Book Review: Stop and Search: Anatomy of a Police Power
| Published date | 01 August 2016 |
| Date | 01 August 2016 |
| Author | Kath Murray |
| DOI | 10.1177/0964663916647530c |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
moving to a post-disciplinary phase might have inhibited other important and inter-
esting lines of inquiry.
SHARRON A. FITZGERALD
Ludwig-Maximilian University, Germany
References
Dixon D (2011) Life on the margins: a feminist counter-topography of H-2B workers. In:
Sharron AF (ed.) Regulating the International Movement of Women: From Protection to
Control. London: Routledge, pp. 69–91.
Gregory D (2006) The black flag: Guanta´namo Bay and the space of exception. Geografiska
Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 88: 405–427.
Katz C (2001) On the grounds of globalisation: topography for feminist political engagement.
Signs 26: 1213–1234.
Hubbard P, Matthewsb R and Scoularc J (2008) Regulating sex work in the EU: the prostitute
women and the new spaces of exclusion. Gender, Place and Culture 15: 137–152.
Hyndman J (2006) Feminist approaches to the global intimate. Women’s Quarterly Review 34:
446–463.
Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos A (2011) Law’s spatial turn: geography, justice and a certain fear of
space. Law, Culture and the Humanities 7: 187–202.
Scoular J (2015) The Subject of Prostitution: Sex Work, Law and Social Theory. London:
Routledge.
MIKE SHINER AND REBEKAH DELSOL (eds), Stop and Search: Anatomy of a Police Power.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, 228pp., ISBN 978-1-137-33609-5, £65 (hbk).
In 2008, taking stock of the policing research agenda in England and Wales, Reiner and
Newburn noted that police’s use of stop and search ‘has arguably generated more
research than any other area’ (2008; 360). It is a striking observation, one that reflects
both the fact that stop and search is one of ‘the most common forms of adversarial
contact between the police and the public’ (Delsol and Shiner, 2015: 1), and the vexed
nature of the tactic itself. As the editors of this collection observe, stop and search, and
the ‘controversies that have stormed around it’ tap into the tensions that lie at the very
heart of the policing process, between preventive policing, the exercise of coercive state
authority, due process and crime control.
Still, despite the academic attention directed towards the use of stop and search, the
evidence can seem disjointed, at least in thematic terms, with research falling into a
number of camps, from the sociology of policing to counter-terrorism studies to work
that focuses more exclusively on racial discrimination. In this regard, the book marks an
important step by drawing together the key lines of argument and evidence.
As noted by the editors,most of the contributors are membersof StopWatch, a coalition
of civil society organizations, academics, lawyers, community workers, activists and
young people, thatcampaigns for fair and accountable policing. As such,it is unsurprising
Book Reviews 519
To continue reading
Request your trial