Against Prediction

Profiling, Policing, and Punishing in an Actuarial Age

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Criminal Procedure, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Crimes & Criminals, Criminology
Cover of the book Against Prediction by Bernard E. Harcourt, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bernard E. Harcourt ISBN: 9780226315997
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: September 15, 2008
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Bernard E. Harcourt
ISBN: 9780226315997
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: September 15, 2008
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

From random security checks at airports to the use of risk assessment in sentencing, actuarial methods are being used more than ever to determine whom law enforcement officials target and punish. And with the exception of racial profiling on our highways and streets, most people favor these methods because they believe they’re a more cost-effective way to fight crime.

In Against Prediction, Bernard E. Harcourt challenges this growing reliance on actuarial methods. These prediction tools, he demonstrates, may in fact increase the overall amount of crime in society, depending on the relative responsiveness of the profiled populations to heightened security. They may also aggravate the difficulties that minorities already have obtaining work, education, and a better quality of life—thus perpetuating the pattern of criminal behavior. Ultimately, Harcourt shows how the perceived success of actuarial methods has begun to distort our very conception of just punishment and to obscure alternate visions of social order. In place of the actuarial, he proposes instead a turn to randomization in punishment and policing. The presumption, Harcourt concludes, should be against prediction.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

From random security checks at airports to the use of risk assessment in sentencing, actuarial methods are being used more than ever to determine whom law enforcement officials target and punish. And with the exception of racial profiling on our highways and streets, most people favor these methods because they believe they’re a more cost-effective way to fight crime.

In Against Prediction, Bernard E. Harcourt challenges this growing reliance on actuarial methods. These prediction tools, he demonstrates, may in fact increase the overall amount of crime in society, depending on the relative responsiveness of the profiled populations to heightened security. They may also aggravate the difficulties that minorities already have obtaining work, education, and a better quality of life—thus perpetuating the pattern of criminal behavior. Ultimately, Harcourt shows how the perceived success of actuarial methods has begun to distort our very conception of just punishment and to obscure alternate visions of social order. In place of the actuarial, he proposes instead a turn to randomization in punishment and policing. The presumption, Harcourt concludes, should be against prediction.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book The Mourner by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Reconstruction after the Civil War, Third Edition by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book African American Writers and Classical Tradition by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book A Nation of Neighborhoods by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Realizing Educational Rights by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Radium and the Secret of Life by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book More than Cool Reason by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Confident Pluralism by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Terrorism, Ticking Time-Bombs, and Torture by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Tunguska, or the End of Nature by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Confederate Cities by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book The Outfit by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Notebooks, English Virtuosi, and Early Modern Science by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book The Search for Justice by Bernard E. Harcourt
Cover of the book Seeing Like a Rover by Bernard E. Harcourt
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy