Policy Press

Defund the Police

An International Insurrection

By Chris Cunneen

Published

Mar 31, 2023

Page count

274 pages

ISBN

978-1447361671

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Mar 31, 2023

Page count

274 pages

ISBN

978-1447361664

Dimensions

216 x 240 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Mar 31, 2023

Page count

274 pages

ISBN

978-1447361688

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Mar 31, 2023

Page count

274 pages

ISBN

978-1447361688

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press
Defund the Police

The police are viewed as guardians of public safety and enforcers of the law. How accurate is this? Given endemic police violence which is often aimed at racialised and minoritised groups and the failure of many attempts at reform, attention has turned to community-generated models of support. These include defunding the police and instead funding alternatives to criminalisation and incarceration.

This book is the first comprehensive overview of police divestment, using international examples and case studies to reimagine community safety beyond policing and imprisonment.

Showcasing a range of practical examples, this topical book will be relevant for academics, policy makers, activists and all those interested in the Black Lives Matter movement, protest movements and the renewed interest in policing and abolitionism more generally.

Chris Cunneen is Professor of Criminology at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

1. Time for change

2. A brief history of policing

3. Don’t police solve crime?

4. The protest movement never stopped: from Black Power to zero tolerance

5. Police violence is the pandemic

6. The protection racket

7. Disabling policing, protecting community health

8. The failure of reform

9. What is to be done?