Law Commons^™

Write Before You Watch: Policies For Police Body-Worn Cameras That Advance Accountability And Accuracy, Hillary B. Farber

Faculty Publications

In the wake of high-profile killings and abuse by police officers over the past few years, the public has come to expect that officers will be equipped with body-worn cameras (BWCs). These cameras capture and preserve encounters between police and civilians, and the footage they record often becomes critical evidence in criminal, civil, or administrative proceedings. Reformers believe BWCs can improve police accountability, build public trust in police, and potentially reform police behavior.

Considering the reliance on BWCs, a key question has emerged: should officers be allowed to review BWC footage before preparing a report or giving a statement, or …

A Model For Defunding: An Evidence-Based Statute For Behavioral Health Crisis Response, Taleed El-Sabawi, Jennifer J. Carroll

Faculty Publications

Too many Black persons and other persons of color are dying at the hands of law enforcement, leading many to call for the defunding of police. These deaths were directly caused by excessive use of force by police officers, but were also driven by upstream and institutional factors that include structural racism, institutional bias, and a historic culture of racialized violence. Public outcry against racial inequities has increased as the authority of police departments has expanded to include not only the authority to respond to and investigate criminal activity, but also to respond to calls regarding behavioral health issues and …

Truth Seeking: The Lenahan Case And The Search For A Human Rights Remedy, Margaret B. Drew

Faculty Publications

Part I of this essay addresses the role of determining truth as part of human rights remedies. Truth is essential so that all involved may provide appropriate remedies to those harmed, as well as to open a gateway to whatever level of healing and change is possible under the circumstances. Part II discusses the procedural history of Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales and explores the comparative findings and goals of the U.S. legal system within the human rights framework. The U.S. and IACHR Gonzales-Lenahan cases are used as comparative exemplars. The application of truth seeking principles to the Lenahan …

Police Body-Worn Cameras, Seth W. Stoughton

Faculty Publications

Since the summer of 2014, community members, politicians, and police executives across the country have called for greater police accountability and improvements in police-community relations. Body-worn cameras are widely seen as serving both ends. Today, thousands of police agencies are exploring, adopting, and implementing body-cam programs. A survey by the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Major County Sheriffs’ Association found that 95% of surveyed agencies had either implemented or were committed to implementing a BWC program.

Body-worn cameras are here, and more are coming. Mary Fan, for example, has described a “camera cultural revolution” in which “the future will …

The Blurred Blue Line: Reform In An Era Of Public & Private Policing, Seth W. Stoughton

Faculty Publications

In April 2017, the Alabama Senate voted to authorize the formation of a new police department. Like other officers in the state, officers at the new agency would have to be certified by the Alabama Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission. These new officers would be “charged with all of the duties and invested with all of the powers of law enforcement officers.” Unlike most officers in Alabama, though, the officers at the new agency would not be city, county, or state employees. Instead, they would be working for the Briarwood Presbyterian Church, which Senate Bill 193 authorized to “appoint …

Curbing Excessive Force: A Primer On Barriers To Police Accountability, Kami N. Chavis, Conor Degnan

Faculty Publications

This Issue Brief summarizes some of the traditional mechanisms for holding police accountable for misconduct, offers a critique of each, and ends with suggestions for the future of police accountability. Part I focuses on some of the legal and structural impediments to police accountability including the inherent conflicts of interest that frequently prevent local prosecutors from prosecuting police officers accused of using excessive force. Part I also discusses how the doctrine of qualified immunity shields officers from civil liability when a suspect is harmed or dies in police custody. Part II explores how the Department of Justice (DOJ) has failed …

Nearsighted And Colorblind: The Perspective Problems Of Police Deadly Force Cases, Jelani Jefferson Exum

Faculty Publications

In dealing with the recently publicized instances of police officers' use of deadly force, some reform efforts have been focused on the entities that are central to the successful prosecutions of police–the prosecutor and the grand jury. Some have suggested special, independent prosecutors for these cases so that the process of deciding whether to seek charges against police officers remains untainted by the necessary cooperative relationship between the police department and the prosecutor's office. Others have urged more transparency in the grand jury process so that the public can scrutinize a prosecutor's efforts in presenting evidence for an indictment. Still …

Principled Policing: Warrior Cops And Guardian Officers, Seth W. Stoughton

Faculty Publications

Policing in the United States is in crisis. Public confidence in policing is at the lowest point since the Rodney King beating. A bare majority of Americans still report confidence in the police, and an unprecedented number of people report no or very little confidence in policing. A long history of poor police/community relations in minority and low-income neighborhoods has been exacerbated by egregious acts of misconduct, some of which have been captured on video and shared on social media. Activists, politicians, and police officials themselves have called for better education and equipment, from de-escalation training to body-worn camera systems. …

Who Shouldn't Prosecute The Police, Kate Levine

Faculty Publications

The job of investigating and prosecuting police officers who commit crimes falls on local prosecutors, as it has in the wake of a number of highly public killings of unarmed African-Americans since Michael Brown died in August 2014. Although prosecutors officially represent “the people,” there is no group more closely linked to prosecutors than the officers they work with daily. This Article focuses on the undertheorized but critically important role that conflict-of-interest law plays in supporting the now-popular conclusion that local prosecutors should not handle cases against police suspects. Surprisingly, scholars have paid little attention to the policies and practices …

Body-Worn Cameras: Exploring The Unintentional Consequences Of Technological Advances And Ensuring A Role For Community Consultation, Kami N. Chavis

Faculty Publications

This Essay will discuss the role police body-worn cameras can play in ensuring police legitimacy by increasing transparency, deterring police and citizen misbehavior, increasing officer professionalism, providing valuable training tools, and improving evidentiary documentation when crimes occur. This Essay will also discuss the need to view body-worn cameras and similar technologies with a healthy bit of skepticism. While body-worn cameras can have a significant impact on police accountability and public safety, local officials must carefully consider camera implementation and draft clear guidelines to balance the concerns for accountability with the privacy concerns articulated below. Therefore, this Essay seeks to identify …

Police Suspects, Kate Levine

Faculty Publications

Recent attention to police brutality has brought to the fore how police, when they become the subject of criminal investigations, are given special procedural protections not available to any other criminal suspect. Prosecutors’ special treatment of police suspects, particularly their perceived use of grand juries to exculpate accused officers, has received the lion’s share of scholarly and media attention. But police suspects also benefit from formal affirmative rights that protect them from interrogation by other officers. Police, in most jurisdictions, have a special shield against interrogation known as the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBORs). These statutes and negotiated …

Body-Mounted Police Cameras: A Primer On Police Accountability Vs. Privacy, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

Immediately following the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and the death of Eric Garner at the hands of a New York Police Department officer, criminal justice advocates called for greater measures to hold police officers accountable for their actions. For many observers, the failure to secure criminal indictments against the officers involved in each of these deaths of unarmed citizens suggested various shortcomings in the criminal justice system.

One of the most hotly contested reform proposals involves requiring police officers to wear body cameras. The NAACP, the ACLU, and The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law …

Increasing Police Accountability: Restoring Trust And Legitimacy Through The Appointment Of Independent Prosecutors, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

Criminal prosecution of police officers raises a myriad of issues that this Article will begin to explore. First, while there has been a paradigmatic shift in police accountability in recent decades from remedies focusing on individual officers to those focusing on broad organizational reform, this Article will explore the important role that the deterrence rationale of criminal prosecution might play as one tool to address police misconduct. Second, other than deterrence, criminal prosecutions serve numerous goals, including retribution for the harms imposed upon the victims and society for the crimes. Historically, many racial minorities, when compared with their white counterparts, …

Future Of The Fourth Amendment: The Problem With Privacy, Poverty And Policing, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

For decades, the reasonable expectation of privacy has been the primary standard by which courts have determined whether a "search" has occurred within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court's recent decision in U.S. v. Jones, however, has reinvigorated the physical trespass doctrine's importance when determining whether there has been a "search" triggering constitutional protection. Recognizing the unpredictability of the reasonable expectation of privacy doctrine and that doctrine's bias against the urban poor, many scholars hope that the Jones opinion may ameliorate the class divide that has developed in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.

This Article argues that while …

Policing Facts, Seth W. Stoughton

Faculty Publications

The United States Supreme Court’s understanding of police practices plays a significant role in the development of the constitutional rules that regulate officer conduct. As it approaches the questions of whether to engage in constitutional regulation and what form of regulation to adopt, the Court discusses the environment in which officers act, describes specific police practices, and explains what motivates officers. Yet the majority of the Court’s factual assertions are made entirely without support or citation, raising concerns about whether the Court is acting based on a complete and accurate perception. When it comes to policing facts, the Court too …

Your View: ‘Do Not Track’ Should Apply To Drivers, Too, Hillary B. Farber

Faculty Publications

Location tracking data can reveal quite a bit of information about a person when it is all pieced together. Just by knowing where and when a person frequents certain places we can know about his/her recreational habits, religious affiliations, professional affiliations, relationship status, personal health and hygiene, social preferences and contacts, and so much more. That is why it is so important to regulate the use of location tracking technology. There are a variety of efforts afoot to rein in government use of such technology – this op-ed is concerned with automated license plate readers.

The Legacy Of Stop And Frisk: Addressing The Vestiges Of A Violent Police Culture, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

For many years, the New York City Police Department ("NYPD") has engaged in a practice known as "Stop and Frisk." This policy allows officers, based on reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot, to engage in investigatory stops and to conduct a pat down of the outer clothing of the individual if there is reasonable suspicion that the suspect is armed.

While there is an abundance of analysis regarding the detrimental impact of the stop-and-frisk policy, particularly the allegations of racial discrimination, an under examined facet of this policy and its implementation is the inherently violent nature of these encounters. …

The Coming Crisis In Law Enforcement And How Federal Intervention Could Promote Police Accountability In A Post-Ferguson United States, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

The proliferation of aggressive, and sometimes militarized, police tactics represents the "coming crisis" in law enforcement, although many residents of [inner city] communities might argue that the crisis arrived long ago. Even more disturbing is that these heavy-handed police strategies are employed almost exclusively against racial and ethnic minorities.

This Essay argues that in order to alleviate racial bias in policing and gain the trust and legitimacy of police officers in racially and ethnically diverse communities, local police departments must not only ensure that they are hiring police officers capable of implementing community policing, but must also focus on institutional …

Eyes In The Sky: Constitutional And Regulatory Approaches To Domestic Drone Deployment, Hillary B. Farber

Faculty Publications

This article begins with a current look at the deployment of drones domestically, both in terms of their use and the procedure for attaining approval for flight. Part II examines the capabilities of drones. Part III considers the Supreme Court's current Fourth Amendment jurisprudence and its application to law enforcement's use of drones. Part IV reviews existing and proposed federal and state regulation of drones. Part V offers constitutional and legislative prescriptions for regulating drones.

Stakeholder Participation In The Selection And Recruitment Of Police: Democracy In Action, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

Modem police culture tolerates or cultivates police misconduct and corruption in many ways. Failures to identify, monitor, and discipline "problem" officers; a belief that violence is a necessary part of law enforcement; and the code of silence; are organizational characteristics that need to be addressed in order to remedy organizational failures to hold law enforcement officers accountable. In order to address these cultural characteristics, police departments should carefully select police officers less likely to engage in these behaviors and adhere to these beliefs. Viewed through the lens of stakeholder participation, however, a fundamental shift should occur regarding how these new …

Modern Police Practices: Arizona V. Gant's Illusory Restriction Of Vehicle Searches Incident To Arrest, Seth W. Stoughton

Faculty Publications

In 2009, the Supreme Court overturned thirty years of precedent with a decision that purported to dramatically cut back on the ability of law enforcement officers to conduct warrantless vehicle searches incident to the arrest of a vehicle occupant. Scholars and commentators celebrated Arizona v. Gant’s constraint of police, and subsequent scholarship has focused exclusively on peripheral concerns such as alternative justifications for warrantless searches and Gant’s effect on non-vehicle searches. This Note challenges the core assumption that Gant will substantially limit vehicle searches incident to arrest, contending that Gant is far more permissive than it appears. In most cases, …

Beginning To End Racial Profiling: Definitive Solutions To An Elusive Problem, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

Remedying an elusive practice such as racial profiling remains a challenging issue for the judiciary and reformers must rely on other avenues for a solution. For example, even where evidence demonstrates that minorities are disproportionately stopped and searched, courts rarely recognize the victim's claim or provide relief. Thus, it is clear that courts will not be the catalysts of change. This Article argues that while courts may be reluctant to provide judicial remedies, police departments themselves should not ignore [minorities'] perceptions [of racial discrimination] and should take measures to reduce any possible profiling and increase partnerships with communities. An indication …

Cooperative Federalism And Police Reform: Using Congressional Spending Power To Promote Police Accountability, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

Police misconduct and corruption persist in our nation's local police departments. Recognizing the organizational roots of police misconduct, Congress granted the U.S. Department of Justice (the "DOJ") the authority to seek injunctive relief to implement institutional reforms within local law enforcement agencies. While the federal government's current strategy represents a promising model for reform, the DOJ's efforts cannot reach many local police departments that require intervention. Furthermore, the local primacy of criminal-justice issues, particularly issues related to police practices, implicates important federalism concerns. Although federal intervention is appropriate to address persistent patterns of misconduct, states and local entities must play …

New Governance And The "New Paradigm" Of Police Accountability: A Democratic Approach To Police Reform, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

This Article proposes that policymakers should draw from the emerging New Governance theoretical framework--particularly democratic experimentalism--in order to develop strategies to successfully reform law-enforcement agencies. Modem police departments function like administrative agencies, and as such, they are susceptible to the same deficiencies that traditional agencies experience in other administrative contexts. Given the traditionally insular nature of law-enforcement agencies, the need for political legitimacy in the reform process is amplified in the policing context. Therefore, in order to eliminate patterns of police misconduct and corruption, reform measures should embody characteristics that promote stakeholder participation and local experimentation.

This abstract has been …

The Politics Of Policing: Ensuring Stakeholder Collaboration In The Federal Reform Of Local Law Enforcement Agencies, Kami Chavis Simmons

Faculty Publications

Title 42 U.S. C. § 14141 authorizes the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") to seek injunctive relief against local law enforcement agencies to eliminate a pattern or practice of unconstitutional conduct by these agencies. Rather than initiate lawsuits to reform these agencies, DOJ's current strategy is to negotiate reforms using a process that involves only DOJ representatives, municipality officials, and police management officials. While there are many benefits of negotiating the reforms, the current process excludes important stakeholders directly impacted by the reforms, including community members, who are the consumers of police services, and the rank-and-file police officers, whom …

The Role Of The Parent/Guardian In Juvenile Custodial Interrogations: Friend Or Foe?, Hillary B. Farber

Faculty Publications

Part II briefly sets out the historical context of juvenile delinquency proceedings before and after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case In re Gault. Part III discusses the two current approaches to assessing the validity of a juvenile's waiver. Part IV examines three inadequacies with the parent/guardian advisor: (1) the standardless approach with which courts assess their appropriateness; (2) the inadequacy with which adults understand Miranda; and (3) the conflicts of interest that arise in this context. Part V analogizes to the abortion and paternity contexts to support the argument that lawyers should act as primary advisors to …

Police Interrogations And Confessions, Paul C. Giannelli

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

How Reasonable Is The Reasonable Man?: Police And Excessive Force, Geoffrey P. Alpert, William C. Smith

Faculty Publications

The authority of the police to use force represents one of the most misunderstood powers granted to representatives of government. Police officers are authorized to use both psychological and physical force to apprehend criminals and solve crimes. This Article focuses on issues of physical force. After a brief introduction and a review of current legal issues in the use of force, the Article discusses "reasonableness" and the unrealistic expectation which is placed on police to understand, interpret, and follow vague "reasonableness" guidelines. Until the expectations and limitations on the use of force are clarified, in behavioral terms, police officers will …

Policing Hot Pursuits: The Discovery Of Aleatory Elements, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Roger G. Dunham

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Neighborhood Differences In Attitudes Toward Policing: Evidence For A Mixed-Strategy Model Of Policing In A Multi-Ethnic Setting, Roger G. Dunham, Geoffrey P. Alpert

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.