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Full-Text Articles in Law
Policing The Admissibility Of Body Camera Evidence, Jeffrey Bellin, Shevarma Pemberton
Policing The Admissibility Of Body Camera Evidence, Jeffrey Bellin, Shevarma Pemberton
Jeffrey Bellin
Body cameras are sweeping the nation and becoming, along with the badge and gun, standard issue for police officers. These cameras are intended to ensure accountability for abusive police officers. But, if history is any guide, the videos they produce will more commonly be used to prosecute civilians than to document abuse. Further, knowing that the footage will be available as evidence, police officers have an incentive to narrate body camera videos with descriptive oral statements that support a later prosecution. Captured on an official record that exclusively documents the police officer’s perspective, these statements—for example, “he just threw something …
Prosecutorial Dismissals As Teachable Moments (And Databases) For The Police, Adam M. Gershowitz
Prosecutorial Dismissals As Teachable Moments (And Databases) For The Police, Adam M. Gershowitz
Adam M. Gershowitz
The criminal justice process typically begins when the police make a warrantless arrest. Although police usually do a good job of bringing in the “right” cases, they do make mistakes. Officers sometimes arrest suspects even though there is no evidence to prove an essential element of the crime. Police also conduct unlawful searches and interrogations. And officers make arrests in marginal cases—schoolyard fights are a good example—in which prosecutors do not think a criminal conviction is appropriate. Accordingly, prosecutors regularly dismiss cases after police have made warrantless arrests and suspects have sat in jail for days, or even weeks. In …
Policing The Admissibility Of Body Camera Evidence, Jeffrey Bellin, Shevarma Pemberton
Policing The Admissibility Of Body Camera Evidence, Jeffrey Bellin, Shevarma Pemberton
Faculty Publications
Body cameras are sweeping the nation and becoming, along with the badge and gun, standard issue for police officers. These cameras are intended to ensure accountability for abusive police officers. But, if history is any guide, the videos they produce will more commonly be used to prosecute civilians than to document abuse. Further, knowing that the footage will be available as evidence, police officers have an incentive to narrate body camera videos with descriptive oral statements that support a later prosecution. Captured on an official record that exclusively documents the police officer’s perspective, these statements—for example, “he just threw something …