NCJ Number
185391
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 40 Issue: 4 Dated: Autumn 2000 Pages: 710-726
Editor(s)
Geoffrey Pearson
Date Published
2000
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This article reassesses the work of Patrick Colquhoun by reconsidering his notion of crime prevention by arguing that Colquhoun has been badly served by having his notion of prevention understood in light of the emergence of the new police in Great Britain in 1829.
Abstract
This has obscured the importance of poverty, indigence, and political economy to Colquhoun's understanding of police. The author suggests that Colquhoun's work should be of interest as much to the discipline of social policy as to police studies, and he uses this argument as a springboard into a wider argument concerning historical, political, and conceptual links between police and social policy as mechanisms for fashioning the market. The major suggestion is that the concept of a "social police" may be a useful way to understand these links. The primary aim of a social police is to understand the ways in which policing extends well beyond a uniformed force for the prevention and detection of crime. 59 references and 5 footnotes