Jake Monaghan, "Just Policing" (Oxford UP, 2023)

May 9, 2025

Jake Monaghan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at USC, discusses his book, Just Policing, tackling the ethical dilemmas surrounding law enforcement. He argues for a moral framework that acknowledges police discretion as valuable in non-ideal situations. Monaghan critiques popular abolitionist approaches while emphasizing the need for reform in policing to enhance community trust. He also explores the complexities of policing different types of crime and highlights the impact of social movements on public perceptions of justice and accountability.

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INSIGHT

Police Discretion Is Unavoidable

Full enforcement of law by police is a myth and practically impossible due to vague laws and limited resources.
This inevitability means discretion is essential and police must be empowered to interpret and prioritize enforcement.

INSIGHT

Urbanization Necessitates Policing

Policing inherently arises from urbanization and social density, requiring agencies of social control.
Abolitionist alternatives often replace professional police but not the activity of policing itself.

ANECDOTE

Central Park Keepers Example

Frederick Law Olmsted created Central Park Keepers to police subtly, educating visitors rather than punishing.
Beach police in California use similar non-punitive methods to maintain informal social control without aggressive enforcement.

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Policing is a source of perennial conflict and philosophical disagreement. Current political developments in the United States have only increased the urgency of this topic. Today we welcome philosopher Jake Monaghan to discuss his book, Just Policing (Oxford UP, 2023), which applies interdisciplinary insights to examine the morality of policing.

Though the injustices of our world seemingly require some kind of policing, the police are often sources of injustice themselves. But this is not always the result of intentionally or negligently bad policing. Sometimes it is an unavoidable result of the injustices that emerge from interactions with other social systems. This raises an important question of just policing: how should police respond to the injustices built into the system? Just Policing attempts an answer, offering a theory of just policing in non-ideal contexts.

Monaghan argues that police discretion is not only unavoidable, but in light of non-ideal circumstances, valuable. This claim conflicts with a widespread but inchoate view of just policing, the legalist view that finds justice in faithful enforcement of the criminal code.

But the criminal code leaves policing seriously underdetermined; full enforcement is neither possible nor desirable. Police need an alternative normative framework for evaluating and guiding their exercise of power.

Just Policing critiques popular approaches to police abolitionism while defending normative limits on police power. The book offers a defense of police discretion against common objections and evaluates controversial issues in order maintenance, such as the policing of "vice" and homelessness, democratic control over policing, community policing initiatives, police collaborations and alternatives like mental health response teams, and possibilities for structural reform.

Jake Monaghan is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California. He earned his Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Buffalo. His research is primarily in moral and political philosophy.

He is interviewed by Tom McInerney, an international lawyer, scholar, and strategist, who has worked to advance rule of law and development internationally for 25 years. He has taught in the Rule of Law for Development Program at Loyola University Chicago School of Law since 2011. He writes the Rights, Regulation and Rule of Law newsletter on Substack.

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