NLWs have great potential to support peace. However, if they are poorly designed or used inappropriately they can cause substantial harm.
In recent years, academic NLW centres have focused much of their research on the problems associated with NLWs. This focus is perhaps intended to balance the somewhat robust approach to these devices adopted by some of the manufacturers and by some of the agencies involved in using NLWs, both military and police.
A useful analysis of problems with NLWs (written in 2003 but still partly current) is the
Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project