Alex S. Vitale, The End of Policing.

• Date: 22 March 2019
• Author: Seigel, Micol

Alex S. Vitale, The End of Policing (Verso, 2017)

A NUMBER OF ACADEMIC CROSSOVER BOOKS NOW OFFER NONSPECIALIZED readers key takeaways from the enormous scholarly corpus addressing criminal justice questions. Marie Gottschalk's encyclopedic Caught develops a precise picture of a broad range of prison-related issues, a resource for the scholar seeking context, research leads, or lecture content. Michelle Alexander's accessible The New Jim Crow translates activist insight to a tremendous popular audience. Combining elements of both, Alex Vitale's The End of Policing mines both recent and classic scholarship for a sweeping critique of police practice and reform. This grand synthesis will be particularly useful to activists seeking material for self-edification, reading groups, or popular education campaigns. Feeding the growing hunger for abolitionist analyses of policing, Vitale arms the reader with usable pasts and compelling insights, ably contributing to popular mobilization against police.

The End of Policing begins by explaining why current reforms, such as improved training, greater diversity in police ranks, accountability via prosecutorial independence, federal investigations, or that latest vogue, body cameras, are unlikely to diminish police violence and abuse. Perhaps disarming the police, as many other nations have, might help, Vitale...