The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale
Published by Verso on October 10, 2017
my rating: ★★★★
Goodreads avg: 4.25 (as of 2020-06-14)
Spoiler-free review
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PSA: The ebook version of this is currently FREE on the publisher’s website and can be delivered in multiple formats!
A kinder, gentler, and more diverse war on the poor is still a war on the poor.
this is a really great primer on criticisms of the police as well as alternatives. the book has 10 parts and covers topics such as the school-to-prison pipeline, race, homelessness, sex work, and the war on drugs. it was really helpful to see such a breadth of topics laid out, as it is clear that the current policing system fails many people within our society and in a plethora of ways. it’s certainly more of an introduction and i was left wanting further information, but i think in that way the book accomplishes what it’s set out to do. i definitely recommend it to those who are interested in the current discussion of police reform/abolition and are not sure where to start.
Sarah Ames-Foley 
Thanks for sharing some thoughts on this- I downloaded a copy but haven’t had a chance to check it out yet. It does sound like a good intro, I’m happy to see you found it worthwhile if not exhaustive.
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yes, it definitely got me interested in finding some more resources that go a bit deeper into each topic! some were things i hadn’t thought about during the recent abolition conversation, like sex workers, so it was nice to have something a little more fully rounded.
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