Introduction -- When anyone can tell : liquor codes, gay bars, and the politics of common sense -- Expert witnesses and the struggle for public authority over homosexuality -- Plainclothes decoys and the battle over the limits of criminal justice -- Passing as deviant : gay culture and the rise of ethnographic policing -- Peepholes and perverts : clandestine surveillance and the enigma of the cruiser -- The popular press and the gay world -- Epilogue.
Summary:
"Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life chronicles how local police and criminal justice systems intruded on gay individuals, criminalizing, profiling, surveilling, and prosecuting them from the 1930's through the 1960's. Anna Lvovsky details the progression of enforcement strategies through the targeting of gay-friendly bars by liquor boards, enticement of sexual overtures by plainclothes police decoys, and surveilling of public bathrooms via peepholes and two-way mirrors to catch someone "in the act." Lvovsky shows how the use of tactics indistinguishable from entrapment to criminalize homosexual men in public and private spaces produced charges brought forward and disputed by attorneys and evidence that had to stand before judges, who at times intervened against punitive policies. In Vice Patrol the author demonstrates how developments in the psychological, medical, and sociological handling of homosexuality filtered into police stations, courthouses, and the wider culture"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.