Jeremy Bentham on Police
The unknown story and what it means for criminology
Scott Jacques (Editor), Philip Schofield (Editor)
Jeremy Bentham’s ideas on punishment are famous. Every criminology student learns about Bentham, and every criminologist contends with him, as advocate or opponent. This discourse concerns his ideas about punishment, namely with respect to legislation and the panopticon. Yet, scholars and students are generally ignorant of Bentham’s ideas on police. Hitherto, these ideas have been largely unknowable. Now, thanks to UCL’s Bentham Project, these ideas are public.
Jeremy Bentham on Police celebrates this achievement by exploring the story of Bentham’s writings on police and considering their relevance to the past, present and future of criminology. After Scott Jacques introduces the book, the Director of the Bentham Project, Philip Schofield, describes and explains how it works. Then Michael Quinn, who brought together Bentham’s writings on police, delves into the personal and socio-historical background in which they were created. An extract follows, representing the most (criminologically-)relevant passages from Bentham’s police writings. Finally, a rich variety of scholars offer their thoughts on what those writings mean for criminology. These contributions come from Anthony A. Braga, Ronald Clarke, David J. Cox, Stephen Douglas, Stephen Engelmann, G. Geltner, Joel F. Harrington, Jonathan Jacobs, Paul Knepper, Gloria Laycock, Gary T. Marx, Daniel S. Nagin, Graeme R. Newman, Pat O’Malley, Eric L. Piza, Kim Rossmo, Lucia Summers and Dean Wilson.
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Part I: Chapters
1 The Story of Jeremy Bentham on Police: Bridging the Bentham Project to Criminology
Scott Jacques
2 Jeremy Bentham, the Bentham Project and The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham Philip Schofield
3 Bentham on Preventive Police: The Calendar of Delinquency in Evaluation of Policy, and the Police Gazette in Manipulation of Opinion Michael Quinn
Part II: Extracts
4 Extracts from Jeremy Bentham’s Board-of-Police Bill Jeremy Bentham (Selected and edited by Philip Schofield and Scott Jacques)
Part III: Comments
The Influence of Bentham on the Development of Focused Deterrence Anthony A. Braga and Stephen Douglas
Regulating Crime and the International Crime Drop
Ronald Clarke
‘An Attention to Domestic Quiet’: A Comparative Commentary on the Originality or Otherwise of Bentham’s Views and Writings on Preventive Policing and the Police Gazette
David J. Cox
Bentham’s Virtue Stephen Engelmann
On Policing Before Bentham: Differences in Degree and Differences in Kind
G. Geltner
Bentham’s England and the Longue Durée of Preventive Policing
Joel F. Harrington
Bentham on the Complex Role of Police Jonathan Jacobs
Bentham and Historical Criminology
Paul Knepper
Bentham: The First Crime Scientist?
Gloria Laycock
Bentham on Modern Social Control: Prescient, Clairvoyant, Prescient, and More
Gary T. Marx
Utilitarianism and Policing in the US Daniel S. Nagin
Bentham in the Weeds
Graeme R. Newman
A Genealogy of Bentham’s Preventive Policing Pat O’Malley
Bentham on Crime Analysis and Evidence-Based Policing
Eric L. Piza
Bentham and the Philosophical Nature of Preventive Policing
Kim Rossmo and Lucia Summers
Bentham in the Colonies
*Dean Wilson
Index
DOI: 10.14324/111.9781787356177
Publication date: 18 October 2021
PDF ISBN: 9781787356177
EPUB ISBN: 9781787356603
Hardback ISBN: 9781787356474
Paperback ISBN: 9781787356412
Scott Jacques (Editor)
Scott Jacques is Director of Criminology Open, and Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Georgia State University.
Philip Schofield (Editor) 
Philip Schofield is Director of the Bentham Project, Faculty of Laws, UCL, and General Editor of the new authoritative edition of The Collected Works of Jeremy Bentham.
‘Jeremy Bentham is more often the object of derivative caricature than serious enquiry in criminology. This book carefully appraises Bentham’s contributions to preventive police theory and presents a lively, polyphonic discussion of his significance and legacy for policing and crime control. It promises to inspire a more mature and rewarding engagement with Bentham’s thought in criminology at large.’ – David Churchill, University of Leeds
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