Williams M, The sex offender housing dilemma: Community activism, safety, and social justice
| Author | Chrysanthi Leon |
| Published date | 01 January 2021 |
| Date | 01 January 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1462474520922801 |
| Subject Matter | Book reviews |
These platforms allowed protesters to share protest information and create their
own narratives that disrupted media stories of protesters as angry mobs. Chapter
five, “Repressive Policing and Future Activism,” unpacks protesters’ level of com-
mitment and how repressive policing tactics including surveillance, hostility,
arrests, tear gas, and even gun threats shaped those commitments.
“Revolutionary” protesters – or the individuals who protested everyday – were
largely undeterred from repressive tactics and expressed a commitment to continue
protests in the future, while “intermittent” and “tourist” protesters were deterred
from further protests if violence erupted. Yet, protesters from each group
expressed a commitment to stay involved in community outreach.
Racially discriminatory policing practices, however, are not the sole factors that
resulted in city-wide unrest in Ferguson and Baltimore. In the book’s final chapter,
“Public Disorder,” Cobbina uses a “flashpoint model” to illustrate how multiple
social, cultural, and political forces produced community cynicism, anger, and
unrest amidst otherwise peaceful protests. Key factors included racial segregation,
lack of political representation, financial exploitation through fines and fees, “zero-
tolerance” policing practices such as stop-and-frisk, poor communication between
law enforcement and community members, militarization of responding police,
and negative media portrayals of both victims and the protesters.
Overall,Cobbina’s rigorous analysisoffers much for punishmentand society schol-
ars to enjoy. By bridging scholarship across critical race studies, punishment, and
social movements,Cobbina effectivelydemonstrates how punishmentpractices shape
motivations for and participation in collective action against the carceral state.
ORCID iD
Amber Joy Powell https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9702-3115
Amber Joy Powell
University of Minnesota System, USA
Williams M, The sex offender housing dilemma: Community activism, safety,
and social justice, NYU Press: New York, 2018; 288 pp. (including index).
ISBN: 9781479836499, $30 (pbk)
Scholars of punishment tend to dismiss public outrage. We are more likely to point
out where public beliefs are harmful or wrong than to grant them our attention.
This elitism blinds us to the possibilities for more nuanced understandings that are
worthwhile on their own and that may also improve our advocacy. Williams’
sociological investigation of how communities respond to sex offenders in their
midst provides a striking example of the value of systematic examinations of public
punitiveness.
Book reviews 129
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