Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The End of Policing by Alex S. Vitale

14 reviews

careinthelibrary's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime, Classism, Deportation, Drug use, and Mass/school shootings

mollyate's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

I would say this book provided a broad overview of the argument of abolishing the police. very much gave sociology vibes and can serve as good intro into abolitionist thought and movements.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Racism, and Violence

alyssa_s10's review

informative medium-paced

4.25

This book was not really about police abolition, it was mostly about police reform. It has a number of good ideas, like the decriminalization of drugs and sex work. 
There are a couple of quotes I like from the book such as "Police are the thin blue line between the have and the have not." as well as "The only law deserving of our respect is an unprejudiced law. One that protects everyone everywhere."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Racism, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug use, Violence, and Death

Minor: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, and Addiction

mandkips's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Gun violence, and Racism

Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault, Drug abuse, and Addiction

orireading's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

3.75

Would recommend to leftists and aspiring leftists :) interested in learning more about histories of policing. The audiobook format is great if you’re used to non-fiction podcasts but have a hard time reading non-fiction, since Vitale dives into one topic per chapter. 

However, I had two qualms with this book: the conclusion, and a language choice. First, Vitale pedals back on his abolitionist statements in the conclusion, which weakens the text as a whole. This was a little weird, considering the premise of the book is “the end of policing.” 

Second, Vitale refers throughout the book to various marginalized groups using “these people” (instead of repeating “sex workers” or whatever) which I picked up on because it’s been edited out of my own long-form academic writing! Phrases that writers use to refer to a group can continue the marginalization of, or discrimination against, the group, despite the author’s neutral use of the phrases. 

Overall, I really did enjoy this as an audiobook and learned a LOT. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Police brutality, and Violence

kshertz's review

informative sad medium-paced

3.75

It’s a certain kind of book! I have been focusing my learning on abolition and a lot of what was in here I’ve learned but there was a lot of facts and statistics I was unaware of as well as some powerful stories I will take with me. I thought it was well thought out and well done

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

natanbcpc's review

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

A very good introduction to police abolition. Each chapter focuses on a specific issue and analyses why our current approach is bad, positives and shortcomings of proposed reforms and police-free alternatives to deal with the issue.

The book is very American-centered, although it references other countries every now and then, but a lot of stuff still applies elsewhere.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Police brutality, Violence, and Racism

Minor: Drug use, Homophobia, and Transphobia

cianarae's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Gun violence, Drug use, and Violence

skudiklier's review

challenging informative slow-paced

4.75

I've been reading this book for almost an entire year at this point; this is for several reasons, and shouldn't just be taken as "wow this book is slow/dense." It is a very comprehensive look at the areas in which policing fails, the reasons for these failures, the way these failures are systemic, and ways we can help replace policing with other solutions. It is also very dense in the sense that it's a lot of facts, statistics, and figures, with very little to break it up. For me that's harder to get through, so I read it very slowly over the course of a year. But I would highly recommend this book, especially to those who think the police should not be abolished. I have a hard time imagining how someone could read this book and come away still thinking the police are a force for good. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Hate crime, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Trafficking, Violence, Xenophobia, and Transphobia

Minor: Sexual assault and Rape

perusing_panels's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

This book is a great introduction to the rationale behind defunding and dismantling the police, with concise well organised chapters focusing on different areas of policing and the ways in which they fail to keep everyone (particularly poor and marginalised people) safe.

The book discusses issues with systemic racism, classism, ableism, and other biases rooted in the misguided ideologies behind current policing systems and methods. It also explains why reforms aren’t enough, the system needs to be dismantled and redefined focusing on community lead alternatives that ensure equal protection and aid for everyone, not just the privileged and wealthy. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Murder