Crime, Order and Social Control: The Role of the Police

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how professional police institutions were considered the best defense against social disorder in the early nineteenth-century. It also discusses how, instead of addressing the social, economic, and psychological causes of crime, the authorities sought to respond to the symptoms of social injustice instead of the causes.

From the Paper:

"In evaluating why it was considered necessary to create a professional police force in the early nineteenth century, it is evident that professional police institutions were considered the best defense against social disorder. Instead of addressing the social, economic, and psychological causes of crime, early nineteenth-century authorities sought to respond to the symptoms of social injustice instead of the causes. So they created `professional' police forces, confident that reducing the symptoms of crime would cure the disease of crime. Routine `order maintenance' and vigilance were central to Sir Robert Peel's `new police' because his approach was formulated as a response to crime rates. "

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