Book Review: Jonathan Simon Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 330 pp. $21.95 ISBN: 9780195386011I

• Date: 01 June 2010
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016809356559
• Author: Sarah Britto
• Published date: 01 June 2010
• Subject Matter: Articles

Jonathan Simon

Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. 330 pp. $21.95

ISBN: 9780195386011

Reviewed by: Sarah Britto, Ph.D., Central Washington University

DOI: 10.1177/0734016809356559

In Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and

Created a Culture of Fear, author Jonathan Simon takes the reader through the historical transfor-

mation of crime as an issue to crime as a way of governing. Using numerous descriptive examples,

Simon successfully argues that crime has become a defining framework for addressing issues as

diverse as education, disease, and terrorism in contemporary America. His critical examination of

policy and practice also captures the inherent flaws in governing through crime and the ironic con-

sequences the resulting policies often produce.

Simon begins his book by exploring alternative political narratives and frameworks for a locus of

governing that could have taken hold during the 1970s and 1980s, including organized labor, envir-

onmentalism, welfarism, and civil rights. The historical context for the transformation of govern-

ment based on crime and the culture of fear, rather than the aforementioned issues, is discussed

in some detail. The remainder of the book uses case law, policy, and individual examples to demon-

strate how crime fear has influenced the functioning of executive, judicial, and legislative branches

of government.

Throughout the book, Simon draws on the theoretical work of David Garland (2001), most spe-

cifically his book The Culture of Control (Oxford University Press), which examines how social

control has evolved since the 1970s and the effect these changes have had on ‘‘contemporary social

organization.’’ Both authors document a cultural shift, driven largely by fear of crime, that focuses

attention on an idealized crime victim, executive authority expressed through punitive measures

(such as harsh penalties for crime and wars against terrorists), and holding individual offenders

responsible for their conduct. In turn, this cultural shift has led to a collective willingness to restrict

civil liberties in the name of protection from offender-caused harm and to ignore underlying social

problems that exacerbate crime and other social problems to focus on the punishment of individual

offenders.

Simon masterfully combines the study of risk and the law with the study of punishment, two dis-

tinct areas where he had previously established a long record of scholarly activity, to examine how

risk perceptions have distorted policy—a damaging cycle where the media reports a gruesome

crime, the public responds with fear and rage, politicians from both parties respond with gallant leg-

islation directed at punishing offenders in the name of victims, all while underlying issues that lead

to crime are ignored. In fact, many of the punitive policies created to severely sanction offenders and

offer victims a sense of vengeance and justice have the unintended consequence of drawing money

and resources away from programs and strategies that may actually reduce crime risk and therefore

minimize future victimization.

The power of symbolic victims is dissected to reveal that images of ‘‘idealized’’ victims are quite

distorted and prioritize the victimization experience of Whites, the middle class, and victims of vio-

lent crime. These same idealized victims were a driving force behind uniting both Democrats and

Republicans behind bills such as The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Street Act of 1968 and the

Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. As legislation attempting to control crime

and punish offenders proliferated, a monolithic picture of victims’ feelings and desires emerged—

namely a victim consumed by anger and the desire for vengeance, who could only be satisfied by

greater funding for law enforcement and harsher punishments for offenders. Although these emo-

tions and desires are not uncommon among victims, they far from represent the vast emotional,

Book Reviews 247

247