Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear

Jonathan Simon

How did fear of violent crime reshape who holds power in America, and what did it do to the meaning of freedom and equality?

At a glance

You will see how crime became the lens through which governments handle schools and families
You will understand how fear of crime gave presidents and prosecutors more power
You will notice when safety is used to justify new powers

Introduction: Crime and American Governance
1 Power, Authority, and Criminal Law
2 “Prosecutor-in-Chief”: Executive Authority and the War on Crime
3 We the Victims: Fearing Crime and Making Law
4 Judgment and Distrust: The Jurisprudence of Crime and the Decline of Judicial Governance
5 Project Exile: Race, the War on Crime, and Mass Imprisonment
6 Crime Families: Governing Domestic Relations Through Crime
7 Safe Schools: Reforming Education Through Crime
8 Penalty Box: Crime, Victimization, and Punishment in the Deregulated Workplace
9 Wars of Governance: From Cancer to Crime to Terror
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