History of Policing America - by Laurence Armand French (Hardcover)

About the Book

The History of Policing America traces how and why law enforcement agencies evolved and became permanent agencies; looking logically through history and offering potential steps forward that could make a difference without triggering unconstructive backlash.

Book Synopsis

The History of Policing America traces how and why law enforcement agencies evolved and became permanent agencies; looking logically through history and offering potential steps forward that could make a difference without triggering unconstructive backlash.

Review Quotes

French (emer., psychology, Western New Mexico Univ.) does not offer just another historical survey of policing. He has written a loosely chronological account of the injustices perpetrated by the justice system against Native Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans (among others) from the Colonial period to the present. He traces the roots of this discriminatory enforcement of the law to early colonists' Puritan culture, which fostered the embrace of Manifest Destiny and white (Anglo-Saxon Protestant) supremacy. Under the direction of these WASP elites, the police, courts, armed forces, and other legal (and extralegal) entities have regularly used violence to control other classes and races. . . French's catalog of abuses serves to remind readers of the social and political context in which policing must be studied. . . his recommendations that reforms be based on a more sophisticated understanding of bias, and that psychological assessments of personnel be used to identify prejudice, appear sound.

Summing Up: Recommended. . . Undergraduates and general readers.

French's career long investigation of policing practices and policies provides the basis for his insightful analysis of the historical roots of the paradoxes of policing in the 21st century. This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the social forces that shape police-citizen encounters.

Policing America: From Militias to Law Enforcement Today by Laurence French. French provides an excellent insight into the development of policing in America. Policing America is well thought-out, well written and organized This book should be read by all those interested in policing.

This book is a comprehensive review of the history on how both informal and formally sanctioned organizations in the United States morphed into the law enforcement organizations that exist today. It is well written, easy to understand, and will be of great interest to all readers alike.

About the Author

Laurence Armand French, Phd, is professor emeritus of psychology at Western New Mexico University and senior research associate at the JusticeWorks Institute at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. He has taught criminology, criminal justice, sociology, and psychology at various universities, including minority-serving universities and has won awards for this minority-based research. He is Senior Fulbright Scholar assigned to the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the 2009/2010 academic year. He has written many articles and books, including Frog Town: Portrait of a French Canadian Parish in New England (R&L, 2014), Running the Border Gauntlet (2010) and Native American Justice (R&L, 2003). He received the 1999 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) research award for his work in assessing substance abuse among minorities in the U.S. southwest.