Digital Commons Network^™

State Attorneys General As Agents Of Police Reform, Stephen Rushin, Jason Mazzone

Faculty Publications & Other Works

State attorneys general can and should play an important role in remedying police violations of constitutional rights. In 1994, Congress enacted 42 U.S.C. § 14141 to authorize the U.S. Attorney General to seek equitable relief against state and local police departments engaged in patterns or practices of misconduct. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has used this statute to reform some of the nation’s most troubled police departments. However, the DOJ has lacked the resources to pursue more than a few cases each year and the Trump Administration has recently announced it would no longer enforce § 14141.

In response, a …

Dreaming Of Abolitionist Futures, Reconceptualizing Child Welfare: Keeping Kids Safe In The Age Of Abolition, Emma Peyton Williams

Honors Papers

Drawing on the wisdom of prison abolitionists past and present, as well as evidence from interviews and analysis of Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) procedural documents, this work argues that Illinois’ DCFS and the child protection system more broadly are an extension of the carceral state. Both the criminal punishment system and the child protection system (henceforth referred to as the family regulation system) use a diffuse network of actors to surveil, regulate, and punish the behavior of queer subjects: impoverished people and people of color. The present-day family regulation system builds on a long history of …

What Keith Bush’S Exoneration Teaches Us About Wrongful Convictions, Oscar Michelen

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Confessions, Convictions And Controversy: An Examination Of False Confessions Leading To Wrongful Convictions In The United States Throughout History, Kirandeep Kaur

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

From The Legal Literature: The Threat And Promise Of Police Use Of Dna Databases, Francesca Laguardia

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Lgtbq+ Community Perceptions Of Police And Police Involvement In Pride Celebrations In A Small Ontario City: An Exploratory Study, Priscilla Ramjit

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As literature and media findings suggest, the relationship between the LGTBQ+ community and the police is complex. This qualitative research study seeks to better understand the relationship between the Ruralcity LGTBQ+ community and the Ruralcity Police Service in a small city in southwestern Ontario—“Ruralcity”. Through the epistemological lens of symbolic interactionism and the critical approach of queer theory, I gathered the perspectives of five Ruralcity LGTBQ+ participants on the local police, including the kinds of interactions the participants have had with the police and how the police presence and absence at Ruralcity PRIDE events impact the participants’ sense of well-being. …

A Qualitative Study: Black Male College Students’ Perceptions Of Campus Law Enforcement Officers On A College Campus, Junelle M. Bennett

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Black males are often the recipients of police brutality, criminal stereotyping, and inequitable treatment in higher education. This qualitative study examined the experiential narratives of 15 Black male college students’ perception towards law enforcement officers. The data was collected via one-on-one interviews, concluded with a focus group, and then presented in narrative forums. The participants’ feelings, attitudes, or beliefs about themselves as Black males significantly contributed to their inherent identification of the cultural challenges associated with law enforcement officers. The participants’ personal and vicarious life experiences prior to enrolling into higher education were significant to the authentic comprehension of the …

Higher Education And Police Officers: The Effects On Citizen Complaints, Evan D. Brown

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study was conducted to examine the effects that different levels of education may have on the number of citizen complaints filed against police officers. There are many literature articles pertaining to the education of police officers but few studies have been conducted to measure the specific effects of higher education in law enforcement. The analysis in this paper will show relationships between higher education of police officers and if it has a relationship with the number of officer complaints.

Single Mothers’ Perceptions Of Police Encounters And Effectiveness Related To Youth Gun Violence, Janay M. Gasparini

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Single mothers and their children residing in high-crime communities (HCCs) in the United States are disproportionately exposed to crime, and therefore, the criminal justice system. Specific challenges of single motherhood in HCCs compound the link between juvenile offending and single-female-headed households. Little is known, however, about how single mothers in HCCs perceive and use the police as a resource to help prevent juvenile offending, specifically gun violence. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of single mothers with police as they related to the arrest of their children for a gun crime. The research questions focused …

Crisis Intervention Team Training: Full Implementation, Roy Garvin Taylor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Law enforcement officers (LEOs) encounter unique challenges when responding to calls involving an emotionally disturbed person (EDP) in crisis. In these situations, the LEOs are not merely acting in a law enforcement capacity but also taking on the roles of mental health workers, social workers, and other community support services. Unfortunately, most LEOs lack clear direction and training to effectively serve this unique population, with the typical encounter resulting in the arrest of the EDP and often ensuing in a vicious circle of arrest, incarceration, and recidivism. This phenomenological qualitative study used the perceptions of active Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) …

Government Misconduct And Convicting The Innocent: The Role Of Prosecutors, Police And Other Law Enforcement, Samuel R. Gross, Maurice J. Possley, Kaitlin Jackson Roll, Klara Huber Stephens

Other Publications

This is a report about the role of official misconduct in the conviction of innocent people. We discuss cases that are listed in the National Registry of Exonerations, an ongoing online archive that includes all known exonerations in the United States since 1989, 2,663 as of this writing. This Report describes official misconduct in the first 2,400 exonerations in the Registry, those posted by February 27, 2019.

In general, we classify a case as an “exoneration” if a person who was convicted of a crime is officially and completely cleared based on new evidence of innocence.

The Report is …

Gang Policing: The Post Stop-And-Frisk Justification For Profile-Based Policing, K. Babe Howell

University of Denver Criminal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Using Technology The Founders Never Dreamed Of: Cell Phones As Tracking Devices And The Fourth Amendment, R. Craig Curtis, Michael C. Gizzi, Michael J. Kittleson

University of Denver Criminal Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Arizona V. Gant On Search And Seizure Law As Applied To Vehicle Searches, Michael C. Gizzi, R. Craig Curtis

University of Denver Criminal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cops And Cars: How The Automobile Drove Fourth Amendment Law, Tracey Maclin

Faculty Scholarship

This is an essay on Professor Sarah A. Seo’s new book, Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom (Harvard Univ. Press 2019). I focus on Professor Seo’s analysis of Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (1925) and Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160 (1949). Carroll is important not only because it was the Court’s first car case. Understanding Carroll (and Brinegar, which solidified and expanded Carroll’s holding) is essential because, nearly one hundred years later, its logic continues to direct how the modern Court resolves Fourth Amendment claims of motorists. Put simply, a majority of today’s …

Assessing The Impact Of Police Body Camera Evidence On The Litigation Of Excessive Force Cases, Mitch Zamoff

Georgia Law Review

In the wake of several hotly debated and widely publicized shootings of civilians by police officers, calls for the increased use of body-worn cameras (bodycams) by law enforcement officers have intensified. As police departments across the country expand their use of this emergent technology, courts will increasingly be presented with video evidence from bodycams when making determinations in cases alleging the excessive use of force by the police. This Article tests the hypotheses that bodycam evidence will be dispositive in most excessive force cases and that such evidence will positively impact the way those cases are litigated and decided. In …

When Protest Is The Disaster: Constitutional Implications Of State And Local Emergency Power, Karen Pita Loor

Faculty Scholarship

The President’s use of emergency authority has recently ignited concern among civil rights groups over national executive emergency power. However, state and local emergency authority can also be dangerous and deserves similar attention. This article demonstrates that, just as we watch over the national executive, we must be wary of and check on state and local executives — and their emergency management law enforcement actors — when they react in crisis mode. This paper exposes and critiques state executives’ use of emergency power and emergency management mechanisms to suppress grassroots political activity and suggests avenues to counter that abuse. I …

When Protest Is The Disaster: Constitutional Implications Of State And Local Emergency Power, Karen J. Pita Loor

Seattle University Law Review

The President’s use of emergency authority has recently ignited concern among civil rights groups over national executive emergency power. However, state and local emergency authority can also be dangerous and deserves similar attention. This article demonstrates that, just as we watch over the national executive, we must be wary of and check on state and local executives—and their emergency management law enforcement actors—when they react in crisis mode. This paper exposes and critiques state executives’ use of emergency power and emergency management mechanisms to suppress grassroots political activity and suggests avenues to counter that abuse. I choose to focus on …

Identifying Factors That Influence The Continuing Education Choices Of Municipal Police Officers, Sean O'Connor

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study was conducted in an attempt to identify factors that influence the continuing education choices of municipal police officers. By examining factors such as tuition reimbursement, educational incentive pay, CEO education level, higher education standards for promotion and hiring, rank, and length of service, policy recommendations can be made to positively impact education levels among municipal police officers. In phase one of analysis, levels of organizational education were presented along with each variable’s presence in each department. Aggregate data is provided to give the reader an overview of higher education incentives and attainment within the County. In phase two, …

Community College Students’ Perceptions Of Law Enforcement, Jason L. Sharp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to extend our understanding of public perception towards law enforcement. Students from three different Kansas community colleges were surveyed about their perceptions of law enforcement effectiveness and professionalism, and what might impact those perceptions.

A total of 159 community college students responded to the survey. The majority of the respondents were female (78%), and Caucasian (77.4%). Respondent’s age represented the following percentage breakdowns: 29.6% being 18-19 years old, 27.7% being 20-24 years old, and 30.8% being 25-34. Resulting in 88% of respondents being between the ages of 18-34 years old.

Mean and standard deviation …

Peek Or Push: An Examination Of Two Types Of Room Clearing Tactics For Active Shooter Event Response, J. Pete Blair, M. Hunter Martaindale, William L. Sandel

College of Humanities and Public Affairs

Prior to the modern era of active shooter events, the standard training for patrol officers responding to an ongoing shooting event required the responding patrol officer(s) to contain the shooter in the building where the attack was occurring, control access to the location, attempt to communicate with the shooter, and call the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. Recently, research has been undertaken to empirically examine different law enforcement response options. This article details one such experiment. The article details a tactic known as the peek. Utilizing an experimental design, we present findings regarding the peek room entry technique.

Media Influence On College Students' Perceptions Of The Police, Matilda Foster

Theses and Dissertations

The first of Sir Robert Peel’s nine principles of law enforcement (1829) tells us that the police exist to prevent crime. However, the next six principles address the police’s need to develop a relationship with the public and maintain the publics’ approval, favor, respect, and voluntary cooperation. Although these principles were written in 1829, they still apply to police organizations today. This paper addresses the struggles policing organizations in the United States of America had over the years in maintaining these principles of law enforcement, the strategies the police have used to increase public approval, and factors associated with how …

Determining The Level Of Cultural Competence Of College Police Departments: A Study Of Three Different Campuses, Michelle Fletcher, Randolph Burnside, Stephanie Pink-Harper

Journal of Public Management & Social Policy

This research examines the understanding that police chiefs on three college campuses have about cultural competence and determines how organizationally integrated cultural competence is in their police departments. This article uses semi-structured interviews and surveys to determine the levels and organizational integration of cultural competence. The findings indicate that there are varying degrees of cultural competence across the three departments. This was primarily based on three factors: the level of understanding of cultural competence, the emphasis placed on promoting cultural competence by departmental leadership, and administrative or legal barriers. Given the complexity of cultural competence, the article concludes by offering …

Location Tracking And Digital Data: Can Carpenter Build A Stable Privacy Doctrine?, Evan H. Caminker

Articles

In Carpenter v United States, the Supreme Court struggled to modernize twentieth-century search and seizure precedents for the “Cyber Age.” Twice previously this decade the Court had tweaked Fourth Amendment doctrine to keep pace with advancing technology, requiring a search warrant before the government can either peruse the contents of a cell phone seized incident to arrest or use a GPS tracker to follow a car’s long-term movements.

The Experience Of Empathy Within Law Enforcement: An Art Exploration, Brianne Timmons, Isabella Williams

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Empathy within law enforcement has not been examined in the art therapy literature. This qualitative study provides insight into how empathy is perceived and experienced by retired law enforcement officers in San Diego, CA. Fourteen participants responded to a brief questionnaire, created an art piece and a written response about how empathy is experienced within law enforcement. The results illuminated common themes within the art and written responses including interactions, witnessing of a traumatic situation, intersection of roles within law enforcement, understanding of feelings, and communication. Future research in this area is recommended to also include current officers as well …

Lethal Use Of Force: Insights Into Mental Illness, Robert A. Ryan

Student Theses

Fatal use of force incidents involving police officers in the United States have recently seen widespread media attention, emotionally charged rhetoric, and calls for reform. The present study examines police use of force encounters with the mentally ill given the significant proportion of incidents and wanting body of literature. The objective of this study is to examine fatal police interactions to test whether those displaying signs of mental illness in encounters with law enforcement are more dangerous than those not displaying signs of mental illness. Open source data from the Washington Post were used from 2015 to 2018 (n=3942) due …

Citizen Trust Of The Police In The United States: How Bad Is It, And What Can We Do To Fix It, Mariah K. Warner

Honors Theses

Trust in the legitimacy of law enforcement is necessary for effective policing. Literature focuses in on three broad areas in its discussion of trust in the police; general feelings of social trust toward one’s community, belief in absence or presence of procedural justice, and perceptions of police effectiveness in the neighborhood in terms of disorder and incivilities. In this paper, I use data from the World Values Survey collected in 2011 in the United States to examine these correlates of trust in the police by way of logistic regression models. I find that, in accordance with recent scholarship, individuals’ perceptions …

Municipal Police Under Federal Control: A Mixed-Methods Analysis Of Title 42 U.S.C. Section 14141 Negotiated Settlements, Jason W. Ostrowe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Law Enforcement Misconduct Statute 42 U.S.C. 14141 (§ 14141) authorizes the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate, and enter into a court-enforceable structural reform agreement with a law enforcement agency engaged in patterns or practices of systemic misconduct, violations of federal law, and unconstitutional policing.

Under § 14141 authority, 33 investigations of municipal police have been conducted since 1994 where the DOJ determined that a police agency was engaged in, or at unreasonable risk of engaging in, a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. Publicizing …

Different Strokes For Different But Reasonable Folks: Comparison Of Legally Relevant Observers’ Perceptions Of Custody, Fabiana Alceste

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Fifth Amendment guarantees the right against compelled self-incrimination. In Miranda v. Arizona (1966), the U.S. Supreme Court extended this right to police interrogations. In that landmark ruling, the Court required police to inform suspects in custody of their rights to silence and counsel during custodial interrogations. Custody is determined by evaluating the objective circumstances of the questioning and asking whether a reasonable person would have felt free to leave. Previous research on attributions of freedom shows that people perceive situations with regard to freedom differently depending on their perspective—for example, a person in a stressful situation may not feel …

Tort Justice Reform, Paul David Stern

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article calls for a comprehensive reform of public tort law with respect to law enforcement conduct. It articulates an effective and equitable remedial regime that reconciles the aspirational goals of public tort law with the practical realities of devising payment and disciplinary procedures that are responsive to tort settlements and judgments. This proposed statutory scheme seeks to deter law enforcement misconduct without disincentivizing prudent officers from performing their duties or overburdening them with extensive litigation. Rather than lamenting the dissolution of Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics or the insurmountability of qualified immunity, reform …