NCJ Number
179158
Date Published
1998
Length
388 pages
Annotation
The accelerating trend toward privatization in the criminal justice system is analyzed, and policies of both liberals and conservatives who have supported government's pervasive role in the criminal justice system are challenged.
Abstract
In contrast to government's predominant role in criminal justice today, crime control was almost entirely private and community-based for many centuries. Government police forces, prosecutors, courts, and prisons are all recent historical developments, and the author contends the current government role in the criminal justice system is the result of a political and bureaucratic social experiment that does not protect the innocent or dispense justice. The author examines the gamut of private sector input to criminal justice, from private sector outsourcing of prisons and corrections, security, arbitration, and other functions generally performed by government to full private justice options such as sanctions imposed by businesses and communities, citizen crime prevention, and increased private security and self-defense. He believes private justice measures represent a traditional response to government's failure in crime prevention and justice. Searching for the most cost-effective methods of reducing crime and protecting civil liberties, the author weighs benefits and liabilities of various levels of privatization and offers corrective actions for the current gridlock that will make criminal justice truly accountable to citizens and reduce the unchecked power of government. Specific policy recommendations are offered on how to get back from a government-dominated criminal justice system to a privatized system. References, notes, and tables