Digital Commons Network^™

Grand Juries And Cases Of Police Use Of Deadly Force: Are Prosecutors Opening A Closed Door?, Joseph P. Conti

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

In recent years, considerable national attention has been focused upon cases in which police officers used deadly force that resulted in the death of private citizens. The officers often contended that the use of deadly force was justified under the circumstances. Prosecutors then presented these cases to grand juries to determine whether criminal prosecutions were warranted. Some prosecutors have elected to provide full grand jury reviews that include the presentation of exculpatory evidence or at least evidence favorable to the police. Although prosecutors have no constitutional obligation to provide such reviews, those who elect to provide full grand jury reviews …

Alaska Justice Forum ; Vol. 34, No. 2 (Fall 2017), Brad A. Myrstol, Pamela Cravez, Troy C. Payne, N/A Uaa Justice Center

Vols 31-36 (2014-2019)

The Fall 2017 print edition of the Alaska Justice Forum features two stories on crime rates — in relation to criminal justice reform and in relation to police staffing — that caution using crime rates as a single factor to determine policy. A story on Crisis Intervention Teams shows how specialized responses are helping law enforcement deal with calls from individuals with mental illness and/or substance use disorders. The Fall 2017 online edition includes expanded versions of print stories and a video (with transcript) on property crime rates in Alaska.

How Do You Determine The Right Size Of A Police Department? Don’T Look To Crime Rates., Troy C. Payne

Vols 31-36 (2014-2019)

Studies have shown that changing the number of police officers has no effect on crime rates. This article explains why and describes alternative measures. An accompanying chart compares rates of violent crime in Alaska for 1986–2015 with the number of police officers per 1,000 residents for the same period.

Crisis Intervention Teams Assist Law Enforcement, Pamela Cravez

Vols 31-36 (2014-2019)

The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) is a police-based, first responders’ pre-arrest jail diversion model for individuals with mental illness and/or substance abuse disorder. A new CIT coalition is being developed in Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The online version of the article also includes additional information about specialized police responses.

When Mental Illness Becomes A Police Matter, Uaa Justice Center

Vols 31-36 (2014-2019)

Mental illness is not a police matter in and of itself and most people with mental illness (MI) are not involved in the criminal justice system. When police do interact with an individual with MI, care needs to be taken not to label the person as the problem but to focus on behavior that causes harm to self and others.

Police In America: Ensuring Accountability And Mitigating Racial Bias Feat. Paul Butler

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Reforming The Ranks: Policy Initiatives To Ensure Police Accountability & Improve Police And Community Relations

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Collateral Visibility: A Socio-Legal Study Of Police Body Camera Adoption, Privacy, And Public Disclosure In Washington State, Bryce Clayton Newell

Indiana Law Journal

Law enforcement use of body-worn cameras has become a subject of significant public and scholarly debate in recent years. This Article presents findings from a study of the legal and social implications of body-worn camera adoption by two police departments in Washington State. In particular, this study focuses on the public disclosure of body-worn camera footage under Washington State’s public records act, state privacy law, and original empirical findings related to officer attitudes about—and perceptions of—the impact of these laws on their work, their own personal privacy, and the privacy of the citizens they serve. The law in Washington State …

Building Movement: Racial Injustice, Transformative Justice And Reimagined Policing

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Police In America: Ensuring Accountability And Mitigating Racial Bias Feat. Professor Destiny Peery

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

The First Amendment And The Police In The Digital Age, Kermit V. Lipez

Maine Law Review

In almost thirty-two years as a judge, I have written over 1300 opinions. Each of these opinions was important to the parties involved, yet some have gained more prominence than others. This essay addresses one of those—a 2011 decision that involves the First Amendment, the complex relationship between the police and the communities they serve, and the revolution in communications technology. I emphasize two points as I begin. I have enormous respect for police officers and their work. They risk their lives on the job—a reality that we have seen far too often in recent years—and go to work every …

Changing Police Culture: Raising Awareness Of The Importance Of Mental Health, Mary Dombroski

Justice

The suicide rate involving police officers has produced alarming statistics for decades. Until recently, however, little has been done to prevent suicide in law enforcement and even fewer efforts have been made to change the root of the problem. This paper reviews why a law enforcement officer may choose to take their life, looks at preexisting programs and resources that departments can choose to embrace, and supplies departments with a new approach to destigmatizing suicide within the police culture starting at the academy level.

Bridging The Gap Between Police And Citizens: What We Know, What We've Done, And What Can Be Done, Melvin Colley

Justice

There is a long history of distrust between police and citizens and there have been no meaningful and sustained steps to correct this situation. Death and injuries are sustained by citizens and police, but still there has not been a real attempt to prevent this occurring because there is no trust between police and citizens and this lack of trust has created a rift or gap between police and citizens and this projects aim is to address the gap. Research into what causing damage and finding a way to repair the damaged relationship between police and citizens by way of …

Life's Hurried Tangled Road: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Analysis Of Why Dedicated Counsel Must Be Assigned To Represent Persons With Mental Disabilities In Community Settings, Alison Lynch, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

This paper will be published as part of a symposium issue of Behavioral Sciences and Law.

Although counsel is now assigned in all jurisdictions to provide legal representation to persons facing involuntary civil commitment, such counsel is rarely available to persons with mental disabilities in other settings outside the hospital. In this paper, we strongly urge that such representation also be made available to this population in community settings. The scope of this representation must include any involvement with the criminal justice system that currently does not fall within the scope of indigent counsel assignment decisions such as Gideon v. …

Black And Blue: Competing Social Constructions Of Police On Instagram And Twitter, Mary Frances Thornhill

Master's Theses

Mass media outlets newspapers and television were traditionally where individuals gathered their news information; however, with the growth of new media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, individuals are now co-producers of the content that is seen by the public. Previous research indicated that media-generated images of the police influence public perception and that new media outlets are becoming increasingly influential, particularly in regards to social and political conflicts. This means that research on the role of new media outlets in socially constructing reality is essential, though not much of this research has yet been completed. This current analysis fills …

Intutitve Decision-Making: Engagement, Agency, And Leverage, Roger E. Callese

All Capstone Projects

This project explored law enforcement decision-making through the review of decision-making literature, consideration of the Critical Decision Model (CDM), and semistructured interviews with law enforcement officers. In 2016, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) recommended the adoption and use of the CDM by law enforcement officers as a new way to approach tactical decisions. A review of the CDM suggests a linear, rational, weighing of options by officers. While this may be an excellent tool for slowly developing situations, for pre-mortems, or for debriefing, the CDM step four (identify options and determine best course of action) and step five (act, …

Job Characteristics And Perceived Organizational Support Among Police Officers, Paul Reynolds, Richard Helfers

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research supports that treatment of employees, in terms of organizational policies, practices, and resources, are associated with employees’ perception of organizational support. Furthermore, research supports that there is often disparate treatment between employees’ work related factors. For this reason, it is reasonable to speculate that variances in police officers’ perception that their organization cares about them and values their work contributions may exist. The purpose of this exploratory research was to describe how police officers’ job characteristics (duty assignment, rank, tenure, and department size) might be associated with perceptions of organizational support. Utilizing OLS regression, the findings revealed that perceived …

Third-Person Perceptions, Hostile Media Effects, And Policing: Developing A Theoretical Framework For Assessing The Ferguson Effect, Justin Nix, Justin T. Pickett

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Objectives

Policing in the United States has come under intense scrutiny following numerous deadly force incidents involving unarmed black citizens, which dominated the news media. Some have argued that consequently, a “chill wind” has blown through law enforcement, such that officers have become more distrustful of civilians, fearful of scandal, and are de-policing. To date, however, scholars have given insufficient theoretical and empirical attention to why and how media coverage of policing may lead to such outcomes.

Methods

We addressed this literature gap using data from a survey of officers in a metropolitan police department in the southeast.

Results

We …

Self-Motivation In Policing, Scott W. Phillips

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Research shows that the work shift of a patrol officer includes a large amount of “down time.” Occupational scholarship has validated that workers can reduce boredom by engaging in activities that are ancillary to normal duties. The autonomous work environment of police officers provides them a unique opportunity to minimize boredom by working in a way that makes their expected behavior interesting. To date the police motivation scholarship tends to examine “job satisfaction,” but the notion of boredom is missing from the research. This study used an observational research design to provide a qualitative examination of the techniques used by …

Supply The Hand That Feeds: Narcotic Detection Dogs And The Fourth Amendment, Megan Yentes

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Police canines are highly valued by law enforcement agencies as they are capable of detecting the faintest scent of contraband. The Supreme Court has established that a canine sniff is not a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment, and as long as a canine has been formally trained by any "bona fide" organization, their positive alert provides law enforcement officials with the requisite probable cause to institute warrantless and invasive searches of automobiles. The Supreme Court's flawed approach was best summed up by Justice Souter when he stated, "The infallible dog, however, is a creature of legal fiction." …

Mindfulness And Law Enforcement: An Effective Approach To Implementing Mindfulness For First Responders, Gina White

Mindfulness Studies Theses

An increasing number of studies show that people employed as first responders in high trauma service jobs tend to experience a high level of stress, at work and after hours. Studies suggest that constant exposure to job related stress leads to both physical and mental dysregulation. This study looks at the effects of implementing mindfulness tools and techniques to those working in law enforcement. Other works on this topic report mindfulness as a successful tool to increase wellbeing to a broad spectrum of populations. The methodology used in this study was designed specifically for first responders. The data findings were …

The Miranda Case Fifty Years Later, Yale Kamisar

Articles

A decade after the Supreme Court decided Miranda v. Arizona, Geoffrey Stone took a close look at the eleven decisions the Court had handed down “concerning the scope and application of Miranda.” As Stone observed, “[i]n ten of these cases, the Court interpreted Miranda so as not to exclude the challenged evidence.” In the eleventh case, the Court excluded the evidence on other grounds. Thus, Stone noted, ten years after the Court decided the case, “the Court ha[d] not held a single item of evidence inadmissible on the authority of Miranda.” Not a single item. To use …

Resurrecting Miranda's Right To Counsel, David Rossman

Faculty Scholarship

The regime created by Miranda v. Arizona is at this point in its history bankrupt both intellectually and in terms of practical effect. Justices who have joined the Court after Miranda have cut back its scope by stingy interpretations of the doctrine’s reach and effect. In practice, few suspects actually benefit from the way Miranda is now implemented in police stations and courtrooms. Given the failure of Miranda’s promise, can we envision an alternative? Here is one that may be politically palatable and doctrinally feasible, largely adopted from English practice:

1. Police would give the same Miranda warnings that they …

How I Made Peace: Dismantling Racism In The United States, Jennifer Serrato

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

No abstract provided.

Find My Criminals: Fourth Amendment Implications Of The Universal Cell Phone "App" That Every Cell Phone User Has But No Criminal Wants, Christopher Joseph

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Racial Tensions In Society: A Study Of Arrest Related Shootings In Arkansas 2006 - 2011, James Aaron Luht

Student Theses and Dissertations

In the context of the recent tensions regarding police use of force in America, the surrounding media attention, and the formation of social movement organizations such as Black Lives Matter, this article will examine police shootings in Arkansas from 2011 to 2016. Using Conflict Theory as a basis for this study the following questions provide the foundation for research: (1) Are police shootings a factor of individual variables, community demographics, location? (2) What are the circumstances that make police use of deadly force more common? Using data from the Uniform Crime Report, a study conducted by the Arkansas Democratic Gazette …

Islam Is The New Black: Muslim Perceptions Of Law Enforcement, Jesenia Robles

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Research shows that healthy police-community relationships are important for an effective police department. However, although many studies have investigated the relationship between racial minorities and police, only a small portion focus on the Islamic community. This is problematic because hostility towards the Islamic community has been on the rise in the United States (US) since the attacks of 9/11 (Jackson, 2010), and current Middle Eastern conflicts have led to an influx of Muslim refugees into the US. This has further diversified neighborhoods and is the reason that it is just as imperative to explore police-Muslim interactions as it is to …

African And Non-African Refugees’ Perceptions Of Police: A Study Of, Joselyne L. Chenane, Jawjeong Wu, John Huey-Long Song

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

Although there is an enormous amount of scholarship on public perceptions of the police, few studies have had an interest in refugees’ opinions. Using a survey instrument, the current study aims to understand the adaptation of refugees to the American criminal justice system by focusing on how they perceive police officers in two mid-sized cities in the northeastern region. We explore whether there are differences in perceived police prejudice, police effectiveness, and respect for the police between African and non-African refugees. In addition, we identify factors that affect refugees’ perceptions. Findings from ordinary least squares and multinomial regression analyses indicate …

State Of Fear: Domestic Violence In South Carolina, Matthew Robins

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Police-Worn Body Cameras: An Antidote To The “Ferguson Effect”?, Alberto R. Gonzales, Donald Q. Cochran

Missouri Law Review

This Article explores the questions raised by this scenario, focusing on police-worn body cameras, the role these cameras may play in officer-citizen encounters, and the resolution of legal disputes that arise from such encounters. Part II discusses what role, if any, citizen-recorded videos and the effect they have on society play in the prevalence of crime – what has sometimes been called the “Ferguson effect.” Part III explores the role police-worn body cameras could play in counteracting any such effect, addressing arguments in favor of body cameras and exploring their potential to encourage positive police and citizen behavior. Part IV …