Acknowledgments 1 Punishment and Criminal Justice at the Turn of Century 2 The Order-Maintenance Approach Part I Empirical Critique 3 The Broken Windows Theory 4 Policing Strategies and Methodology Part II Theoretical Critique 5 On Disorderly, Disreputable, or Unpredictable People 6 The Implications of Subject Creation Part III Rhetorical Critique 7 The Turn to Harm as Justification Part IV Rethinking Punishment and Criminal Justice 8 An Alternative Vision 9 Toward a New Mode of Political Analysis Notes Bibliography Index
This is an excellent, timely, and thought-provoking book, absolutely critical to the continuing debate on the "broken windows" theory. Harcourt's book will be a welcome intervention in this ongoing public debate. As an academic matter, Harcourt takes on the social norms school, and effectively exposes its absence of empirical support. This, too, is a tremendously important contribution to the literature. Like "broken windows'" in policing, "social norms" theory has been accepted all too uncritically in academia, and the questions Harcourt raises are the right ones. -- David Cole, Georgetown University Law Center "Broken windows," "order-maintenance," "quality-of-life policing": these ideas are fast becoming the conventional wisdom of contemporary crime control. In this, the first book-length critique of these policies and the ideas that underpin them, Bernard Harcourt goes straight to the heart of the matter. Harcourt asks, "Do these policies work?" and "How do we know?" and he addresses these questions with due attention to empirical evidence and methodological detail. But he also poses a more profound question. "How do these ways of policing disorder shape our citizens, our civic culture, and our social relations?" His book is a timely reminder that in policing the "disorderliness" of others, we also define the civic order in which we, ourselves, must live. -- David Garland, New York University This book makes a valuable contribution for taking on the sacred cow of the "broken windows" theory. Harcourt makes a convincing case that the New York miracle is not a confirmation of the "broken windows" hypothesis, but reflects the substantial increase in the number of police in New York and the number of arrests, plus the effect of the declining crack cocaine trade. He argues that New York City's quality-of-life initiative has probably contributed to the decline in crime not from a reduction in litter, fixing broken windows, or beautifying neighborhoods, but rather through the enhanced power of surveillance offered by a policy of aggressive misdemeanor arrests. These mechanisms have little to do with fixing broken windows and much more to do with arresting window breakers. -- John Donohue III, Stanford University
Bernard E. Harcourt is Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia University and Directeur d’études at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris.
This is an excellent, timely, and thought-provoking book,
absolutely critical to the continuing debate on the "broken
windows" theory. Harcourt's book will be a welcome intervention in
this ongoing public debate. As an academic matter, Harcourt takes
on the social norms school, and effectively exposes its absence of
empirical support. This, too, is a tremendously important
contribution to the literature. Like "broken windows'" in policing,
"social norms" theory has been accepted all too uncritically in
academia, and the questions Harcourt raises are the right ones.
*David Cole, Georgetown University Law Center*
"Broken windows," "order-maintenance," "quality-of-life policing":
these ideas are fast becoming the conventional wisdom of
contemporary crime control. In this, the first book-length critique
of these policies and the ideas that underpin them, Bernard
Harcourt goes straight to the heart of the matter. Harcourt asks,
"Do these policies work?" and "How do we know?" and he addresses
these questions with due attention to empirical evidence and
methodological detail. But he also poses a more profound question.
"How do these ways of policing disorder shape our citizens, our
civic culture, and our social relations?" His book is a timely
reminder that in policing the "disorderliness" of others, we also
define the civic order in which we, ourselves, must live.
*David Garland, New York University*
This book makes a valuable contribution for taking on the sacred
cow of the "broken windows" theory. Harcourt makes a convincing
case that the New York miracle is not a confirmation of the "broken
windows" hypothesis, but reflects the substantial increase in the
number of police in New York and the number of arrests, plus the
effect of the declining crack cocaine trade. He argues that New
York City's quality-of-life initiative has probably contributed to
the decline in crime not from a reduction in litter, fixing broken
windows, or beautifying neighborhoods, but rather through the
enhanced power of surveillance offered by a policy of aggressive
misdemeanor arrests. These mechanisms have little to do with fixing
broken windows and much more to do with arresting window
breakers.
*John Donohue III, Stanford University*
Harcourt presents a 'wake-up' call to all those who blindly accept
the 'broken windows' approach to policing. Highly recommended for
all criminology and social science collections.
*Library Journal*
[In] his new book, Illusion of Order, Bernard Harcourt argues that
the 'broken windows' theory underlying New York's policing strategy
doesn't deserve much praise...He suggests that no studies establish
a link between neighborhood disorder and crime
victimization...Offering a critique grounded equally in public
policy and political theory, the book veers widely, from the
writings of Michel Foucault and John Stuart Mill to a highly
technical analysis of previous statistical studies. [Harcourt's]
arguments offer a measured counterbalance to the gung-ho advocates
of 'broken windows' policing and a welcome warning about the limits
of simplistic social policy.
*Christian Science Monitor*
Legal theorist Bernard Harcourt has written an important, engaging,
and provocative work on criminal justice. He criticizes the idea,
associated with James Q. Wilson, William Bratton, and Rudolph
Giuliani, that determined efforts to punish petty crimes (breaking
windows, loitering, squeegeeing windshields) will reduce the rate
of serious crimes.
*Boston Review*
A 1982 article by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling introduced the
concept of a "broken windows" approach to combating crime: i.e.,
tolerating litterers, loiterers, and disorderly minor offenders
promotes an environment fostering more serious crime. Harcourt
exhaustively analyzes the claim that this approach to policing
urban neighborhoods merits a significant measure of credit for the
decline in crime rates and the improvement in the quality of urban
life. He finds an absence of convincing evidence to support claims
on its behalf, and explores some reasons for the credit given to
it. Many other factors are identified that may more plausibly
explain the changes noted. Furthermore, Harcourt exposes some of
the harmful consequences of the policies emanating out of the
"broken windows" approach for especially vulnerable
constituencies.
*Choice*
Bernard Harcourt's scholarly examination of the broken windows
theory and its influence on present day policing is an important
contribution to the debate and merits reading by serious observers
of American policing.
*Police Foundation*
The main contributions of this volume include its incisive analysis
of the uses and abuses of the concepts of incivilities and
disorder, its placement of the order-maintenance rhetoric within
the broader economic and political discussions of the New
Progressives, and its close attention to the legal and societal
impacts of the rise to fame of this theoretical perspective.
Harcourt's book represents a sincere, thoughtful, and
multidisciplinary effort to demythologize the incivilities
thesis...The volume is appropriate for graduate students in
criminal justice, criminology, political science, and sociology. I
have used it in a communities and crime graduate course with good
results.
*American Journal of Sociology*
This is an excellent, timely, and thought-provoking book,
absolutely critical to the continuing debate on the "broken
windows" theory. Harcourt's book will be a welcome intervention in
this ongoing public debate. As an academic matter, Harcourt takes
on the social norms school, and effectively exposes its absence of
empirical support. This, too, is a tremendously important
contribution to the literature. Like "broken windows'" in policing,
"social norms" theory has been accepted all too uncritically in
academia, and the questions Harcourt raises are the right ones. --
David Cole, Georgetown University Law Center
"Broken windows," "order-maintenance," "quality-of-life policing":
these ideas are fast becoming the conventional wisdom of
contemporary crime control. In this, the first book-length critique
of these policies and the ideas that underpin them, Bernard
Harcourt goes straight to the heart of the matter. Harcourt asks,
"Do these policies work?" and "How do we know?" and he addresses
these questions with due attention to empirical evidence and
methodological detail. But he also poses a more profound question.
"How do these ways of policing disorder shape our citizens, our
civic culture, and our social relations?" His book is a timely
reminder that in policing the "disorderliness" of others, we also
define the civic order in which we, ourselves, must live. -- David
Garland, New York University
This book makes a valuable contribution for taking on the sacred
cow of the "broken windows" theory. Harcourt makes a convincing
case that the New York miracle is not a confirmation of the "broken
windows" hypothesis, but reflects the substantial increase in the
number of police in New York and the number of arrests, plus the
effect of the declining crack cocaine trade. He argues that New
York City's quality-of-life initiative has probably contributed to
the decline in crime not from a reduction in litter, fixing broken
windows, or beautifying neighborhoods, but rather through the
enhanced power of surveillance offered by a policy of aggressive
misdemeanor arrests. These mechanisms have little to do with fixing
broken windows and much more to do with arresting window breakers.
-- John Donohue III, Stanford University
Harcourt presents a 'wake-up' call to all those who blindly accept
the 'broken windows' approach to policing. Highly recommended for
all criminology and social science collections. -- Tim Delaney *
Library Journal *
[In] his new book, Illusion of Order, Bernard Harcourt
argues that the 'broken windows' theory underlying New York's
policing strategy doesn't deserve much praise...He suggests that no
studies establish a link between neighborhood disorder and crime
victimization...Offering a critique grounded equally in public
policy and political theory, the book veers widely, from the
writings of Michel Foucault and John Stuart Mill to a highly
technical analysis of previous statistical studies. [Harcourt's]
arguments offer a measured counterbalance to the gung-ho advocates
of 'broken windows' policing and a welcome warning about the limits
of simplistic social policy. -- Seth Stern * Christian Science
Monitor *
Legal theorist Bernard Harcourt has written an important, engaging,
and provocative work on criminal justice. He criticizes the idea,
associated with James Q. Wilson, William Bratton, and Rudolph
Giuliani, that determined efforts to punish petty crimes (breaking
windows, loitering, squeegeeing windshields) will reduce the rate
of serious crimes. -- Joshua Cohen * Boston Review *
A 1982 article by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling introduced the
concept of a "broken windows" approach to combating crime: i.e.,
tolerating litterers, loiterers, and disorderly minor offenders
promotes an environment fostering more serious crime. Harcourt
exhaustively analyzes the claim that this approach to policing
urban neighborhoods merits a significant measure of credit for the
decline in crime rates and the improvement in the quality of urban
life. He finds an absence of convincing evidence to support claims
on its behalf, and explores some reasons for the credit given to
it. Many other factors are identified that may more plausibly
explain the changes noted. Furthermore, Harcourt exposes some of
the harmful consequences of the policies emanating out of the
"broken windows" approach for especially vulnerable constituencies.
-- D. O. Friedrichs * Choice *
Bernard Harcourt's scholarly examination of the broken windows
theory and its influence on present day policing is an important
contribution to the debate and merits reading by serious observers
of American policing. -- Hubert Williams, President * Police
Foundation *
The main contributions of this volume include its incisive analysis
of the uses and abuses of the concepts of incivilities and
disorder, its placement of the order-maintenance rhetoric within
the broader economic and political discussions of the New
Progressives, and its close attention to the legal and societal
impacts of the rise to fame of this theoretical perspective.
Harcourt's book represents a sincere, thoughtful, and
multidisciplinary effort to demythologize the incivilities
thesis...The volume is appropriate for graduate students in
criminal justice, criminology, political science, and sociology. I
have used it in a communities and crime graduate course with good
results. -- Ralph B. Taylor * American Journal of Sociology *
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