Misdemeanorland: Criminal Courts and Social Control in an Age of Broken Windows Policing

An in-depth look at the consequences of New York City’s dramatically expanded policing of low-level offenses

Felony conviction and mass incarceration attract considerable media attention these days, yet the most common criminal-justice encounters are for misdemeanors, not felonies, and the most common outcome is not prison. In the early 1990s, New York City launched an initiative under the banner of Broken Windows policing to dramatically expand enforcement against low-level offenses. Misdem...