How crime and public fear are socially constructed...and not just a fixed reality to perceive. Politicians and others use public anxiety for their purposes, and pursue a stern law-and-order platform even as crime rates are dropping. The public, and media coverage and TV images, often exaggerate crime and the likelihood of victimization. This is the foundational and supported study of the issue, often cited and used in later scholarship on crime and politics, from a legendary scholar in the field.
'The Politics of Law and Order' is a book about how politicians use crime rates—and most of all the public perception of such rates and the fear of street crime, whether or not it is accurate—for their own purposes. Stuart Scheingold also provides a theoretical and historical basis for his oft-cited views. He shows that crime is a social construction. The follow-up to the landmark 'The Politics of Rights,' this book is both supported in research and accessible and interesting to readers everywhere.
Features new 2010 Foreword by Berkeley law professor Malcolm Feeley. A work that is both "timely and timeless," writes Feeley, this book "is important for what it says—and how it says it—about American crime and crime policy, as well as American political culture. It speaks truth to power today as much as it did when it was first published." As recently noted by Amherst College's Austin Sarat, Scheingold remains "quite simply one of the world's leading commentators on law and politics."
Now available in a quality ebook format (in addition to a new paperback edition), part of the Classics of Law & Society Series from Quid Pro Books. Active Table of Contents, linked footnotes and cross-references, and even a fully-linked subject matter index.
