Private Security - Implications for Social Control

• NCJ Number: 89492
• Journal: Social Problems Volume: 30 Issue: 5 Dated: (June 1983) Pages: 493-506
• Author(s): C D Shearing; P C Stenning
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Revised version of a paper presented at the 33rd annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Washington, DC, November 1981.

Annotation

Private security policing is having a major impact on the nature of social control.

Abstract

Private security has become a pervasive feature of modern North American policing, both because of its rapid growth since 1960 and because it has invaded the traditional domain of the public police. Because this development has been viewed as an addendum to the criminal justice system, its significance for social control has not yet been recognized. This paper traces the development of private security in Canada and the United States since 1960, examines the reasons for its present pervasiveness, and explores its essential features: it is nonspecialized, victim-oriented, and relies on organizational resources as sanctions. Data tables and about 70 references are provided. (Author abstract modified)