[PDF] Federal Intervention In American Police Departments eBook

Author : Stephen Rushin
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 311 pages
File Size : 43,92 MB
Release : 2017-04-07
Category : Law
ISBN : 1108500935

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For much of American history, the federal government has played a limited role in local police regulation. That all changed in 1994, when Congress passed a little known statute that permitted the US Attorney General to reform troubled police departments. Since then, many of the nation's largest police departments - including those in Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Washington, DC, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Albuquerque - have been subject to federal oversight. But until recently, we've known little about how this federal process works. Drawing on original interviews, court documents, statistical data, and media reports, this book provides the first comprehensive account of federal intervention in American police departments. It shows that, under the right circumstances, federal intervention is uniquely effective at combating misconduct in police departments. However, federal intervention is far from perfect. This book concludes by arguing that Congress should expand and improve federal oversight of policing.

Author : Samuel Walker
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 25,83 MB
Release : 2024-07-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1479826049

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The first thorough study of the Justice Department’s pattern or practice program, examining how it works and how court-imposed consent decrees implement needed reforms American society grapples with an enduring crisis in policing which is inextricably intertwined with the nation’s deeply rooted racial issues. While there have been great strides in policing over the past five decades, the United States continues to wrestle with serious crime and strained relations between law enforcement and African American communities. In this comprehensive analysis, Samuel Walker, a leading figure in the study of criminal justice, focuses on the pivotal federal effort behind police reform—the US Justice Department’s pattern or practice program. Created by Congress in 1994, this program gives the Justice Department the authority to investigate police departments that display patterns of unconstitutional practices, initiate civil suits, and secure court-enforced consent decrees that mandate reform. Walker meticulously examines the reforms dictated by these consent decrees, delves into the challenges of their implementation, and evaluates the progress made by various departments in enhancing police services. Despite various obstacles, the program has proven successful. The Future of Police Reform also considers the broader societal, political, and legal issues that profoundly influence reform efforts, such as an entrenched police subculture hindering change, the formidable power of police unions, and a lack of full support from local political leaders. In conclusion, Walker celebrates reform efforts across the country and foresees a network of local and state centers of activity fostering continued optimism for the future of police reform in the US. A collective effort holds the promise of genuine and lasting change.

Author : Jeff Bumgarner
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 36,76 MB
Release : 2006-08-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0313065438

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With the War on Terror in full swing, the government's involvement in and influence over law enforcement has changed and, in some cases, expanded. While police forces remain under the jurisdiction of the cities and states they patrol, federal agencies have taken on a wider role in combating and prosecuting crime. Agencies such as the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, and now the Department of Homeland Security have wide and varied responsibilities and powers in combating both terrorism and other crimes. But this wasn't always the case. This timely book examines the history of American federal law enforcement as well as its current state in all of its forms. The complex system of agencies, agents, and laws that make up our federal law enforcement program have a long and varied history. Bumgarner looks at the issue of federal police powers and explores how the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts have interpreted the constitutional limits on those powers. He introduces the reader to the many agencies that make up the federal law enforcement community and the jurisdiction and responsibilities of each, as well as the role federal public policy plays in the criminal justice system. Finally, he reviews emerging trends in federal law enforcement, including the expanding domestic effort against terrorism. Readers of this insightful book will unfailingly come away with a better understanding of the history and inner workings of federal law enforcement.

Author : Stephen Michael Rushin
Publisher :
Page : 187 pages
File Size : 42,79 MB
Release : 2015
Category :
ISBN :

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In 1994, Congress passed 42 U.S.C. §14141, a statute authorizing the United States Attorney General to seek equitable relief against local and state police agencies that are engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional misconduct. Although police departments in some of the nation's largest cities have now undergone this sort of structural reform litigation, there has been little empirical research on the topic. Drawing on original interviews, court documents, statistical data, and media reports, this dissertation describes the federal government's use of structural reform litigation in American police departments and theorizes on its effectiveness. It shows that, under the right circumstances, structural reform litigation is uniquely effective at combating misconduct in police departments. It forces local municipalities to prioritize investments into police misconduct regulations. It utilizes external monitoring to ensure that frontline officers substantively comply with top-down mandates. And it provides police executives with legal cover to implement wide-ranging reforms aimed at curbing misconduct. Although expensive, structural reform litigation may ultimately pay for itself through reducing a police department's civil liability. But structural reform litigation is far from a perfect regulatory mechanism. Successful organizational reform requires continual support from municipal leaders, dedication by executives within the targeted agency, and buy-in by frontline officers. This suggests that structural reform litigation alone is insufficient to transform a law enforcement agency. The financial burden of structural reform litigation falls on local police agencies over a relatively short period of time. Additional questions remain about whether targeted agencies will sustain reforms after federal intervention ends and about whether this type of federal intervention makes officers less aggressive. This dissertation concludes by showing how the lessons from structural reform litigation can inform future regulations of law enforcement.

Author : Stephen Rushin
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 311 pages
File Size : 28,24 MB
Release : 2017-04-07
Category : Law
ISBN : 1107105730

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This book evaluates how structural reform litigation initiated by federal intervention has transformed police departments and reduced law enforcement misconduct.

Author : Samuel E. Walker
Publisher : SAGE Publications
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 40,99 MB
Release : 2013-12-09
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 1483324648

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The subject of police accountability includes some of the most important developments in American policing: the control of officer-involved shootings and use of force; citizen complaints and the best procedures for handling them; federal 'pattern or practice' litigation against police departments; allegations of race discrimination; early intervention systems to monitor officer behavior; and police self-monitoring efforts. The Second Edition of The New World of Police Accountability covers these subjects and more with a sharp and critical perspective. It provides readers with a comprehensive description of the most recent developments and an analysis of what works, what reforms are promising, and what has proven unsuccessful. The book offers detailed coverage of critical incident reporting; pattern analysis of critical incidents; early intervention systems; internal and external review of citizen complaints; and federal consent decrees.

Author : Hubert G. Locke
Publisher :
Page : 24 pages
File Size : 23,45 MB
Release : 1979
Category : Affirmative action programs
ISBN :

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The impact of civil service and affirmative action programs on minority employment in the law enforcement setting is addressed in this monograph. Each stage of the federal government's program to insure equal employment opportunity from nondiscrimination through affirmative action has been accompanied by acrimonious public debate, focusing particularly on affirmative action, which is designed to develop guidelines, timetables, and other measurable indexes by which employers can be held accountable for their progress, or lack of it, in implementing national policy. The principal burden of finding answers to the complex issues surrounding minority employment has fallen to the courts. Numerous judicial decisions, with enormous implications for police agencies, have been translated into procedural regulations covering the measures, techniques, criteria, and processes that may be used for employment decisions and employment selection. Several employment practices which may create problems in the area of employment discrimination are included. Whether due to enlightened police leadership, community pressures, political circumstances, civil service intervention, or a combination of all these factors, the racial characteristics of American policing have begun to change substantially over the past decade. Ten years ago, approximately 4 percent of the sworn police personnel in the nation were racial minorities; today, that figure has risen to 10 percent. Findings of the public service administration show that one of the most important factors in changing the nature and quality of policing is the courage and commitment of police leadership. To the extent that increasing minority and female participation in the ranks of sworn police officers is a crucial part of this change process, there is the added finding that such efforts are not enhanced by a reliance on the regulatory role of civil service. Several suggestions for institutionalizing this change process are noted.

Author : Elizabeth Hinton
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 460 pages
File Size : 50,98 MB
Release : 2016-05-02
Category : History
ISBN : 0674737237

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Co-Winner of the Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice A Wall Street Journal Favorite Book of the Year A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year A Publishers Weekly Favorite Book of the Year In the United States today, one in every thirty-one adults is under some form of penal control, including one in eleven African American men. How did the “land of the free” become the home of the world’s largest prison system? Challenging the belief that America’s prison problem originated with the Reagan administration’s War on Drugs, Elizabeth Hinton traces the rise of mass incarceration to an ironic source: the social welfare programs of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society at the height of the civil rights era. “An extraordinary and important new book.” —Jill Lepore, New Yorker “Hinton’s book is more than an argument; it is a revelation...There are moments that will make your skin crawl...This is history, but the implications for today are striking. Readers will learn how the militarization of the police that we’ve witnessed in Ferguson and elsewhere had roots in the 1960s.” —Imani Perry, New York Times Book Review