Street Justice
Subtitle: A History of Police Violence in New York City
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: November 15, 2003
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 365
ISBN-13: 9780807050224
Subjects: Cultural studies; United States - State & Local - Middle Atlantic; New York (State); Correction Of Crime And Delinquency; Social Conflict; History - U.S.; United States - 20th Century; History: American; USA; Police brutality; Political Freedom & Security - Law Enforcement; Violence in Society; History / United States / 20th Century; History; New York; New York (N.Y.)
First sentence: Like many Americans, I watched in disbelief in April 1992 when a California jury acquitted four police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King.
Description: In this study of police brutality in New York City, Marilynn Johnson explores the changing patterns of police use of force over the past 160 years, including streat beatings, organized violence against protestors, and the notorious third degree. She argues that the idea of police brutality--what exactly it is, who its victims are, and why it occurs--is historically constructed. In the late nineteenth century police brutality was understood as an outgrowth of the moral and political corruption of Tammany Hall; in the heavy immigration years of the early twentieth century it was redefined as a racial/ethnic issue; and during Prohibition police violence was connected to police corruption related to the underground liquor trade and the "war on crime" the federal government declared in response. Providing a history of police brutality up to the present day, Street justice emphasizes the understandings brought to the subject by its victims, and reveals a long and disturbing history of police misconduct against minorities. But Johnson also argues that the culture of policing can be changed when enough political pressure is brought to bear on the problem.