Social Welfare Law Commons^™

State Regulation Of Policing: Post Commissions And Police Accountability, Hilary Rau, Kim S. Buchanan, Monique L. Dixon, Phillip A. Goff

UC Irvine Law Review

This Article examines the untapped potential of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) commissions to protect communities that experience police misconduct and discrimination. POST commissions, which are created by state laws and exist in all fifty states, have broad authority to regulate police officers and police departments. POST commissions determine eligibility and qualifications for police employment and regulate the content of training officers receive. Most POST commissions can also revoke certification of officers who commit serious misconduct or fail to meet continuing eligibility requirements set by the commissions. In some states, they can also impose statewide, compulsory reforms to policing …

Acute Poverty: The Fatal Flaw In U.S. Anti-Poverty Law, David A. Super

UC Irvine Law Review

Debates over inequality have largely ignored the largest body of people living in poverty. Although anti-poverty policymaking focuses overwhelmingly on the chronic poor, a far larger number of people suffer occasional acute bouts of poverty. The causes of the acute poor’s problems, and their needs, differ significantly from those of the chronic poor. Even short spells of poverty can cause serious, physical, psychological, and material harm as well as impairment in their ability to return to their former circumstances.

Demographically, the acute poor resemble the general population far more than the chronic poor, yet they receive little sympathy: politicians may …