NCJ Number
139184
Journal
Crime, Law and Social Change Volume: 18 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (September 1992) Pages: 3-34
Date Published
1992
Length
32 pages
Annotation
The author of this commentary critiques seven articles related to issues raised in his book, "Undercover: Police Surveillance in America."
Abstract
The first article examines the changing nature of police interrogation in America in the 20th century as it has moved from coercion to deception. The critique of the article considers the empirical correlates of these changes, what accounts for the changes, and how the changes should be viewed and controlled from the perspective of public policy and ethics. An article on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) intelligence operations under the Alexander regime is also critiqued. The review of Donald Alexander's term as IRS Commissioner under President Nixon focuses on Alexander's motives in shutting down the IRS intelligence unit. At first hailed as a defender of the liberties of Americans, the article critiqued provides evidence for another view of Alexander's motives, i.e., the protection of big business rather than the average citizen from IRS investigations. Other articles critiqued pertain to the FBI undercover operations under Hoover, conceptual refinements in undercover work and elaborations that involve types and consequences, the appearance and consequences of new electronic surveillance, and the location of undercover work within broader revisionist currents in the study of social control. 17 notes and 20 references