Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book seeks to chart some aspects of the conceptual terrain of late modernity — the theoretical foundation upon which the ensuing case studies are built. It examines and assesses a new element in the State’s arsenal against crime. DNA testing has long been touted as the ultimate modernist solution to the crime, providing incontrovertible, hard-scientific proof of the guilt of transgressors. The book explores a relatively new tactic within the state’s overall vocabulary of approaches to crime control. It addresses probably the mostly timely and visible of all contemporary strategies of crime control. The book offers a useful corrective to the idea that the removal ‘neglected’ or ‘at risk’ children has resulted in unanticipated outcomes is perhaps a misleading interpretation of the motives of those who legitimated such actions in the first place.