Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Normalising Police Militarisation, Living In Denial, Victor Kappeler, Peter Kraska

Peter Kraska

The militarisation of policing in the USA continues to be a critical area of enquiry for both the police and the society. Recent events in Boston speak to the centrality of this area of research for understanding state responses to an array of social problems, including violence, terrorism and civil unrest. The police capacity to organise and distribute state-sponsored violence as well as the ability to shape institutional appearances while doing so, impacts issues of civil rights, domestic order and the quality of political life in a democracy. The importance of the topic, coupled with the fact that we have …

Militarization And Policing—Its Relevance To 21st Century Police, Peter Kraska

Peter Kraska

This work examines the blurring distinctions between the police and military institutions and between war and law enforcement. In this article, the author asserts that understanding this blur, and the associated organizing concepts militarization and militarism, are essential for accurately analyzing the changing nature of security, and the activity of policing, in the late-modern era of the 21st century.

doi: 10.1093/police/pam065