Law Commons^™

Democratic Policing Confronts Terror An Protest, Jerome H. Skolnick

Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce

The idea of legal evolution to a rule of law necessarily implies restraints upon the coercive power of the state. Whatever we might mean by coercive state power, surely the institution of the police embodies the essence of such power. Democratic policing has long been a guiding concern in studies of American policing; and it is a major goal of nations in transition to democracy, especially those in Eastern Europe.2 By those seeking change, democratic policing must be concerned with the rule of law as well as with crime and public order and terrorism. In this article, I intend to …