Policing Urban Poverty

Since the 19th century, a core task of the police has been crime control and order maintenance, especially in poor communities. This text focuses on the policy implications of discourses on poverty and crime in America and Britain.

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Policing Urban Poverty provides a comprehensive and wide-ranging analysis of the policy implications of social problems for the welfare state in general and the police service in particular, through an examination of the relationship between discourses on urban poverty, crime and disorder in Britain and America. Drawing on extensive empirical evidence, the book adds to the sociological and historical analyses of these issues by considering their practical relevance at different times and in different places for police policy-makers. Throughout history the police have been charged with the difficult task of peace-keeping and crime-fighting in poor communities, with potentially calamitous consequences when things go wrong. Senior police officers have argued that successive governments have not provided adequate support and guidance to assist them in their attempts to be tough on crime and its causes.