Beckett, Katherine : Indiana University at Bloomington
Katherine Beckett is Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Adjunct Assistant Professor
in the Department of Sociology at Indiana University, Bloomington.
Review
"This is a well thought out, timely, and interesting look at one of the toughest problems in the United
States."
--Robert W. Langran, Villanova University
"...well-written, sharply focused....provides a useful perspective on an immensely consequential issue."
--Choice
"...Beckett does an excellent job deconstructing the politics of crime policy in this country."
--The ICCA Review of Books
"Beckett immerses herself in the political, social, historical, and discursive context of crime contol in
America. The result is an excellent example of how interdisciplinary research can enhance our understanding of
complex social phenomena."
--Journal of Criminal Justice
Oxford University Press Web Site, March, 2000
Summary
Most Americans are not aware that the US prison population has tripled over the past two decades, nor that the
US has the highest rate of incarceration in the industrialized world. Despite these facts, politicians from across
the ideological spectrum continue to campaign on "law and order" platforms and to propose "three
strikes"--and even "two strikes"--sentencing laws. Why is this the case? How have crime, drugs,
and delinquency come to be such salient political issues, and why have enhanced punishment and social control been
defined as the most appropriate responses to these complex social problems? Making Crime Pay: Law and Order in
Contemporary American Politics provides original, fascinating, and persuasive answers to these questions.
According to conventional wisdom, the worsening of the crime and drug problems has led the public to become more
punitive, and "tough" anti-crime policies are politicians' collective response to this popular sentiment.
Katherine Beckett challenges this interpretation, arguing instead that the origins of the punitive shift in crime
control policy lie in the political rather than the penal realm--particularly in the tumultuous period of the 1960s.
Table of Contents
1. Law and Order in Contemporary American Politics
2. Setting the Public Agenda
3. Creating the Crime Issue
4. From Crime to Drugs--and Back Again
5. Crime and Drugs in the News
6. Crime and Punishment in American Political Culture
7. Institutionalizing Law and Order
8. Reconceptualizing the Crime Problem
