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Organization as Class Bias in Local Law Enforcement: Arson-for-Profit as a “Nonissue”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Barry Goetz
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Abstract

Here I discuss the response of local state agencies to the problem of arson-for-profit as a way to address the debates in the white-collar crime literature over the problem of class bias and the political autonomy of state institutions. Arson-for-profit makes for an especially compelling case because of the inherent organizational difficulties involved with controlling this crime and the relationship this crime has to the perpetuation of social inequality in urban neighborhoods. I argue that arson-for-profit has been relegated to a nonissue status by law enforcement. Although this can be explained largely in institutional terms, this outcome suggests a selectivity on the part of the state where arson enforcement is concerned. The findings have implications for our understandings of equity in law enforcement processes and the question of class bias in state processes.

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , 1997 , pp. 557 - 588
Copyright
Copyright © 1997 by The Law and Society Association

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Footnotes

I acknowledge the following for comments on varying versions of this article: Patrick Donnelly, David Duncan, Don C. Gibbons, Frances Pestello, Laureen Snider, David Weisburd, and three anonymous reviewers. I also thank Nancy Terrell for essential editing assistance and, of course, Terry and the other members of the “Hyde Arson Task Force.”

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