To serve and protect : privatization and community in criminal justice / Bruce L. Benson ; foreword by Marvin E. Wolfgang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benson, Bruce L., 1949-

Series:

Political economy of the Austrian school.

The political economy of the Austrian school

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Privatization--United States.

Privatization.

Police--Contracting out--United States.

Police.

Corrections--Contracting out--United States.

Corrections.

Crime prevention--United States--Citizen participation.

Crime prevention.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (401 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : New YorK University Press, c1998.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Foreword

Preface. Why the Timing Might Be Right

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. Partial Privatization

3. Potential Benefits and Pitfalls of Contracting Out for Criminal Justice

4. Private Inputs into “Public” Arrest and Prosecution

5. The Level and Scope of Private Production of Crime Prevention and Protection

6. Private Justice in America

7. The Benefits of Privatization

8. Alleged Market Failures in a Privatized System of Criminal Justice

9. Why Is the Public Sector So Involved with Criminal Law Today?

10. Restitution in a Rights-Based Approach to Crime Policy

11. Encouraging Effective Privatization in Criminal Justice, Part I

12. Encouraging Effective Privatization in Criminal Justice, Part II

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Notes:

"An Independent Institute book."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-357) and index.

ISBN:

0-8147-2305-5

0-585-42493-4

OCLC:

784884444