The Man With A Take-Some-Prisoners Approach
Assessing the Legacy of James Q. Wilson
Rarely does a public intellectual generate as much admiring disagreement as political scientist James Q. Wilson, who died this year at age 80. At a Zócalo event co-presented by UCLA at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, a panel of social scientists and policymakers discussed Wilson’s intellectual legacy. All had serious disagreements with Wilson. All praised him profusely. And all acknowledged that Wilson’s influence had been vast. Moderator Mark Kleiman, a public policy analyst at UCLA, began by asking Charlie Beck, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, what influence …
