Neighborhood Watch
Policing White Spaces in America

This book explores how private citizens police Black people in America to enforce de facto color lines and maintain 'White spaces.'

Shawn E. Fields (Author)

9781108840064, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 June 2022

216 pages
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.6 cm, 0.46 kg

'… Neighborhood Watch provides an accessible and normatively important critique of not only the criminal justice system and the ways in which the government constructs and maintains segregation and marginalization in American society but also the ways in which everyday White Americans participate in such maintenance. This is a novel contribution that adds depth to the burgeoning policing literature in political science, as well as to our understandings of legal theory, the policymaking process, and studies of race and racism across disciplines like law, political science, sociology, and history.' Leah Christiani, The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics

Although racism has plagued the American justice system since the nation's colonial beginnings, private White Americans are taking matters into their own hands. From racist 911 calls and hoaxes to grassroots voter suppression and vigilante 'self-defense,' concerted efforts are made every day by private citizens to exclude Black Americans from schools, neighborhoods, and positions of power. Neighborhood Watch examines the specific ways people police America's color line to protect 'White spaces.' The book charts how these actions too often result in harassment, arrest, injury, or death, yet typically go unchecked. Instead, these actions are promoted and encouraged by legislatures looking to expand racially discriminatory laws, a police system designed to respond with force to any frivolous report of Black 'mischief,' and a Supreme Court that has abdicated its role in rejecting police abuse. To combat these realities, Neighborhood Watch offers preliminary recommendations for reform, including changes to the 'maximum policing' state, increased accountability for civilians who abuse emergency response systems, and proposals to demilitarize the color line.

Introduction: a personal protection agency
1. Cycles of racial fear
2. White caller crime
3. Just a hunch
4. Defending white space
5. Unqualified immunity
6. Permanent fear
7. Rethinking maximum policing
8. Resisting a 'shoot first, think later' culture
Epilogue: 'send her back'.

Subject Areas: International law [LB]