Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 3 of 3
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Institutional Racism: Perspectives On The Department Of Justice's Investigation Of The Ferguson Police Department., Cassandra Chaney Phd
Institutional Racism: Perspectives On The Department Of Justice's Investigation Of The Ferguson Police Department., Cassandra Chaney Phd
Faculty Publications
On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown, an 18-year old Black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a white policeman with the Ferguson Police Department. The incident sparked protests and acts of vandalism in Ferguson as well as widespread calls for an investigation into the incident. On September 3, 2014, The Justice Department announced that it would open a broad civil rights investigation that would examine whether the Ferguson police had a history of discrimination or misuse of force beyond the Michael Brown case. On March 4. 2015, Attorney General Eric H. Holder publicly criticized the Ferguson Police Department …
Protest, Policing, And The Petition Clause: A Review Of Ronald Krotoszynski's Reclaiming The Petition Clause, Christina E. Wells
Protest, Policing, And The Petition Clause: A Review Of Ronald Krotoszynski's Reclaiming The Petition Clause, Christina E. Wells
Faculty Publications
This essay, a short book review of Ronald Krotoszynski Jr.'s book, Reclaiming the Petition Clause Seditious Libel, "Offensive" Protest, and the Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances, examines the variety of restrictions that actually affect protestors in the modern landscape. Professor Krotoszynski effectively argues that the Supreme Court's current use of content neutral time place and manner restrictions allows government officials to engage in surreptitious content censorship and also revives the defunct crime of seditious libel. His proposal to locate protestors' rights in the petition clause of the First Amendment is both historically grounded and attempts to …
Moral Panics And Body Cameras, Howard Wasserman
Moral Panics And Body Cameras, Howard Wasserman
Faculty Publications
This Commentary uses the lens of "moral panics" to evaluate public support for equipping law enforcement with body cameras as a response and solution to events in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014. Body cameras are a generally good policy idea. But the rhetoric surrounding them erroneously treats them as the single guaranteed solution to the problem of excessive force and police-citizen conflicts, particularly by ignoring the limitations of video evidence and the difficult questions of implementing the body camera program. In overstating the case, the rhetoric of body cameras becomes indistinguishable from rhetoric surrounding responses to past moral panics.