Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons^™

The Geopolitics Of American Policing, Andrew Lanham

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Badges Without Borders: How Global Counterinsurgency Transformed American Policing. by Stuart Schrader.

Civil Rights Ecosystems, Joanna C. Schwartz

Michigan Law Review

The Philadelphia and Houston Police Departments are similarly sized, but over a recent two-year period, ten times more civil rights suits were filed against Philadelphia and its officers than were filed against Houston and its officers. Plaintiffs in cases brought against Philadelphia and its officers were awarded one hundred times more in settlements and judgments. What accounts for these differences? Although the frequency and severity of misconduct and injury may play some role, I contend that the volume and outcome of civil rights litigation against any given jurisdiction should be understood as a product of what I call its civil …

Law Enforcement In Subordinated Communities: Innovation And Response, Richard Delgado

Michigan Law Review

Policing styles and policy reform today exhibit a ferment that we have not seen since the turbulent sixties. The reasons propelling reform include some of the same forces that propelled it then - minority communities agitating for a greater voice, demands for law and order - but also some that are new, such as the greater premium that society places on security in a post-9/11 world. Three recent books discuss this new emphasis on styles of policing. Each centers on policing in minority communities. Steve Herbert's Citizens, Cops, and Power: Recognizing the Limits of Community examines the innovation known as …

Road Work: Racial Profiling And Drug Interdiction On The Highway, Samuel R. Gross, Katherine Y. Barnes

Michigan Law Review

Hypocrisy about race is hardly new in America, but the content changes. Recently the spotlight has been on racial profiling. The story of Colonel Carl Williams of the New Jersey State Police is a wellknown example. On Sunday, February 28, 1999, the Newark Star Ledger published a lengthy interview with Williams in which he talked about race and drugs: "Today . . . the drug problem is cocaine or marijuana. It is most likely a minority group that's involved with that. " Williams condemned racial profiling - "As far as racial profiling is concerned, that is absolutely not right. It …

Benign Neglect* Of Racism In The Criminal Justice System, Angela J. Davis

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Michael Tonry, Malign Neglect: Race, Crime, and Punishment in America

The Punishment Of Hate: Toward A Normative Theory Of Bias-Motivated Crimes, Frederick M. Lawrence

Michigan Law Review

This article explores how bias crimes differ from parallel crimes and why this distinction makes a crucial difference in our criminal law. Bias crimes differ from parallel crimes as a matter of both the resulting harm and the mental state of the offender. The nature of the injury sustained by the immediate victim of a bias crime exceeds the harm caused by a parallel crime. Moreover, bias crimes inflict a palpable harm on the broader target community of the crime as well as on society at large, while parallel crimes do not generally cause such widespread injury.

The distinction between …

Brutality In Blue: Community, Authority, And The Elusive Promise Of Police Reform, Debra Ann Livingston

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of Force by Jerome H. Skolnick and James J. Fyfe

A Board Does Not A Bench Make: Denying Quasi-Judicial Immunity To Parole Board Members In Section 1983 Damages Actions, Julio A. Thompson

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that neither the majority nor the minority approach is realistic. A thorough examination of the parole process and section 1983 litigation will show that a third approach is more appropriate - that parole board members are entitled only to qualified immunity for all actions taken within the scope of their official duties. Part I argues that parole board members should not enjoy absolute, quasi-judicial immunity because the parole board decisionmaking process is not "functionally comparable" to judicial decisionmaking. The differences in procedure, political accountability, training, and background lead to two very different systems. Part II shows that …

The Politics Of Predicting Criminal Violence, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Prediction of Criminal Violence by Fernand N. Dutile and Cleon H. Foust

Conjugal Visitation Rights And The Appropriate Standard Of Judicial Review For Prison Regulations, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Conjugal visitation rights allow prison inmates and spouses to visit privately and have sexual relations. A number of countries, particularly in Latin America, permit conjugal visits. Although in the United States only Mississippi and California currently permit conjugal visitation, the experience of these two states shows that such programs are workable. Conjugal visitation has met with varied reaction in the literature, but persuasive arguments have been made that it would offer potential psychological benefits to the prisoner, reduce prison homosexuality, and allow the inmate to preserve his or her marital ties. Nevertheless, the reaction of penal administrators in this country …

Rule-Making And The Police, Carl Mcgowan

Michigan Law Review

That remarkable man, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, in whose name and by whose providence we are met on this occasion, had many profound perceptions about the nature of law-making. Except for the violence of the Civil War in his youth, his life was largely lived at a time and in a society which seem simple and benevolent by comparison with our own. Some of his generalizations, nevertheless, continue to define accurately the limitations under which we confront the complexities presently assailing us on every side. This is notably true of the administration of criminal justice.

Order And Civil Liberties: A Complex Role For The Police, George Edwards

Michigan Law Review

The Honorable Edward J. Jeffries was Mayor of the City of Detroit at the time. He was a great mayor; but he had not known that this terror was imminent or that it was even possible. This attitude was shared by most of the city's residents, and to say that Detroit was not ready for this outburst of racial strife would be to put it mildly. In this respect, every mayor in America would find it useful to read a recent journalistic account of the events of that twenty-four-hour period. The authors of this commentary were not very kind in …

Constitutional Law-Civil Rights-Solitary Confinement Of Prisoner's Based On Religious Belief, Harvey Friedman

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff prisoner brought an action in a federal district court under the Civil Rights Act to enjoin the defendant, a New York state prison warden, from further subjecting him to solitary confinement because of his religious beliefs. The district court refused to take jurisdiction on the ground that solitary confinement involved state prison discipline which was reviewable only in state courts. On appeal, held, reversed, one judge dissenting. A complaint by a prisoner against a state prison official which charges violation of a "preferred freedom" by religious persecution states a claim under the Civil Rights Act which the district …

Constitutional Law - Civil Rights - Restrictions On The Use Of Legal Materials By Prisoner, Russell A. Mcnair Jr.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff prisoners brought separate actions against the warden of the Oregon State Penitentiary, alleging that the enforcement by prison officials of restrictions on the availability, use and purchase of law books resulted in a denial of full access to the courts. It was further alleged that each of them must do by himself all or part of the legal preparation necessary to contest his detention or to defend criminal charges pending against him in a state or federal court. In proceedings brought in the federal district court under the Civil Rights Act to enjoin further enforcement of these restrictions, held …

Constitutional Law - Civil Rights Statute - Failure To Release Prisoner Promptly Not A Violation Of Section 242, Stephen C. Bransdorfer

Michigan Law Review

A Florida state attorney was charged with violation of the Federal Civil Rights Statute for failure to apply for release of a Negro prisoner held nineteen months without charge. The prisoner had been held on request of the state attorney for further prosecution or use as a witness after a verdict had been directed in the prisoner's favor in a prior murder trial. Neither the prisoner nor defense counsel petitioned for release. The United States District Court dismissed the indictment. On appeal, held, affirmed. No duty existed on the part of the Florida state attorney to make application for …