Disorderly People: Law and the Politics of Exclusion in Ontario

Front Cover
Joe Hermer, Janet Eaton Mosher
Fernwood, 2002 - Law - 121 pages
The Ontario Safe Streets Act is the first modern provincial law to prohibit a wide range of begging and squeegee work in public space. This Act is representative of a much wider set of reforms that the Ontario government has carried out in the administration of criminal justice and social welfare. Central to the neo-conservative character of these reforms has been the construction of “disorderly people,” of those portrayed as “welfare cheats”, “squeegee kids”, “aggressive beggars”, “violent youth” and “coddled prisoners.” Drawing from their expertise in law, sociology, criminology and geography, contributors to this collection make visible the role of law in the practices and logic of a government that polices “public” safety through the exclusion and punishment of some of the most vulnerable people in society.

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Contents

Acknowledgments
7
The Shrinking of the Public and Private Spaces of the Poor
41
Restricting Discourses of Citizenship
55
Copyright

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