is this so?

In this presentation we aim to shed some light on the paradoxical observation that body searches are both deeply contested and yet also a normal routine part of everyday life.