Abstract
In Uneasy Peace, Patrick Sharkey presents an in-depth explanation of the crime decline that America has experienced since the 1990s. Sharkey brings in perspectives and data from a wide variety of disciplines, including neuroscience, sociology, demography, and economics, to demonstrate that explanations of violence cannot – and should not – be separated from explanations of social phenomena such as gentrification, education, and politics. Violence is complex, as are its causes and effects. While declines in violence have been met with improved test scores, safer schools, rising employment opportunities, upward economic mobility among the nation’s poorest citizens, and increased life expectancy among poor men of color, violence, police aggression, and rising inequality continue to plague the most segregated and disadvantaged cities in America. Sharkey’s book offers concrete and seemingly feasible policy suggestions aimed at promoting both peace and economic equality. He argues that confronting violence and urban inequality will require shifting away from punishment and abandonment and toward justice and investment.
Sharkey’s main message is that efforts from public, private, and nonprofit groups resulted in an immense decline in violence, one that has most benefited the most disadvantaged populations in America. The strategies used to control crime have also, however, brought about large costs. For instance, while Black men today are less fearful of violence within their communities, they now fear an outside source of violence: the police. Further, violence continues to threaten men, women, and children in disadvantaged communities.
Sharkey offers a refreshing and balanced take on crime control that contrasts those of the increasingly polarized left and right. Importantly, he recognizes that criminal justice entities can simultaneously be part of the problem and the solution. While criminal justice systems have contributed to crime decreases, problems associated with rising surveillance, aggressive policing, mass incarceration, fear of crime, poor education, and poverty can all be attributed at least in part to criminal justice-related policies centered around abandonment and punishment. According to Sharkey, conversations surrounding crime control have too readily centered on the problems associated with policing and incarceration, and have failed to recognize the broader systems of discrimination and oppression facing disadvantaged communities. Sharkey presents a useful framework that contextualizes policy responses to what he calls the “urban crisis.”
How are we to confront the challenges faced by residents in cities plagued by violence? At the core of Sharkey’s suggestions is investment in the poorest urban communities. While America has recently seen a movement toward justice and away from punishment, positive change will also require, according to the author, investment in areas such as reentry, community organizations, and police–community relations. Sharkey offers two specific ways of going about lowering poverty and violence: transforming police officers from warriors to guardians and increasing informal social controls within communities. Sharkey argues that police departments should engage in efforts that target hot spots and at-risk offenders, attend to community problems, and attempt to strengthen police–community relations. In addition, Sharkey argues that communities should be provided resources that allow for effective and sustainable interventions, investments, policies, and programs, including training and equipping community advocates who can serve as a buffer between the police and residents and care for urban neighborhoods and their residents. While extant research has pointed to the importance of community organizations in controlling violence, Sharkey’s perspective uniquely suggests that community advocates have the potential to serve as the strongest source of crime control in urban America.
Uneasy Peace might be strengthened by a consideration of police clearance, the victim rights movement, and issues surrounding police use of force. While Sharkey does mention that homicides in minority communities are not always solved, or met with “justice for the killer” (p. 72), his book might benefit from a description of the consequences of lowering crime-solving rates (i.e. clearance rates) among police departments. Scholars and journalists have suggested that when the police fail to solve crimes, police legitimacy might be weakened and violence may in fact increase. Further, though Sharkey provides an insightful account of the simultaneous abandonment and punishment of poor urban communities, his argument might be strengthened by a consideration of the victim rights movement of the 1970s that appears to have disproportionately benefitted and neglected particular groups. A final concern relates to Sharkey’s discussion of police aggression. Although he does not directly state that police violence has been on the rise, Sharkey does point to the significance of technology and social media in impacting perceptions of police use of force, and he suggests that fear of police abuse now overrides fear of young rival crew members. His book does not, however, discuss the challenges associated with measuring police use of force or arguments suggesting that the use of force has actually declined in recent decades despite greater media attention.
As social scientists, we are trained to search for parsimonious explanations of social phenomena such as crime. Sharkey’s newest book makes it clear, however, that a complex combination of factors contributes to both violence and peace. His straightforward, multidisciplinary, and apolitical writing has the potential to appeal to a wide audience of scholars, policymakers, and practitioners. During a time in which unification and evidence-based policy are of utmost importance, great effort should be made to disseminate Uneasy Peace to individuals from all sides of the political spectrum.
