Week 1, 1.13: Setting the Scene
- Schwartz, M. A. (2008). The importance of stupidity in scientific research. Journal of Cell Science, 121(11), 1771.
Week 2, 1.20: Function of Police (Foundations)
President’s Commission on Law Enforcement & Administration of Justice. (1967). The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society: A Report. US Government Printing Office. (Chapter 4)
Bittner, E. (1970). The Functions of the Police in Modern Society: A Review of Background Factors, Current Practices, and Possible Role Models. (Chapters 1-3)
Bittner, E. (1974). Florence Nightingale in pursuit of Willie Sutton: A theory of the police. In H. Jacob (Ed.), The Potential for Reform of Criminal Justice. Sage Publications, Inc.
Week 3, 1.27: Function of Police (Contemporary)
President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. (2015). Final Report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
Thacher, D. (2022). Shrinking the police footprint. Criminal Justice Ethics, 41(1), 62-85.
Thacher, D. (2025). The invention of urgency: The transformation of the police role in society’s response to mental illness, 1900-1970. Policing and Society, 1-25.
Week 4, 2.03: Culture (Foundations)
Westley, W. A. (1953). Violence and the police. American Journal of Sociology, 59(1), 34-41.
Skolnick, J. H. (1968). Justice Without Trial: Law Enforcement in Democratic Society. John Wiley & Sons. (Chapter 3)
Van Maanen, J. (1973). Observations on the making of policemen. Human Organization, 32(4), 407-418.
Herbert, S. (1998). Police subculture reconsidered. Criminology, 36(2), 343-370.
Week 5, 2.10: Culture (Contemporary)
- Sierra-Arévalo, M. (2024). The Danger Imperative: Violence, Death, and the Soul of Policing. Columbia University Press.
Week 6, 2.17: Police Discretion (Foundations)
Goldstein, J. (1960). Police discretion not to invoke the criminal process: Low-visibility decisions in the administration of justice. Yale Law Journal, 69, 543-594.
Goldstein, H. (1963). Police discretion: The ideal versus the real. Public Administration Review, 23(3), 140- 148.
Bittner, E. (1967). The police on Skid-Row: A study of peace keeping. American Sociological Review, 32(5), 699-715.
Walker, S. (1993). Taming the System: The Control of Discretion in Criminal Justice, 1950-1990. Oxford University Press. (Chapter 2)
Week 7, 2.24: Police Discretion (Contemporary)
Goff, P. A., Lloyd, T., Geller, A., Raphael, S., & Glaser, J. (2016). The Science of Justice: Race, Arrests, and Police Use of Force. Center for Policing Equity.
Pierson, E., Simoiu, C., Overgoor, J., Corbett-Davies, S., Jenson, D., Shoemaker, A., … & Goel, S. (2020). A large-scale analysis of racial disparities in police stops across the United States. Nature Human Behaviour, 4(7), 736-745.
Week 8, 3.03: Midterm Exam
- No readings
Week 9, 3.10: Legal Standards (Foundations)
Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985).
Graham v. Connor et al., 490 U.S. 386 (1989).
Walker, S. E. (1992). Origins of the contemporary criminal justice paradigm: The American Bar Foundation Survey, 1953-1969. Justice Quarterly, 9(1), 47-76.
Week 10, 3.17: Spring Break
- No class
Week 11, 3.24: Legal Standards (Contemporary)
Barnes v. Felix et al., 605 U.S. ___ (2025).
Mourtgos, S. M., & Adams, I. T. (2020). Assessing public perceptions of police use-of-force: Legal reasonableness and community standards. Justice Quarterly, 37(5), 869-899.
Mourtgos, S. M., Adams, I. T., McLean, K., & Alpert, G. P. (2026). Risk and public judgments on police pursuits: A nationally representative conjoint experiment. Police Quarterly. Advance online publication.
Week 12, 3.31: Reducing Crime (Foundations)
Kelling, G., Pate, T., Dieckman, D., & Brown, C. E. (1974). The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. Washington, DC: National Policing Institute.
Wilson, J. Q. & Kelling, G. (1982). Broken windows: The police and neighborhood safety. The Atlantic, 249(3), 29-38.
Sherman, L.W., Gartin, P. R., & Buerger, M. E. (1989). Hot spots of predatory crime: Routine activities and the criminology of place. Criminology, 27(1), 27-56.
Week 13, 4.07: Reducing Crime (Contemporary)
Weisburd, D., Wilson, D. B., Petersen, K., & Telep, C. W. (2023). Does police patrol in large areas prevent crime? Revisiting the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. Criminology & Public Policy, 22(3), 543-560.
Braga, A. A., Schnell, C., & Welsh, B. C. (2024). Disorder policing to reduce crime: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Criminology & Public Policy, 23(3), 745-775.
Turchan, B., & Braga, A. A. (2024). The effects of hot spots policing on violence: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 79, 102011.
Week 14, 4.14: Legitimacy (Foundations)
Bottoms, A., & Tankebe, J. (2012). Beyond procedural justice: A dialogic approach to legitimacy in criminal justice. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 102, 119-170.
Tyler, T. R. (2003). Procedural justice, legitimacy, and the effective rule of law. Crime and Justice, 30, 283-357.
Bell, M. C. (2017). Police reform and the dismantling of legal estrangement. The Yale Law Journal, 126, 2054-2150.
Week 15, 4.21: Legitimacy (Contemporary)
- Cheng, T. (2024). The Policing Machine: Enforcement, Endorsements, and the Illusion of Public Input. University of Chicago Press.
Week 16, 4.28: Final Exam
- No readings
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