Political Philosophy Perspectives on Policing

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

As a major institution of the state, which impacts the distribution of key public goods and has the potential to enhance or diminish the state’s legitimacy, policing is a natural area of study for political philosophy. Despite these connections, too often political philosophy has neglected the police. But there has been a notable shift in recent years—sparked in part by mass protests and increased public attention on policing—as more political philosophers and theorists have taken up the topic. The papers featured in this panel reflect that trend. They draw on tools from political philosophy, as well as related fields like law, history, and ethics, to normatively evaluate the police, assess risks that they pose, and clarify salient concepts in policing. In particular, the papers scrutinize policing as it exists in actual (rather than ideal) societies, which are inevitably marked by background conditions of injustice.

Sub Unit

• Division 3: Normative Theory

Individual Presentations

• The Genealogical Critique of Policing - Ben Taylor Jones, Pennsylvania State University

• The Problem of Violent Crime - Jake Monaghan, University of Southern California

Chair

• Anthony Michael Bertelli Pennsylvania State University

Discussants

• Lee-Ann Chae Temple University

• David M. Sollenberger Penn State University