Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project (BNLWRP). Occasional Paper No. 1. The Early History of ¿Non-Lethal¿ Weapons.

Abstract

This paper explores the early history of ¿non-lethal¿1 weapons development covering the period from the 1960¿s, when several diverse weapons were first grouped together in one category and described as ¿non-lethal¿ by law enforcement end-users and policymakers, until 1989, just before the hugely increased interest in the field that developed during the 1990¿s amongst both police and military organisations. It describes the origins and emergence of new weapons, examining this process with reference to technological advances, wider socio-political context, legal developments, and evolution of associated institutional structures. Developments in both the policing and military spheres are considered as well as the interconnections between them. Necessarily this paper focuses on events in the US2, in part because it led the way in this field but also because sources of information on US activities are more readily available.3.