The Cost of Authority

What should it cost to have power over another person?

The Cost of Authority examines what happens when ordinary, imperfect human beings are given extraordinary institutional power—the authority to stop, search, detain, arrest, use force, and make decisions that can permanently alter another person's life.

Authority is sometimes necessary. But every additional power creates an imbalance, and every imbalance creates the possibility of error, escalation, misuse, and consequences that extend far beyond a single decision.

Through a systems-based examination of policing and institutional authority, The Cost of Authority challenges readers to look beyond whether an action was simply allowed and ask a harder question:

Was the outcome worth the cost?

Because greater authority should never come with lower responsibility.

The more power society gives you, the more accountable you should be for how you use it.