David E. Barlow

Economic Conditions and Ideologies of Crime in the Media: A Content Analysis of Crime News

This study explores the relationship between media portrayal of crime and conditions in the political economy. Based on a content analysis of articles about crime appearing in Time magazine during the post-World War II period, it is argued that news about crime is ideological, that is, it gives an inadequate and distorted picture of the contradictory reality of crime in the context of the capitalist political economy in the United States.

Racial Profiling: A Survey of African American Police Officers

This article is an effort to provide data on racial profiling that are not as easily dismissed as anecdotal accounts of individual motorists. The authors conducted a survey of African American police officers in the Milwaukee Police Department in Wisconsin regarding their personal experiences of having been racially profiled, defining racial profiling as any situation in which race is used by a police officer or agency to determine the potential criminality of an individual. This study was not an investigation of the Milwaukee Police Department or of racial profiling within the department but rather of the extent to which Black police officers perceive they have been subjected to racial profiling by any police officer or agency. Police officers understand the intricacies, strategies, and techniques of lawenforcement. Therefore, the observations of Black police officers on the reasonableness of situations in which they have been stopped by police have exceptional validity.

Mobilizing Support for Social Control in a Declining Economy: Exploring Ideologies of Crime within Crime News

Building on a previous analysis of types of crime and characteristics of offenders in Time magazine articles about crime during the post-World War II period, this study extends exploration of ideologies of crime in the news by examining reports about the causes of crime and commands of what to do about crime in Time magazine. The authors argue that criminal justice policy and ideology have played an important role in developments within the postwar political economy in the United States.

A political economy of community policing

Places recent trends in policing in the USA into historical context, emphasizing the critical importance of political, economic, and social forces on the formation and development of police institutions and practices. Specifically, this paper describes four major developments in policing in relation to the US political economy: pre‐industrial police, industrial police, modern police, and postmodern police. Each of these developments has unique characteristics. At the same time, each retains certain structural imperatives which transcend the particulars and ultimately tend to preserve the police as front line defenders of the status quo. It is through an analysis of historically specific characteristics of, and fundamental structural conditions for policing that this paper contributes to a better understanding of the potential of contemporary police agencies to play a role in achieving either greater social justice or just greater social control.

Long economic cycles and the criminal justice system in the U.S.

Long cycles in capitalist development have been utilized as an analytical tool for political economic theory1 and to explain major shifts in the social structure within capitalist political economies.2 However, the potential impact that these massive changes in the political economy have on the historical development of criminal justice institutions and policies is an area not addressed within the literature. This article explores the relationship between long cycles of capitalist development and the historical formation of criminal justice policy in the United States.

The political economy of criminal justice policy: A time-series analysis of economic conditions, crime, and federal criminal justice legislation, 1948–1987

This study explores correlations between economic conditions, crime rates, and federal criminal justice legislation in the United States from 1948 to 1987. We expand on the punishment and social structure literature, inspired by Georg Rusche, by introducing new variables for operationalizing the political economy and criminal justice policy. We conduct a multivariate time-series analysis using various national economic indicators of the conditions of capital and labor over 40 years. The findings provide some support for a relationship between economic conditions and criminal justice legislation, even when crime rate is controlled.

Federal criminal justice legislation and the post-World War II social structure of accumulation in the United States

This article explores the relationship between the political economy and the criminal justice system through an analysis of the impact of long economic cycles in the social structure of accumulation on U.S. federal criminal justice legislation from 1948 to 1987. An analysis is conducted which compares both qualitative and quantitative changes in these legislative acts from the period of economic expansion (1948 to 1967) to the period of contraction (1968 to 1987). The research findings of this investigation indicate that mechanisms of social control intensify during periods of prolonged economic contraction; however, the concept of an “exceptional state”, with a proportional increase in more coercive crime control strategies, is somewhat challenged.

Following the Leader? Presidential Influence Over Congress in the Passage of Federal Crime Control Policy

This study explores the relationship between the president, Congress, and the passage of federal crime control legislation in the United States from 1946 to 1996. The theory of presidential influence over Congress is used to predict the impact of presidential activity on congressional passage of public laws related to crime. It is hypothesized that the more attention presidents give to the issue of crime, the more attention Congress will give to the topic, thus helping to ensure the papssage of crime legislation. Using a multivariate time-series analysis of data collected from the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States and the United States Statutes at Large, the study finds some support for the hypothesis, alongside presidential popularity, the official crime rate, and the political cycle.

Cultural sensitivity rediscovered: Developing training strategies for police officers

Abstract The most important issue in law enforcement for the 1990s is the rediscovery of human relations in police work. In many ways, the mood of the nineties is reminiscent of the urgency of the 1960s with regard to instilling in the police officer a greater sensitivity to diverse cultures and lifestyles. Two decades of focus on technology, professionalism, and war‐like strategies in law enforcement has left a void in policing in the area of human relations. This article reviews the history of police‐minority relations and compares the development of cultural sensitivity training in a southern state and in a large midwestern city in order to outline the critical issues involved in human relations training for police. Finally, it provides a practical guide for constructing lesson plans and instructing such seminars.

THE MEDIA, THE POLICE AND THE MULTICULTURAL COMMUNITY: OBSERVATIONS ON A CITY IN CRISIS

ABSTRACT This paper examines media treatment of events related to the Jeffrey Dahmer serial murder case and its aftermath in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A content analysis of newspaper articles, participant observation in aftermath events, interviews with newsworkers, discussions with police officers, and examination of alternative newspapers provide the data for this investigation of the role of the media in police-community relations. The news media played an important role in mediating police-community relations during this volatile period in Milwaukees history.