Street Justice: A History of Police Violence in New York City

by Marilynn S. Johnson

Street Justice traces the stunning history of police brutality in New York City, and the antibrutality movements that sought to eradicate it, from just after the Civil War through the present. New York's experience with police brutality dates back to the founding of the force and has shown itself in various forms ever From late-nineteenth-century "clubbing"-the routine bludgeoning of citizens by patrolmen with nightsticks-to the emergence of the "third degree," made notorious by gangster movies, from the violent mass-action policing of political dissidents during periods of social unrest, such as the 1930s and 1960s, to the tumultuous days following September 11.

Yet throughout this varied history, the victims of police violence have remained remarkably they have been predominantly poor and working class, and more often than not they have been minorities. Johnson compellingly argues that the culture of policing will only be changed when enough sustained political pressure and farsighted thinking about law enforcement is brought to bear on the problem.

Genres: History, New York, Read For School

378 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2003

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A former professor of mine wrote this book. A work of social history, it makes use of the archive left by complaints against the NYPD (both official and unofficial) and the defenses and reforms mounted by the police and their supervisors over the years- which is to say, a lot of the story isn’t and can’t be told, as it’s already been swept under the rug, in some cases for over a century. There’s a dispiriting regularity to how waves of police reform go. The police engage in systematic violence, from “clubbing” passers-by in the nineteenth century to the “third degree” in interrogation in the early twentieth with violent ethnic/racial/class profiling throughout. Coalitions of affected groups, liberal, leftists, and reformers get together to reign things in. You get some questioning of what the police are for and what they’re doing, but in the end discourses against the abuse of “respectable” citizens (implicitly approving of roughing up everyone else) and “professionalism” take the fore, being pressed by more organized and wealthier groups. The police squawk at both radicals and reformers and insist the sky will fall if they can’t torture suspects/club people when they feel like it/profile black people/whatever. But in the end, they wind up becoming quite cozy with the more moderate reformers, many of whom wind up giving police more resources and control in the name of professionalism. The structural issues are left in place, violence finds more permissible targets, and the cycle begins again. In this moment, the forces pressing for structural change seem stronger than they have in a long time, but the dynamics of reform are still depressingly similar. ****

[Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a thorough history of police violence in New York City with a wealth of information, citations, and analysis of related issues. The book focuses on items such as the use of locust clubs by police on civilians (Rochester's police union is named after the Locust wood used in their original clubs), the origins of the term "police brutality," several mini histories of police violence in NYC throughout different eras, what "the 3rd degree" was and how it was used, mini histories of all the commissions, panels, and reports investigating police violence in the city, NYC's first civilian review board and subsequent versions, dissidents calling out police violence and in turn being targeted by police for their political positions, the different race rebellions in the city, racial integration of the police force (also called "riot insurance"), and the rise of civilian review boards around the country (including Rochester).

In short, this book is just packed PACKED with information and really could be used as a reference book in some ways. Fascinating stuff.

My only complaint is that the author's writing voice just didn't hold my attention. I struggled with whole chapters because I just wasn't compelled to turn the page. It's unfortunate. However, it's not to be used as an excuse not to read the book. The book is amazing in its scope and depth. If this is an area of interest to you, read it.