1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455665703321

Autore

Benson Bruce L. <1949->

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : New YorK University Press, c1998

ISBN

0-8147-2305-5

0-585-42493-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (401 p.)

Collana

The political economy of the Austrian school

Disciplina

364.973

Soggetti

Criminal justice, Administration of - United States

Privatization - United States

Police - Contracting out - United States

Corrections - Contracting out - United States

Crime prevention - United States - Citizen participation

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"An Independent Institute book."

Nota di bibliografia

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

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.