Book Review: Misdemeanorland: Criminal Courts and Social Control in an Age of Broken Windows Policing

• Author: Michelle S. Phelps
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• Date: 01 July 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0887403417750730
• Subject Matter: Book Review

Criminal Justice Policy Review

2018, Vol. 29(6-7) 761 –765

© The Author(s) 2018

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Book Review

Book Review

Kohler-Hausmann, I. (2018). Misdemeanorland: Criminal Courts and Social Control in an Age

of Broken Windows Policing. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 328 pp. $29.95

(Hardcover). ISBN: 9780691174303

Reviewed by: Michelle S. Phelps, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0887403417750730

Misdemeanorland: Criminal Courts and Social Control in an Age of Broken Windows

Policing by Issa Kohler-Hausmann is a meticulous study of the lower courts in New

York City during the early 2010s. Drawing on years of ethnographic fieldwork, inter-

views with court actors and defendants, and an array of quantitative data on police and

court activities, Kohler-Hausmann wrenchingly depicts the agonies of misdemeanor

processing. Rather than the standard fare of critiquing lower courts for failing to live

up to the adjudicative ideal, Misdemeanorland instead considers the social control

functions of lower courts. In lieu of determining factual innocence or guilt, actors in

New York City’s misdemeanorland subjected defendants to ritualized hoops and hur-

dles designed to assess their character, manage risk, and provide some measure of

control. Throughout the book, Kohler-Hausmann takes exceptional care to clarify her

empirical and theoretical contributions, providing a picture of misdemeanorland that

is sure to become a classic court study. In this review, I will briefly summarize each of

the chapters and provide some synthetic comments on the book’s contributions and

key questions for future research.

Part 1 of the book provides important introductory theoretical, methodological, and

historical context. The Introduction chapter locates the object of study, placing

Misdemeanorland in debates about recent transformations in U.S. policing and the

role of lower courts. Kohler-Hausmann briefly reviews the impressive mixed-methods

data collection effort that went into the book: 3 years of preliminary work as a practic-

ing attorney in one New York City borough, 3 years of immersive ethnographic field-

work in another borough, 2 years of sporadic fieldwork in a third borough, in-depth

qualitative interviews with court actors and defendants, and a wealth of quantitative

data on arrests and court outcomes in New York City.

Chapter 1 locates the historical origins of mass misdemeanors in Police

Commissioner William Bratton’s decision to implement the “Broken Windows” polic-

ing strategy in 1994. New York City’s political elite argued that continued expansions

in police force size and a new focus on low-level offenses would improve the “quality

of life” for city residents and reduce more serious crime. Kohler-Hausmann traces the

logic and development of this new policing model, carefully documenting how new

priorities changed routine patrol activities. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the number

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