Illusion of order : the false promise of broken windows policing
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Illusion of order : the false promise of broken windows policing
Harvard University Press, 2001
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 265-287) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
ISBN 9780674004726
Description
This book challenges the "broken-windows" theory of crime, which argues that permitting minor misdemeanours, such as loitering and vagrancy, to go unpunished only encourages more serious crime. The theory has revolutionized policing in the United States and abroad, with its emphasis on policies that crack down on disorderly conduct and aggressively enforce misdemeanour laws. The problem, argues Bernard Harcourt, is that although the broken-windows theory has been around for nearly 30 years, it has never been empirically verified. Indeed, existing data suggest that it is false. Conceptually, it rests on unexamined categories of "law abiders" and "disorderly people" and of "order" and "disorder", which have no intrinsic reality, independent of the techniques of punishment that we implement in our society. How did the new order-maintenance approach to criminal justice - a theory without solid empirical support, a theory that the author argues is conceptually flawed and results in aggressive detentions of tens of thousands of citizens - come to be one of the leading criminal justice theories embraced by progressive reformers, policymakers, and academics through-out the world?
This book explores the reasons why.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780674015906
Description
This is the first book to challenge the "broken-windows" theory of crime, which argues that permitting minor misdemeanors, such as loitering and vagrancy, to go unpunished only encourages more serious crime. The theory has revolutionized policing in the United States and abroad, with its emphasis on policies that crack down on disorderly conduct and aggressively enforce misdemeanor laws.
The problem, argues Bernard Harcourt, is that although the broken-windows theory has been around for nearly thirty years, it has never been empirically verified. Indeed, existing data suggest that it is false. Conceptually, it rests on unexamined categories of "law abiders" and "disorderly people" and of "order" and "disorder," which have no intrinsic reality, independent of the techniques of punishment that we implement in our society.
How did the new order-maintenance approach to criminal justice--a theory without solid empirical support, a theory that is conceptually flawed and results in aggressive detentions of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens--come to be one of the leading criminal justice theories embraced by progressive reformers, policymakers, and academics throughout the world? This book explores the reasons why. It also presents a new, more thoughtful vision of criminal justice.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments 1 Punishment and Criminal Justice at the Turn of Century 2 The Order-Maintenance Approach Part I Empirical Critique 3 The Broken Windows Theory 4 Policing Strategies and Methodology Part II Theoretical Critique 5 On Disorderly, Disreputable, or Unpredictable People 6 The Implications of Subject Creation Part III Rhetorical Critique 7 The Turn to Harm as Justification Part IV Rethinking Punishment and Criminal Justice 8 An Alternative Vision 9 Toward a New Mode of Political Analysis Notes Bibliography Index
by "Nielsen BookData"