Making Rights Real

It's a common complaint: the United States is overrun by rules and procedures that shackle professional judgment, have no valid purpose, and serve only to appease courts and lawyers. Charles R. Epp argues, however, that few Americans would want to return to an era without these legalistic policies, which in the 1970s helped bring recalcitrant bureaucracies in line with a growing national commitment to civil rights and individual dignity. Focusing on three disparate policy areas - workplace sexual harassment, playground safety, and police brutality in both the United States and the United Kingdom - Epp explains how activists and professionals used legal liability, lawsuit-generated publicity, and innovative managerial ideas to pursue the implementation of new rights. Together, these strategies resulted in frameworks designed to make institutions accountable through intricate rules, employee training, and managerial oversight. Explaining how these practices became ubiquitous across bureaucratic organizations, Epp casts today's legalistic state in an entirely new light.

ISBN 0226211657   Pages 320 ISBN13 9780226211657 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher The University of Chicago Press   Weight (grammes) 499 Imprint University of Chicago Press   Published in Chicago, IL Format Paperback   Series title Chicago Series in Law and Society Publication date 12 Feb 2010   Height (mm) 229 Library of Congress 2009020088   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY 323.0973   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly

1		Introduction		1
2		Theory: The Fertile Fear of Liability		13
3		The Problem with Policing		31
4		Liability's Triumph		59
5		Policing's Epiphany		93
6		Spreading the Word: Variations among Police Departments		115
7		Tort Liability and Police Reform in Britain		139
8		Sexual Harassment		165
9		Playground Safety		197
10		Conclusion		215
		Methodological Appendix		233
		Notes		265
		Bibliography		321
		Index		345

"An elegant study that combines historical, comparative, and at times even ethnographic learning, Making Rights Real reveals how fervor for professionalism and fears of lawsuits together shaped police policies and practices in the United States and in Britain as well as responses to sexual harassment and the safety of playgrounds. It will be indispensable for scholars of the law." - William Haltom, coauthor of Distorting the Law"

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