I know there is a lot to read about whats happening in Ferguson, Missouri right now. I have been spending a lot of time over the the past year looking at research about systematic brutality in our criminal justice system, and I guess I thought I could maybe usefully recommend the work of a couple of writers who I think have produced really articulate and readable works on the increasing militarization of American policing. Peter Kraska is probably the foremost expert on the history of when and how and why American police organizations started using military technology and tactics against certain segregated and marginalized communities. Craig Haney writes about how and why our criminal justice system has developed a professional culture which often embraces systematic brutality--his focus is on Supermax prisons and solitary confinement, but he touches on the rise of the history of paramilitary policing as well. Oh, and David Simon, the guy that made The Wire, will probably have some really worthwhile stuff to say on his blog coming up here pretty soon--he understands the current crisis of the American criminal justice system in a mind-blowing way. So, if you googled, or maybe google scholar-ed, any or all of those writers, I think you could find some pretty useful writing that might help explain the brutality in Ferguson, and also why Ferguson is representative of some much, much, much larger problems in our criminal justice system, if you were interested in getting that kind of historical/research/academic perspective. xoxo
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 07:13:53 +0000
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