Vagrant Nation: Police Power, Constitutional Change, and the Making of the 1960s

by Risa L. Goluboff

In 1950s America, it was remarkably easy for police to arrest almost anyone for almost any reason. The criminal justice system-and especially the age-old law of vagrancy-served not only to maintain safety and order but also to enforce conventional standards of morality and propriety. A person could be arrested for sporting a beard, making a speech, or working too little. Yet by the end of the 1960s, vagrancy laws were discredited and American society was fundamentally transformed. What happened? In Vagrant Nation, Risa Goluboff answers that question by showing how constitutional challenges to vagrancy laws shaped the multiple movements that made "the 1960s." Vagrancy laws were so broad and flexible that they made it possible for the police to arrest anyone out of Beats and hippies; Communists and Vietnam War protestors; racial minorities and civil rights activists; gays, single women, and prostitutes. As hundreds of these "vagrants" and their lawyers challenged vagrancy laws in court, the laws became a flashpoint for debates about radically different visions of order and freedom. Goluboff's compelling account of those challenges rewrites the history of the civil rights, peace, gay rights, welfare rights, sexual, and cultural revolutions. As Goluboff links the human stories of those arrested to the great controversies of the time, she makes coherent an era that often seems chaotic. She also powerfully demonstrates how ordinary people, with the help of lawyers and judges, can change the meaning of the Constitution. The Supreme Court's 1972 decision declaring vagrancy laws unconstitutional continues to shape conflicts between police power and constitutional rights, including clashes over stop-and-frisk, homelessness, sexual freedom, and public protests. Since the downfall of vagrancy law, battles over what, if anything, should replace it, like battles over the legacy of the sixties transformations themselves, are far from over.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Law

479 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2016

Reviews

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did find this book to be very compelling in the fact that the police did use the Vagrancy law to which any officer within the same agency saw fit. One officer might pass something by then in a few minutes time another officer would happen by and fill a whole paddy wagon full of "Vagrants" up even though they had jobs, money and a place to live. The police raids and stereotyping were just hard to believe. This all began before the civil rights era and also at the beginning of the Cold War. It was an awful time for anyone who tried to go against the norm. The norm being the "Ozzie and Harriet" types.

Ms. Goluboff didn't a wonderful job researching this book and it brought to the forefront some of the laws and procedures we are fighting against now.

I would like to thank Oxford University Press and NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley of this book for my honest review.

[Aristides Hadjipanteli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through this exceptional and well-researched account of the history of vagrancy laws in America, Risa Goluboff reveals how long, yet rewarding, the process to bring about palpable constitutional change can be, beginning with Edelman v. California (1953) and ending with Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville (1972).
Goluboff not only points out the dots (major events) on the timeline of the anti-vagrancy law movement, but also effectively connects them, leaving the reader to consider the implications still imbedded in the law today. I particularly admired how she made sure to humanize the persons of each related case, not overshadowing their unique stories with the ultimate legal outcome. Goluboff simultaneously dissects and synthesizes the societal and legal movements of the 1960’s to answer an underlying question: “Where did the need for security against danger end and the need for tolerance of pluralism begin?”

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

American common law and statutes for centuries criminalized vagrancy. In theory that was a way to maintain public order by corralling suspicious strangers, wanderers and people hanging around (for example) jewelry stores with no particular purpose. In practice it was an incredibly flexible law that allowed cops to bust anyone they didn't approve of — labor organizers, hippies, interracial couples, civil rights activists, homosexuals and buskers. Goluboff traces the challenges to the law from 1949 (the first major challenge) through the Papachristou case that finally got them declared unconstitutional (previous cases were found unconstitutional as used, but not in concept). This is a very dense, slow-going book, but it's worth it if this kind of legal history interests you.

[William Engeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is much more than important scholarship

As a retired lawyer whose career tracked the '60's, I found this extraordinary work of legal scholarship consoling. This is a work of good sense. Many things that changed in my time have felt disturbing. But now, thanks to Dean Goluboff, I begin to see the point. I suggest you read it and see how you FEEL.

[Bernadette King · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit redundant in its point but overall a good book on legal history and public policy.

[eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ultimately, there is no single story of vagrancy statutes, which results in a book that at times struggles with vignettes of legal challenges spread across the nation and over several decades. Prof. Goluboff does yoeman's work trying to corral the multiplicity of vagrancy statutes and their applications. The laws themselves are as diverse as the evils they were intended to address: idle men, race mixing, homosexuals, labor organizers, political nonconformists, etc. The book ably follows the various legal challenges and highlights how a legal fabric was constructed from disparate threads. It's a wonderful illustration of how the law builds from a few ideas and how the courts adjust to the arguments of the day.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

My rating is based on an unpublished version of this book.