This is the acclaimed and foundational study of police culture and practice, political accountability, application of and obedience to the rule of law in stops and arrests, and the dilemma of law versus order in free societies ? by the renowned sociologist Jerome Skolnick using innovative and influential research techniques in law and criminology. A respected scholar of the early law and society movement, Skolnick interviewed police and criminals, rode extensively with detectives and attended interrogations, and ultimately saw police conduct and mentality from the inside ? all before such methodology became popular among researchers. This work features a substantive new introduction by Candace McCoy and a reflective new Preface by the author. Fifty years after his innovative research began, the continuity and change of policing and law is seen again, in all its richness and nuance.

Democratic order and the rule of law -- The setting, method, and development of the research -- A sketch of the police officer's "working personality" -- Operational environment and police discretion -- The confrontation of the suspect -- The informer system -- The narcotics enforcement pattern -- The clearance rate and the penalty structure -- Police attitudes toward criminal law -- Conventional morality, judicial control, and police conduct -- The working police officer, police "professionalism," and the rule of law.