Book Review: Weisburd, D., & Braga, A. A. (Eds.). (2006). Police Innovation: Contrasting Perspectives. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. xx, 367

• Published date: 01 March 2008
• Date: 01 March 2008
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016808314543
• Author: Thomas W. Nolan
• Subject Matter: Articles

Having said that, the reader who is willing to put up with these limitations will find that

Juvenile Justice in the Making is a good read.

Ido Weijers

Utrecht University

References

Fagan, J., & Zimring, F.E. (Eds.). (2000). The changing borders of juvenile justice: Transfer of adolescents to

the criminal court. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Rosenheim, M.K., Zimring, F.E., & Tanenhaus, D.S. (Eds.). (2002). A century of juvenile justice. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

Weisburd, D., & Braga, A. A. (Eds.). (2006). Police Innovation:

Contrasting Perspectives. New York:

Cambridge University Press. pp. xx, 367.

DOI: 10.1177/0734016808314543

In Police Innovation: Contrasting Perspectives, David Weisburd and Anthony A. Braga

have assembled a robust, comprehensive and timely anthology that deftly surveys the most recent

policy initiatives that have been both lauded and castigated by the public and the media, as

well as by academics and practitioners. The spectrum of the innovations referenced is

broad, and certain of the strategies are more immediately recognized than others. This is,

however, a compendium that is certainly worth a close read by law enforcement policy

makers and analysts, as well as students and scholars in the criminal justice academy. The

format chosen by the authors works most effectively in offering divergent perspectives on the

various policy initiatives referenced; the reader is offered the standpoints of both advocates

and critics of the strategies that have been implemented by law enforcement agencies of all

stripes during the past two decades.

The ubiquitous sea change in police innovations originated in a crisis in confidence that

characterized the American urban polity, beginning in the late 1960s and continuing through

the next decade or so, according to Weisburd and Braga. Police “innovation” such as exists

in the early part of the 21st century is the legacy and the remnant of policies initiated during

the 1980s and 1990s.

The book begins with Skogan and Mastrofski squaring off over the promises and broken

promises of community policing in its many and various iterations, although the debate (as

in most of the chapters) is far from contentious, since the “critics” and “advocates” in many

of these policy skirmishes often see the merits of the opposing perspectives. This is part of

what makes this anthology work so swimmingly well. When Skogan touts the strategic

advantages and the decentralization, problem solving, and citizen “coproduction” that purport

to be the hallmarks of cutting-edge innovation in community policing, he is met squarely

by Mastrofski’s “philosophy-not-a-program” (PNAP) observation critical of the refrain

reflexively expressed by community policing proponents who suggest that if the strategy

fails it will be because of a lack of appreciation for and an understanding of the philosophy

110 Criminal Justice Review