by Herman Goldstein, Professor of Law Emeritus

1977 edition, 372 pages, $30.00. Free shipping. 

View sample pages from the Preface (PDF)

About the Book

Policing a Free Society has been extraordinarily influential among police and students of criminal justice. Since its publication in 1977, this book has been among the most frequently cited works on the police. Professor Goldstein explores the fundamental issues in policing in a manner that is as relevant today as when it was first published. Policing a Free Society provides valuable background for understanding the current movement toward “problem-oriented” and “community-oriented” policing. A noted reviewer called Policing a Free Society “the most important general treatise ever written on the American police.” In describing his book, Herman Goldstein said:

The primary objective of this book, which is addressed to those concerned with improving police service, is to penetrate beyond the matters that have tended to preoccupy both the police and citizens interested in police operations—to thereby direct attention to the fundamental issues that must be faced. My hope is that a work that dwells on these issues and that demonstrates their relationship to the day-to-day problems of policing will promote more intensive consideration of them.

About Herman Goldstein

UW Law Professor Emeritus Herman Goldstein is internationally recognized for his groundbreaking work relating to the police. Herman Goldstein’s two classic books, Policing a Free Society and Problem-Oriented Policing, have had a major impact on the field of policing throughout the world. During his career on the law faculty, which dates back to 1964, Professor Goldstein has taught classes on policing and criminal justice administration to hundreds of students, some of whom subsequently became prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement personnel, and researchers. He has written numerous articles on the nature of the police function, police discretion, policy-making in policing, and the control of police conduct.

Contents

1. Chapter One: Basic Problems
2. Chapter Two: The Police Function
3. Chapter Three: The Police and Serious Crime
4. Chapter Four: Developing Alternatives to the Criminal Justice System
5. Chapter Five: Categorizing and Structuring Discretion
6. Chapter Six: Directing Police Agencies Through the Political Process
7. Chapter Seven: Controlling and Reviewing Police-Citizen Contacts
8. Chapter Eight: The Corruption Problem
9. Chapter Nine: Developing Critically Needed Leadership
10. Chapter Ten: Upgrading Police Personnel
11. Chapter Eleven: Higher Education and the Police
12. Chapter Twelve: Effecting Change