ACCOUNTING FOR ABSENT BODIES: THE POLITICS AND JURISPRUDENCE OF THE MISSING PERSONS ACT

Abstract

This paper explores the political and legal issues contained in the law and jurisprudence surrounding missing American service personnel. It argues that the Missing Service Personnel Act of 1995 is an effect of the legacy of the Vietnam War rather than a response to a particular legal problem. The essay further contends that we should be suspicious of the effort to transform the balance sheet of war into a justiciable legal question, primarily because the requirement to produce a body fails to disarm the representational economy in which the absent body constitutes a continuation of Vietnam War hostilities.

Citation

Hawley, T.M. (2003), "ACCOUNTING FOR ABSENT BODIES: THE POLITICS AND JURISPRUDENCE OF THE MISSING PERSONS ACT", Studies in Law, Politics and Society (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 28), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 75-95. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1059-4337(02)28003-5