To Serve and Protect

Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Criminal law
Cover of the book To Serve and Protect by Bruce L. Benson, NYU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bruce L. Benson ISBN: 9780814709122
Publisher: NYU Press Publication: August 1, 1998
Imprint: NYU Press Language: English
Author: Bruce L. Benson
ISBN: 9780814709122
Publisher: NYU Press
Publication: August 1, 1998
Imprint: NYU Press
Language: English

In contrast to government's predominant role in criminal justice today, for many centuries crime control was almost entirely private and community-based. Government police forces, prosecutors, courts, and prisons are all recent historical developments–results of a political and bureaucratic social experiment which, Bruce Benson argues, neither protects the innocent nor dispenses justice.
In this comprehensive and timely book, Benson analyzes the accelerating trend toward privatization in the criminal justice system. In so doing, To Serve and Protect challenges and transcends both liberal and conservative policies that have supported government's pervasive role. With lucidity and rigor, he examines the gamut of private-sector input to criminal justice–from private-sector outsourcing of prisons and corrections, security, arbitration to full "private justice" such as business and community-imposed sanctions and citizen crime prevention. Searching for the most cost-effective methods of reducing crime and protecting civil liberties, Benson weighs the benefits and liabilities of various levels of privatization, offering correctives for the current gridlock that will make criminal justice truly accountable to the citizenry and will simultaneously result in reductions in the unchecked power of government.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In contrast to government's predominant role in criminal justice today, for many centuries crime control was almost entirely private and community-based. Government police forces, prosecutors, courts, and prisons are all recent historical developments–results of a political and bureaucratic social experiment which, Bruce Benson argues, neither protects the innocent nor dispenses justice.
In this comprehensive and timely book, Benson analyzes the accelerating trend toward privatization in the criminal justice system. In so doing, To Serve and Protect challenges and transcends both liberal and conservative policies that have supported government's pervasive role. With lucidity and rigor, he examines the gamut of private-sector input to criminal justice–from private-sector outsourcing of prisons and corrections, security, arbitration to full "private justice" such as business and community-imposed sanctions and citizen crime prevention. Searching for the most cost-effective methods of reducing crime and protecting civil liberties, Benson weighs the benefits and liabilities of various levels of privatization, offering correctives for the current gridlock that will make criminal justice truly accountable to the citizenry and will simultaneously result in reductions in the unchecked power of government.

More books from NYU Press

Cover of the book Legalizing LGBT Families by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book Aftermath by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book Watching Rape by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book The Invisible Caring Hand by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book The Slave Soul of Russia by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book To Secure These Rights by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book Poverty and the Underclass by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abu Shaduf Expounded, with Risible Rhymes by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book Abstractionist Aesthetics by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book Planned Obsolescence by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book The Post-Soviet Wars by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book Jews and Booze by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book Sustaining Faith Traditions by Bruce L. Benson
Cover of the book The Law and Society Reader II by Bruce L. Benson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy