Brute force succeeds when it is used.
The power to hurt is most successful when held in reserve.
I found the epigraph for my forthcoming book, due out from Princeton late this summer. The book is now called When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment.
The epigraph is from the essay on “The Diplomacy of Violence” in Schelling’s Arms and Influence:
Brute force succeeds when it is used.
The power to hurt is most successful when held in reserve.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman