Peter Moskos is an American professor at

John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts col ...

in the Department of Law, Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration and the

CUNY Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

in the Department of Sociology. He is a former

Baltimore Police Department The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) is the municipal police department of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Dating back to 1784, the BPD, consisting of 2,935 employees in 2020, is organized into nine districts covering of land and of waterw ...

officer. The son of military and

Greek American Greek Americans ( ''Ellinoamerikanoí'' ''Ellinoamerikánoi'' ) are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. There is an estimate of 1.2 million Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. According to the US census, 264,066 people o ...

sociologist

Charles Moskos Charles Constantine Moskos Jr. (May 20, 1934 – May 31, 2008) was an American sociologist of the United States military and a professor at Northwestern University. Described as the nation's "most influential military sociologist" by ''The Wall S ...

, he specializes in policing, crime, and punishment. Moskos was listed by ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'' as one of their "Brave Thinkers of 2011" for his book ''In Defense of Flogging''. ''In Defense of Flogging'' proposes giving individuals convicted of a crime a choice between incarceration and

corporal punishment A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...

''Cop in the Hood''

Moskos wrote the award-winning 2008 book ''Cop in the Hood'', describing his doctoral experiences of participant observation as a police officer in Baltimore's Eastern District from 1999 to 2001. Moskos, a Harvard graduate student raised in a white middle-class liberal household, describes his first-hand experiences with poverty and violent crime in the

's Eastern District which encompassed a predominantly

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

ghetto of East Baltimore. In the book, Moskos argues in favor of reforming the criminal justice system and the legalization of drugs. After calling for drug legalization in a ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' op-ed, Moskos was criticized by

Gil Kerlikowske Richard Gil Kerlikowske (born November 23, 1949) is a former Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He assumed office on March 6, 2014 and retired January 20, 2017. He also served as the Director of the Office of National Drug Contro ...

, and the president of the

International Association of Chiefs of Police International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Virginia. It is the world's largest professional association for police leaders. Overview The International Association of Chiefs of Police ...

, Russell B. Laine.

In Defense of Flogging

Moskos's second book advocated

judicial corporal punishment Judicial corporal punishment is the infliction of corporal punishment as a result of a sentence imposed on an offender by a Court, court of law, including Flagellation, flagellation (also called flogging or whipping), forced Amputation, amputat ...

(specifically,

flogging Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed ...

) as a voluntary alternative to incarceration. One reviewer for ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' responded by saying: "Perhaps the most damning evidence of the broken American prison system is that it makes a proposal to reinstate flogging appear almost reasonable. Almost".

Greek Americans

Moskos's third book was the third edition of Greek Americans, originally writing by his father,

Back from the Brink

Moskos's fourth book was about

Crime in New York City Crime rates in New York City have been recorded since at least the 1800s. The highest crime totals were recorded in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic surged, and then declined continuously from around 1990 throughout the 2000s ...

and the NYPD, specifically the 1990s crime drop and the NYPD (

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

)

References

External links

Professor Peter C. Moskos John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Video (and audio) of interview/conversation with Moskos
by Will Wilkinson on

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") was a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moskos, Peter Harvard University alumni Baltimore Police Department officers John Jay College of Criminal Justice faculty CUNY Graduate Center faculty Princeton University alumni American people of Greek descent American people of German descent Living people 1971 births