Abstract
This thesis investigates a controversial police shooting case and aims to unfold its underlying complexity from a combination of cultural and legal perspectives. Drawing on six in-depth interviews with police officers in Hong Kong and conducting textual analysis of court case documents, printed media texts, and online forum discussion, this study explores the meaning-making processes surrounding a police "shoot to kill" incident. The controversial Limbu shooting is the focus of the study. The Limbu shooting took place on March 17, 2009 in Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong. A Nepalese man who was born and raised in Hong Kong, named Limbu Dil Bahadur, was shot dead by a police constable (court case files: CCDI 298/2009, HCAL 85/2010, DCPI 570/2012). Looking into the processes of mobilizing discursive resources to make sense of public opinion, racial difference, human rights, policing, and violence, this study explores the contestation of forces in the cultural, legal, and representational realms. Utilizing the framework of the model of policing as ideological construction, as drama, and as agency, the author argues that the contestation of the discursive blocs manifests a police hegemony that has been underway for a long time
Date of Award | 14 Aug 2020 |
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Original language | English |
Supervisor | John N. ERNI (Supervisor) |
User-Defined Keywords
- Police shootings