You Can Hear Them Knocking: A Study in the Policing of America

It is safe to say that the true role of the police, and indeed the criminal justice system over all, is largely misunderstood by the public and very likely by the people who make up its ranks. It is the purpose of this book to define this role by asking the question: WHY? Why do we have a police force and a criminal justice system in American and what are the true sociological ends being served by them; or better still, to what ends are they being asked to serve. We may discover that what the police are expected to accomplish is more important for society than their actual performance.

John Cooper is a professor of sociology and African-American Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He has taught at that institution for over thirty years, and he has been studying the urban black community for over 40 years.