Jeremy Bentham on police : the unknown story and what it means for criminology

Jeremy Bentham’s ideas on punishment are famous. Every criminology student learns about Bentham, and every criminologist contends with him, as advocate or opponent. This discourse concerns his ideas about punishment, namely with respect to legislation and the panopticon. Yet, scholars and students are generally ignorant of Bentham’s ideas on police. Hitherto, these ideas have been largely unknowable. Now, thanks to UCL’s Bentham Project, these ideas are public. Jeremy Bentham on Police celebrates this achievement by exploring the story of Bentham’s writings on police and considering their relevance to the past, present and future of criminology. After Scott Jacques introduces the book, the Director of the Bentham Project, Philip Schofield, describes and explains how it works. Then Michael Quinn, who brought together Bentham’s writings on police, delves into the personal and socio-historical background in which they were created. An extract follows, representing the most (criminologically-)relevant passages from Bentham’s police writings. Finally, a rich variety of scholars offer their thoughts on what those writings mean for criminology. These contributions come from Anthony A. Braga, Ronald Clarke, David J. Cox, Stephen Douglas, Stephen Engelmann, G. Geltner, Joel F. Harrington, Jonathan Jacobs, Paul Knepper, Gloria Laycock, Gary T. Marx, Daniel S. Nagin, Graeme R. Newman, Pat O’Malley, Eric L. Piza, Kim Rossmo, Lucia Summers and Dean Wilson. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Dedication 7 Table of contents 9 Notes on contributors 11 Acknowledgements 17 Part I: Chapters 19 1. The Story of Jeremy Bentham on Police: Bridging the Bentham Project to Criminology 21 The Bentham Project 22 Bentham on police 23 Quinn on Bentham on police 24 Criminologists on Bentham on police 26 Freeing Bentham on police 28 UCL Press 28 Copyright conflict 30 From the past to the future 31 Notes 33 References 33 2. Jeremy Bentham, the Bentham Project and The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham 35 The need for an authoritative Bentham edition 36 The establishment of the Bentham Project 38 The construction of the text 39 The printed critical edition in the digital age 45 Open access and funding 47 Notes 49 References 50 3. Bentham on Preventive Police: The Calendar of Delinquency in Evaluation of Policy, and the Police Gazette in Manipulation of Opinion 53 Police, policy and indirect legislation 55 Police and prevention in Bentham’s writings 56 The police writings: Colquhoun or Bentham? 69 The Calendar of Delinquency and moral calculation 73 and moral calculation 73 The ‘moralizing Police Gazette’ 76 Notes 85 References 90 Part II: Extracts 93 4. Extracts from Jeremy Bentham’s Board-of-Police Bill 95 Introduction 95 Introductory Observations relative to the Board-of-Police Bill 97 A Bill For the establishment of a Board of Police, and for the suppression of divers Offices; —or else, 102 General Preamble. 102 Part I. Licentiandi 103 Part II. Board 105 Part V. Penalties and Procedure 106 Part VI. Gazette and Calendar &c. 109 Notes to the Police Bill: containing Reasons, Precedents, and other Elucidations 121 Part I. Licence Duties 122 Part II. Board 125 Part VI. Gazette and Calendar &c. 130 Part III: Comments 161 The Influence of Bentham on the Development of Focused Deterrence 163 Incorporating utilitarianism 164 Optimizing the influence of sanctions 165 Concluding thoughts 166 References 167 Regulating Crime and the International Crime Drop 169 References 171 ‘An Attention to Domestic Quiet’: A Comparative Commentary on the Originality or Otherwise of Bentham’s Views and Writings on Preventive Police and the Police Gazette 173 Notes 178 References 178 Bentham’s Virtue 179 References 182 On Policing Before Bentham: Differences in Degree and Differences in Kind 185 Notes 189 References 189 Bentham’s England and the Longue Durée of Preventive Policing 191 Bentham on the Complex Role of Police 195 References 200 Bentham and Historical Criminology 201 References 203 Bentham: The First Crime Scientist? 205 Introduction 205 Key ideas from Bentham and colleagues 206 A calendar of delinquency 206 The science of policing 206 The importance of prevention 206 The current manifestation of Bentham’s ideas 207 Conclusions 208 References 209 Bentham on Modern Social Control: Prescient, Clairvoyant and More 211 Communication and the moral order 214 Soft control 214 The printing press, moral suasion and propaganda 215 Transparency can also control the governors 217 Social organization and crime 217 Using data to set policy 219 Local contexts: The situational level 220 Notes 223 References 224 Utilitarianism and Policing in the US 225 References 227 Bentham in the Weeds 229 References 232 A Genealogy of Bentham’s Preventive Policing 233 Winds of change 235 References 239 Bentham on Crime Analysis and Evidence-Based Policing 241 Bentham’s writings on preventive police 242 References 244 Bentham and the Philosophical Nature of Preventive Policing 247 References 250 Bentham in the Colonies 251 References 254 Index 255 Jeremy Bentham's ideas on punishment are famous. Every criminology student learns about Bentham, and every criminologist contends with him, as advocate or opponent. This discourse concerns his ideas about punishment, namely with respect to legislation and the panopticon. Yet, scholars and students are generally ignorant of Bentham's ideas on police. Hitherto, these ideas have been largely unknowable. Now, thanks to UCL's Bentham Project, these ideas are public. Jeremy Bentham on Police celebrates this achievement by exploring the story of Bentham's writings on police and considering their relevance to the past, present and future of criminology. After Scott Jacques introduces the book, the Director of the Bentham Project, Philip Schofield, describes and explains how it works. Then Michael Quinn, who brought together Bentham's writings on police, delves into the personal and socio-historical background in which they were created. An extract follows, representing the most (criminologically- )relevant passages from Bentham's police writings. Finally, a rich variety of scholars offer their thoughts on what those writings mean for criminology. These contributions come from Anthony A. Braga, Ronald Clarke, David J. Cox, Stephen Douglas, Stephen Engelmann, G. Geltner, Joel F. Harrington, Jonathan Jacobs, Paul Knepper, Gloria Laycock, Gary T. Marx, Daniel S. Nagin, Graeme R. Newman, Pat O'Malley, Eric L. Piza, Kim Rossmo, Lucia Summers and Dean Wilson