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85
trial), and accepting a sentence of up to 360 days. In this high-
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volume court where efficiency is paramount, Lynch describes
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observing a defense attorney joking with his client about pointing to
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“si” or “no” on a piece of paper so the client would know the
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“correct” answer to the judge’s questions. In one of many potent
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anecdotes that animate the text, Lynch notes that upon hearing this
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quip, everyone in the room laughed.
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The implications of such observations point to where the book
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could have offered more in the way of analysis. Although Lynch
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conducts 63 formal interviews and 12 shorter informal interviews,
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Hard Bargains does not offer any systematic analysis of this valuable
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qualitative data. As a result, an opportunity is missed to methodi-
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cally bring to light the meaning state actors assign to their roles,
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practices, and decisionmaking. Given the paucity of scholarship on
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federal case processing, such analysis could be quite revelatory.
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Nonetheless, Hard Bargains engages well with a perennial and
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problematic gap in the literature on decisionmaking in the criminal
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justice domain. Accessing prosecutorial decisionmaking is notori-
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ously difficult as is obtaining systematic data about case processing
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or sentencing that includes information about the judge. Lynch’s
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approach tackles both problems with notable success.
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Overall, what Lynch powerfully demonstrates is how, in myriad
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ways, there actually is no functional check on prosecutorial power.
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Her work therefore raises the pressing question of how to effect
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change. Although she concludes with some perspectives on how
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deeply entrenched this power is and provides some specific recom-
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mendations for change (e.g., reducing statutory maximums), Lynch
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has made quite clear the difficulty of disentangling the substance
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and process of law. About this truth, one of the most disheartening
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epilogues in a scholarly book you are likely to encounter leaves no
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doubt. It follows that the outrage will continue. But, hopefully, so
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will such distinguished scholarship.
117*** 118
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The Truth About Crime: Sovereignty, Knowledge, Social Order. By Jean
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Comaroff and John L. Comaroff. Chicago: University of Chicago
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Press, 2016.
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Reviewed by Dolly Kikon, School of Social and Political Sciences, The
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University of Melbourne
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In their most recent book, anthropologists Jean and John L.
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Comaroff consider how crime and policing have transformed
Book Reviews 1003
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modern societies around the world and “colonized our imagi-
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nations.” The Truth about Crime offers a powerful account about
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crime, policing, and the modern state. The book is a “criminal
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anthropology” that guides the reader towards understanding what
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precisely is different or new about crime and punishment in modern
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societies. Recognizing how crime and policing have become consti-
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tutive of our everyday lives, Jean and John L. Comaroff trace how
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crime—in particular policing as a core function of the criminal jus-
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tice system—are constitutive of contemporary life. With special
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attention on the United States and South Africa, the book is theoret-
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ically sharp and expansive, and consolidates their previous work on
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law, disorder, governance, citizenship, and the postcolonial state. It
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is an important contribution that offers scholars across the fields of
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law, criminology, anthropology, political science, sociology, and
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human rights a clear understanding about the social production
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and increasing fear of lawlessness and criminality in societies.
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While the book focuses on contemporary political events, the
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authors offer a rich “unorthodox” historical angle and classic texts of
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crime, policing, violence, and power to examine how human societies
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inthemodernerabecamepreoccupiedwithcrime.Focusingonthe
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nature of policing, the book traces the relation between sovereignty
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(read authoritative order) and criminality, and addresses how crime
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became an integral part of societies. Stressing the importance of con-
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necting crime, policing, and the criminal justice system with existing
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social compositions of class, race, gender, and (in the case of South
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Africa) ethnicity, the authors offer significant insight about the shifting
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relations and triangulation of capital, the state, and governance.
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The book is divided into two parts. Part One is titled “Crime,
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Capital, and the Metaphysics of Disorder: An Overview, in Three
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Movements” and undertakes to offer the “big picture.” Delving into
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the historical processes in the era of capitalism, the authors trace
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the shift in the foundational elements of our “social, economic,
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political juridical, ethical, and cultural universe” with an aim to
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trace the shift in the functions of crime, policing, and, governance.
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The three subsections 1.1–1.3 weave in the contemporary experien-
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ces of crime and policing in the United States and South Africa.
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Focusing on the privatization of correctional institutions that render
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telecommunication and financial services to generate profit and
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businesses for corporations, the authors argue that these develop-
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ments in the era of high capitalism indicate “the rise of the penal
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state” (45), with a turn toward the managerial model of enforcing
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authority and order. Taking South Africa as an example to under-
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stand how the structures of contemporary crime and policing is a
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global experience, the authors explain the “public fixation on
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crime” (49) and how this has become the “discursive medium” (52)
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to speak about the “limits and excesses of government.” Eventually,
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in both cases, there is a focus on public order, a theme which is
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deeply dictated by class, race, and state/market interest. Illustrating
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how crime and policing have become extremely “mainstream” and
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become part of popular culture (art, films, music, and fiction [74]),
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the authors juxtapose television programs and fiction consumed by
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audiences in South Africa and the United States.
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The second part of the book titled “Law-Making, Law-Breaking,
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and Law-Enforcement: Five Uneasy Pieces” comprises five essays
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arranged from 2.1 to 2.5, and focuses on the “drama of disorder”
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(98). Is there a way to set apart law from lawlessness? Where do we
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look for clues to locate the truth? Through stories of detectives and
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detection, the authors describe the constant anxieties about the fail-
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ure of the police and the state to restore order in modern societies.
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Looking at occult-related crimes, the boundaries of the “theologico-
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legal circle” (106) emerge as an important site to understand how
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the public perceives what constitutes the power of the sovereign—as
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god and government. In both cases (South Africa and the United
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States), the concept of the sovereign that invokes the spiritual world
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and the state agencies is applied to combat crime and to the function
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of policing. While this section presents excellent stories, I felt that
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the authors present a compelling argument about the South African
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experience by devoting their attention to the connections and chal-
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lenges between the “customary/culture authority” and the modern
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state in the second part of the book, but the absence of ethnographic
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details fails to capture the richness of their argument.
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“Customary law” continues to capture experiences of gover-
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nance and moral anxieties around policing citizens and culture in
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many places around the world. Yet, the authors’ excellent argument
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about “postcolonial African populations” who are constituted as “both
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the embodiment of culture and as national legal persons, as subjects
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and citizens, as persons both ethnic and modern” (139) left the
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reader longing for a more in-depth engagement. Given the authors’
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long engagement with “customary law” in the African continent
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including South Africa, I wanted to get a better grasp of this rich
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analysis. However, the authors draw from their numerous writings
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and vast knowledge about contemporary politics in South Africa and
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indicate the ongoing challenges between the customary and the state
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legal system. They locate these tensions in determining the constitu-
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tion of authority, legality, including the technojuridical problems in
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numerous criminal cases. The book overall offers a disturbing yet
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fascinating insight about the public’s obsession with criminality and
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revisiting sovereign authority in the era of high capitalism.
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Book Reviews 1005
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