Book Review

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

A painstakingly researched and beautifully written account of the rise of Chicago’s pioneering municipal court system, City of Courts is at its core a historical investigation into the deeply troubling moral issues raised by the exercise of authority and power in a liberal democracy. Because of this, it should be required reading for policy makers, administrators, and social welfare practitioners. Its captivating analysis of progressive efforts to rethink individual responsibility and radically reshape the administration of criminal justice adds a forgotten and critically important chapter to the history of modern state development. Accordingly, this book should command wide scholarly attention from criminologists, historians, historical sociologists, law professors, political scientists, social theorists, and urban sociologists.

Publication Citation

78 Soc. Service Rev. 151 (2004) (reviewing Michael Willrich, City of Courts: Socializing Justice in Progressive Era Chicago (2003)).

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