Guns, crime, and punishment in America / edited by Bernard E. Harcourt.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Harcourt, Bernard E., 1963-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gun control--United States.

Gun control.

United States.

Firearms--Law and legislation--United States.

Firearms.

Firearms--Law and legislation.

Crime prevention--United States.

Crime prevention.

Physical Description:

vii, 436 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2003]

Summary:

If Americans are to engage in a truly constructive dialogue about guns, crime, and punishment in America, they need to have a clear understanding of the debate's parameters, which often become obscured by the biased arena in which conversations about gun control take place. In Guns, Crime, and Punishment in America, Bernard E. Harcourt assembles the nation's leading legal authorities on guns and gun violence to present the most up-to-date research available. The book leaves no stone unturned, exploring controversial issues such as gun tracing initiatives, the possible extension of the Brady Bill, gun-oriented policing, federal law enforcement initiatives such as "Project Exile," and civil litigation against gun manufacturers. Though the book's contributors -- who include Sara Sun Beale, Sanford Levinson, and Jerome H. Skolnick -- operate from a wide variety of political perspectives and methodological approaches, a central desire unifies the book: to end the polarization that characterizes the debate on guns, and to generate reasonable and practical gun policies in the United States.

Contents:

Part I The Great American Gun Debates

1 Continuity and Change in the American Gun Debate / Franklin E. Zimring 29

2 The Tyranny of Econometrics and the Circumspection of Liberalism: Two Problems with the Gun Debate / Dan M. Kahan 44

3 Equalizers: The Cult of the Colt in American Culture / Richard Slotkin 54

4 "Hell no, you can't jack that fool. He stays strapped. He's strapped all the time": Talking about Guns at an All-Boy Correctional Facility in Tucson, Arizona / Bernard E. Harcourt 68

B. The Second Amendment

5 The Historians' Counterattack: Some Reflections on the Historiography of the Second Amendment / Sanford Levinson 91

6 What Does the Second Amendment Restrict? A Collective-Rights Analysis / Carl Bogus 117

7 Moral Principle and the Second Amendment / Christopher L. Eisgruber 140

Part II Policy Interventions in the Gun Arena

A. Gun Tracing

8 New Law Enforcement Uses for Comprehensive Firearms Trace Data / Philip J. Cook, Anthony A. Braga 163

B. Gun-Oriented Policing and Community Interventions

9 Policing Guns: Order Maintenance and Crime Control in New York / Jeffrey A. Fagan, Garth Davies 191

10 Should We Have Faith in the Churches? The Ten-Point Coalition's Effect on Boston's Youth Violence / Jenny Berrien, Christopher Winship 222

11 Guns, Drugs, and Profiling: Ways to Target Guns and Minimize Racial Profiling / Jerome H. Skolnick, Abigail Caplovitz 249

C. The Brady Approach

12 The Effects of the Brady Act on Gun Violence / Philip J. Cook, Jens Ludwig 283

13 Gun Shows and Gun Controls / James B. Jacobs 299

D. Federal Enforcement of Gun Laws

14 Project Exile and the Allocation of Federal Law Enforcement Authority / Daniel C. Richman 321

15 The Unintended Consequences of Enhancing Gun Penalties / Sara Sun Beale 343

E. Civil Litigation Against Gun Manufacturers

16 The Cities Take the Initiative: Public Nuisance Lawsuits against Handgun Manufacturers / David Kairys 363

17 Tort Law and Criminal Behavior (Guns) / Mark Geistfeld 384

18 Guns and Burglars / David B. Kopel 400.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0814736556

OCLC:

51117344