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39 Crime L. & Soc. Change 1 (2003)

handle is hein.journals/crmlsc39 and id is 1 raw text is: # Crime, Law & Social Change 39: 1-22, 2003. © 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. The engineer's dilemma: A sociological perspective on juridificaton and regulation FIONA HAINES & ADAM SUTTON University of Melbourne, Dept. of Criminology, 234 Queensberry Street, 4th Floor 3053 Carlton, Australia (e-mail: fsh@ unimelb.edu.au) Abstract. Juridification refers to the tendency for organisations and individuals subject to regulation to be overwhelmed by detailed rules, standards and instructions. Many research- ers have argued that such over-prescriptiveness can in fact undermine the likelihood that a business or individual will comply. Though proceeding from different theoretical perspect- ives, writers such as Braithwaite, Teubner and Patterson all argue that juridification can be minimised by improving regulatory strategies and techniques. Instead of being rule bound and relying on detailed prescriptions, authorities should become more flexible and outcome- oriented. This paper uses the case-study of a Chief Engineer in an Australian public hospital to contest the view that juridification can be reduced simply by improving regulatory tech- niques. Drawing on Habermas, it argues that juridification is the product of deep-seated crisis tendencies in late modern capitalist democracies. Fiscal and legitimacy problems are causing governments and regulatory authorities to pressure the engineer to try to satisfy contradictory demands. Simultaneously he must be a cost-conscious entrepreneurial risk-manager while not losing sight of his role as a risk-averse maintainer of professional standards. The plethora of rules and regulatory standards which surround the engineer reflect government desire to distance itself in the event that economic pressures cause him to incur risks that the public and media deem unacceptable. Ultimately, therefore, the engineer's juridification problems have a political dimension. To the extent that they help obscure this, theories that suggest juridification can be solved by improving regulatory techniques have an ideological function. Introduction Peter Schmidt1 is a Chief Engineer in a major (six hundred bed) Australian hospital. A middle manager whose field of supervision includes both emer- gency services and general maintenance, Peter has ultimate responsibility for the commissioning and support of a wide range of hospital plant and ma- chinery including air conditioning, heating, and equipment used in hospital wards and operating theatres. These functions are supported by a series of trade workshops - electrical, plumbing, fitters and carpenters - for which, again, Schmidt is accountable. Since the mid-1980s Peter also has had to negotiate and manage several large maintenance contracts. By its very nature the work of a hospital engineer is complex and poten- tially stressful. Equipment failure or malfunction - for example in relation to