RT Article
T1 Are We Loving Our National Parks to Death? A Call for Research on Crime and Law Enforcement in the U.S. National Park System
JF Criminal justice review
VO 48
IS 1
SP 85
OP 105
A1 Stadler, William Andrew 1978-
A2 Jonson, Cheryl Lero
A2 Gialopsos, Brooke Miller
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1832640868
AB Despite a recent surge of visitation and frequent media accounts of lawlessness in America’s national parks, little empirical research has been dedicated to crime and law enforcement in the U.S. national park system. The absence of systematic crime and justice research within these protected spaces should raise concern, as recent park service data and intra-agency reports suggest visitor growth, funding and personnel declines, operational shortcomings, and technology constraints may endanger the capacity of the National Park Service (NPS) to adequately address anticipated crime threats in the 21st century. This call for research aims to raise awareness of the contemporary law enforcement challenges facing this federal agency and encourage the study of crime and justice issues within the U.S. national park system. We briefly examine the evolution and current state of NPS law enforcement and its associated challenges and conclude with a conceptual road map for future research occurring in these protected spaces.
K1 visitor and resource protection
K1 Law Enforcement
K1 National Park Service
K1 U.S. national park system
DO 10.1177/07340168211015726