THE ANATOMY OF A RIOT

Judge Lincoln shares the fruits of his experience during the Detroit riots of 1967 when certain innovations were made in order to expedite the bureaucratic-judicial process. His tone is rather exasperating--complacent about his new authority as a crisis expert, and petulant about the procedural chaos occasioned by the crisis. Many of Judge Lincoln's imperatives are immediate, aimed at officials in like positions. Make sure you have enough stenos, detain juveniles for the duration of the disturbance (whether or not found guilty: a constitutionally proper move, he assures us). Then he turns to the problem of ultimate causes. A number of operational reforms are offered: negative income tax plus family allowance, for instance, in lieu of present ""welfare"" aid. Lincoln is less concerned with discovering the extent of police brutality than with countering the public's awareness of it; less concerned with the quality of public schools than with their efficiency. The book will soon be found on the shelves of administrators and urban politicians. It also constitutes a minor primary source--descriptive rather than prescriptive--for students of official reaction to ""civil disturbance.