![]() Front cover | |
Author | Alex S. Vitale |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Subject | Police abolitionism |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Publisher | Verso Books |
Publication date | October 10, 2017 |
Pages | 288 [1] |
ISBN | 9781784782894 |
The End of Policing is a 2017 book by the American sociologist Alex S. Vitale. In it, Vitale argues for the eventual abolition of the police, to be replaced variously by decriminalization or with non-law enforcement approaches, depending on the crime. Vitale argues that the function of police is to uphold inequalities of class, gender, race, or sexuality.
The book was met with mixed critical reception by academics and reviewers, including praise for Vitale's writing style and level of research, but criticism that his suggested political approaches needed further development. The book was variously criticized as not arguing against all forms of policing, or as failing to acknowledge research which suggests that police reduce the rate of crime.
Author Alex S. Vitale is a sociologist at Brooklyn College. [2] He began writing The End of Policing in 2014, drawing from his 1990s volunteering for the Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco. [3] The book was published on October 10, 2017 by Verso Books. [1] At the time of its publication, Brooklyn College held a panel with Vitale and Heather Mac Donald, who argued that modern policing is not institutionally racist. [4]
Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, a public discourse about defunding or abolishing the police led to Vitale appearing in a wide range of news media. Verso temporarily made the e-book copy of The End of Policing available for free. It had been downloaded 200,000 times by June 17, 2020. [3]
The book is about police in the contemporary United States and the nature of policing. Vitale argues that the purpose of police is not to deal with instances of social ills, but to uphold inequalities in society on the axes of class, gender, race and sexuality. [5] Historically, Vitale writes, the police have facilitated slavery and colonialism and suppressed workers' rights movements. [6] He believes that the conditions for crime arise due to the implementation of conservative policies such as support for a trickle-down economics model, austerity, redlining and union busting. [4] Topics covered by the book include the criminalization of the mentally ill, homeless people and sex workers; policing of schools; the war on drugs; and border policing by the police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the military and the National Guard. [5] [7]
Vitale believes that policing should be disbanded in full, with decriminalization of some crimes such as sex work and drug usage, and public infrastructure or non-law enforcement approaches for other crimes. For instance, government agencies and private companies could provide homeless people with permanent housing. He recommends drug rehabilitation centers for addicts, improved education and a different employment system, as well as more mental health care availability and open borders. [5] [1] [7]
Vitale writes that police are trained by private companies in highly militarised ways. He says that diversifying the police force or requiring them to wear body cameras will not change the underlying systemic racism in police procedures. [5] [7] On the topic of gangs, he proposes that police and prisons do not deter gang involvement and that gangs are not composed only of black and Latino people and may not have centralized leadership structures. [5] Analyzing the prohibition of alcohol in the U.S. from 1920 to 1933, Vitale writes that the amount of illegal alcohol consumed remained constant even as police increased their numbers of arrests. [1] In the last chapter, Vitale says that the police have always served a political role, giving examples of police forces under dictatorships and U.S. police with regards to the Red Scares, COINTELPRO and surveillance of other social movements. [7]
The book received praise by Kirkus Reviews as "clearly argued". [1] In the journal Race & Class , Jasbinder S. Nijjar found it "impressively researched and thoroughly readable". [5] Micol Siegel of the journal Social Justice recommended it as "particularly useful to activists seeking material for self-edification, reading groups, or popular education campaigns". [7] E. Tammy Kim of The Nation reviewed it as a "compelling digest of the dynamics of crime and law enforcement, and a polemic against the militarization of everything". [4]
In a mixed review, Adam Greenfield of the Los Angeles Review of Books critiqued that Vitale fails to suggest how progress towards his suggested goals could be made and said that his arguments have "little [...] to do with how power works in the world we actually find ourselves living in". However, [they] praised that the "great strength" of the book is "in demonstrating that if the shape of American policing is historical, it is also contingent". [8] Karim Murji of the LSE Review of Books found that the book's "bold title and radical aim is somewhat hedged by its presentation", though it is a "welcome contrast" to "normative theorising about" the police. Murji argued that Vitale "does not dismiss police reform in its entirety", believing that he could have taken ideas from prison abolitionism, and that he could have made further comments about how his suggested policies could gain traction. [9]
Connor Woodman, writing in a blog post for Verso, criticized Vitale's statement that police surveillance of social movements "should be forbidden unless there is specific evidence of serious criminal activity", arguing that this fails to endorse riots or violent protest done to achieve political change, which Woodman views as necessary for resisting oppression, giving historical examples. [7] [10] The Indypendent 's Michael Hirsch similarly took issue with the chapter on politics, believing that it could have covered "police repression of workers' struggles" more extensively and should have discussed police unions. However, Hirsch also praised the book for its empirical analysis and called it a "must-read for anyone interesting in waging and winning the fight for economic and social justice". [11]
Vox 's Matthew Yglesias reviewed that Vitale fails to address economic and sociological literature suggesting that increased police numbers correlate with a reduction in violent crime, arguing that reform is valuable. He found that in The End of Policing, "the causal reasoning is a little shaky and the willingness to consider trade-offs nonexistent", though it "contains some good ideas" about housing and mental health policy. [2] Alec Karakatsanis of Current Affairs offered a rebuttal to Yglesias, commenting that crime statistics come from police, who selectively collect data, and do not include crimes committed by police. Karakatsanis argued that "crime", not interchangeable with harm, is constructed by powerful people and that Yglesias's cited studies do not support his conclusions. Karakatsanis wrote that abolitionists seek structural solutions and accountability to harm. Karakatsanis said that The End of Policing is largely about functions of police other than crime reduction. [12]
On March 22, 2022, a copy of The End of Policing was held up by Texas senator Ted Cruz, who was critical of the book, at Ketanji Brown Jackson's senate confirmation hearing. Afterwards, sales of the book significantly increased, as did those of some other books presented by Cruz. [13]
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, protect public order, and the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers encompass arrest and the use of force legitimized by the state via the monopoly on violence. The term is most commonly associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are often defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors; however, gendarmerie are military units charged with civil policing. Police forces are usually public sector services, funded through taxes.
In criminology, the broken windows theory states that visible signs of crime, antisocial behavior, and civil disorder create an urban environment that encourages further crime and disorder, including serious crimes. The theory suggests that policing methods that target minor crimes such as vandalism, loitering, public drinking and fare evasion help to create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness.
Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other crimes, and moral support for victims. The primary institutions of the criminal justice system are the police, prosecution and defense lawyers, the courts and the prisons system.
Criminalization or criminalisation, in criminology, is "the process by which behaviors and individuals are transformed into crime and criminals". Previously legal acts may be transformed into crimes by legislation or judicial decision. However, there is usually a formal presumption in the rules of statutory interpretation against the retrospective application of laws, and only the use of express words by the legislature may rebut this presumption. The power of judges to make new law and retrospectively criminalise behaviour is also discouraged. In a less overt way, where laws have not been strictly enforced, the acts prohibited by those laws may also undergo de facto criminalization through more effective or committed legal enforcement. The process of criminalization takes place through societal institutions including schools, the family, and the criminal justice system.
As of 2020, more than 800,000 sworn law enforcement officers have been serving in the United States. About 137,000 of those officers work for federal law enforcement agencies.
Robert Francis Perrino, also known as "Bobby Perrino" was the superintendent of deliveries at the New York Post from the 1970s until 1992, when he was murdered. He was a Bonanno crime family associate of Italian-American descent. Perrino was the leader of "The Post Circulation Crew" which allegedly existed to control the circulation department of New York Post printing press and distribution center by means of extortion, coercion, the falsification of business records, larceny and bribery. The crew also became involved in loan sharking, drug trafficking and the selling of stolen firearms.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is a book by Michelle Alexander, a civil rights litigator and legal scholar. The book discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration in the United States, but Alexander noted that the discrimination faced by African-American males is prevalent among other minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Alexander's central premise, from which the book derives its title, is that "mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow".
Community policing or community-oriented policing (COP) is a strategy of policing that focuses on developing relationships with community members. It is a philosophy of full-service policing that is highly personal, where an officer patrols the same area for an extended time and develops a partnership with citizens to collaboratively identify and solve problems.
Criminology is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behavioural and social sciences, which draws primarily upon the research of sociologists, political scientists, economists, legal sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, psychiatrists, social workers, biologists, social anthropologists, scholars of law and jurisprudence, as well as the processes that define administration of justice and the criminal justice system.
In Marxist theory, the Lumpenproletariat is the underclass devoid of class consciousness. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels coined the word in the 1840s and used it to refer to the unthinking lower strata of society exploited by reactionary and counter-revolutionary forces, particularly in the context of the revolutions of 1848. They dismissed the revolutionary potential of the Lumpenproletariat and contrasted it with the proletariat. Among other groups, criminals, vagabonds, and prostitutes are usually included in this category.
Sex worker abuse by police officers can occur in one or more ways. Police brutality refers to the intentional use of excessive force by a police officer, be it physical, verbal, or psychological. Police corruption is a form of police misconduct where an officer obtains financial benefits and/or career advancements in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. Police misconduct refers to inappropriate actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Sex workers, particularly poor sex workers and those who had been manipulated, coerced, or forced into sex work, are at risk of being obliged or otherwise forced to provide free sexual services to police officers out of fear of being harmed or arrested. Some sex workers have reported that they have encountered police officers who have physically assaulted them without evidence of a crime and without making an arrest.
All American Boys, published in 2015 by Atheneum, is a young adult novel written by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. The book tells the story of two teenage boys, Rashad Butler and Quinn Collins, as they handle racism and police brutality in their community. The novel has gained attention in recent years, becoming the 26th most banned book of 2022, due to its inclusion of anti-police messages, alcohol, drug usage, and profanity.
The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers and Fathers Are Going Broke is a 2004 popular nonfiction book by Elizabeth Warren and her daughter Amelia Warren Tyagi. The book examines the causes of increasing rates of personal bankruptcy and economic insecurity in American households. It was reissued in 2016.
The police abolition movement is a political movement, mostly active in the United States, that advocates replacing policing with other systems of public safety. Police abolitionists believe that policing, as a system, is inherently flawed and cannot be reformed—a view that rejects the ideology of police reformists. While reformists seek to address the ways in which policing occurs, abolitionists seek to transform policing altogether through a process of disbanding, disempowering, and disarming the police. Abolitionists argue that the institution of policing is deeply rooted in a history of white supremacy and settler colonialism and that it is inseparable from a pre-existing racial capitalist order, and thus believe a reformist approach to policing will always fail.
In the United States, "defund the police" is a slogan that supports removing funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources. Activists who use the phrase may do so with varying intentions; some seek modest reductions, while others argue for full divestment as a step toward the abolition of contemporary police services. Activists who support the defunding of police departments often argue that investing in community programs could provide a better crime deterrent for communities; funds would go toward addressing social issues, like poverty, homelessness, and mental disorders. Police abolitionists call for replacing existing police forces with other systems of public safety, like housing, employment, community health, education, and other programs.
Alex S. Vitale is an American author and professor of sociology at Brooklyn College. He is also the coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, The Appeal, USA Today, Vice News, and other media outlets. Vitale is the author of The End of Policing (2017), which argues for the abolition of police.
Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers' Rights is a 2018 book by sex workers Juno Mac and Molly Smith. They analyse the effects of varying sex work policies, arguing for full decriminalisation. The book covers topics including survival sex, migrant sex work, feminist views on sex work, and drug use among sex workers. The authors believe that common criticisms of sex work are more general issues with capitalism. The book received positive critical reception.
The Safer Cities Initiative is an initiative to reduce crime in Skid Row, Los Angeles. While the initiative prominently resulted in heightened police enforcement in Skid Row, it had other facets including prosecuting hospitals who dumped poor patients at Skid Row, as well as services like tree trimming.
One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger is a book by Matthew Yglesias, first published in 2020. One Billion Americans argues that America is not over-crowded and could have one billion citizens, and still have less than half the population density that Germany has today. Additionally, it makes the case that America is justified for wanting to stay relevant into the far distant future, and that in order to do so, it will need to be populated like China and India.
The youth control complex is a theory developed by Chicano scholar Victor M. Rios to describe what he refers to as the overwhelming system of criminalization that is shaped by the systematic punishment that is applied by institutions of social control against boys of color in the United States. Rios articulates that there are many components of this complex which are enacted upon youth throughout their daily lives. For example, "while being called a 'thug' by a random adult may seem trivial to some people, when a young person is called a 'thug' by a random adult, told by a teacher that they will never amount to anything, and frisked by a police officer, all in the same day, this combination becomes greater than the sum of its parts." Scholars trace the origins of the youth control complex back to the mid-1970s. In addition, the criminalization and surveillance of Black and Latino bodies increased in the post-9/11 era.