Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Sentencing Law and Policy

Criminal Law

: Sentencing Law and Policy

An important new book on criminal registries: "Knowledge as Power"

By Douglas A. Berman

I am pleased to report the publication of this important new book by Professor Wayne Logan: "Knowledge as Power: Criminal Registration and Community Notification Laws in America." Here is a description of the book from the publisher: Societies have long sought security by identifying potentially dangerous individuals in their midst.  America is surely no exception. Knowledge as Power traces the evolution of a modern technique that has come to enjoy nationwide popularity ? criminal registration laws. Registration, which originated in the 1930s as a means of monitoring gangsters, went largely unused for decades before experiencing a dramatic resurgence in the 1990s.  Since then it has been complemented by community notification laws which, like the "Wanted" posters of the Frontier West, publicly disclose registrants' identifying information, involving entire communities in the criminal monitoring process...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 24, 2009 (boomark / email).