Need a source to cite for existing legal principles or the current state of the law? Use a well-respected treatise!
BOOK Example: Section 1983 Litigation in a Nutshell
by
BOOK Example: The Deadly Force Script
by
How many times have you read a news story about someone being shot by the police while reaching for their waistband? Or about an officer who testified at trial that the person he shot during a physical struggle had superhuman strength or a thousand-yard stare in his eyes? And how many times have you watched a police chief or sheriff during a press conference invoke the "21-foot rule" to justify their officer's killing of a mentally ill person with a knife? These and a host of other verbal devices are what author William Harmening calls the "deadly force script." It is a strategy that has been employed with great success by the law enforcement community in the decades following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tennessee v. Garner (1985), the case that for the first time placed significant restrictions on a police officer's use of deadly force. It is a strategy that has gone relatively unnoticed by the general public, the media, elected prosecutors, and the judges and juries who must rule on the reasonableness of an officer's actions. Now, perhaps for the very first time, William Harmening pulls back the veil to expose the deadly force script for all to see. He does this in a unique and informative way by presenting actual case studies where the script was employed following a deadly police encounter, typically right under the unsuspecting noses of local media and the prosecutor tasked with deciding whether to criminally charge the officers involved. Anyone with an interest in the twin ideals of an equitable system of justice and a professional and bias-free police force will find this book both fascinating and enlightening.
BOOK Example: Death in Custody
by
The United States significantly undercounts the number of people who die in law enforcement custody each year. How can we fix this? Deaths resulting from interactions with the US criminal legal system are a public health emergency, but the scope of this issue is intentionally ignored by the very systems that are supposed to be tracking these fatalities. We don't know how many people die in custody each year, whether in an encounter with police on the street, during transport, or while in jails, prisons, or detention centers. In order to make a real difference and address this human rights problem, researchers and policy makers need reliable data. In Death in Custody, Roger A. Mitchell Jr., MD, and Jay D. Aronson, PhD, share the stories of individuals who died in custody and chronicle the efforts of activists and journalists to uncover the true scope of deaths in custody. From Ida B. Wells's enumeration of extrajudicial lynchings more than a century ago to the Washington Post's current effort to count police shootings, the work of journalists and independent groups has always been more reliable than the state's official reports. Through historical analysis, Mitchell and Aronson demonstrate how government at all levels has intentionally avoided reporting death in custody data. Mitchell and Aronson outline a practical, achievable system for accurately recording and investigating these deaths. They argue for a straightforward public health solution: adding a simple checkbox to the US Standard Death Certificate that would create an objective way of recording whether a death occurred in custody. They also propose the development of national standards for investigating deaths in custody and the creation of independent regional and federal custodial death review panels. These tangible solutions would allow us to see the full scope of the problem and give us the chance to truly address it.
BOOK Example: Stop and Frisk
by
Winner, 2019 Outstanding Book Award, given by the American Society of Criminology's Division of Policing Section The first in-depth history and analysis of a much-abused policing policy No policing tactic has been more controversial than "stop and frisk," whereby police officers stop, question and frisk ordinary citizens, who they may view as potential suspects, on the streets. As Michael White and Hank Fradella show in Stop and Frisk, the first authoritative history and analysis of this tactic, there is a disconnect between our everyday understanding and the historical and legal foundations for this policing strategy. First ruled constitutional in 1968, stop and frisk would go on to become a central tactic of modern day policing, particularly by the New York City Police Department. By 2011 the NYPD recorded 685,000 'stop-question-and-frisk' interactions with citizens; yet, in 2013, a landmark decision ruled that the police had over- and mis-used this tactic. Stop and Frisk tells the story of how and why this happened, and offers ways that police departments can better serve their citizens. They also offer a convincing argument that stop and frisk did not contribute as greatly to the drop in New York's crime rates as many proponents, like former NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, have argued. While much of the book focuses on the NYPD's use of stop and frisk, examples are also shown from police departments around the country, including Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Newark and Detroit. White and Fradella argue that not only does stop and frisk have a legal place in 21st-century policing but also that it can be judiciously used to help deter crime in a way that respects the rights and needs of citizens. They also offer insight into the history of racial injustice that has all too often been a feature of American policing's history and propose concrete strategies that every police department can follow to improve the way they police. A hard-hitting yet nuanced analysis, Stop and Frisk shows how the tactic can be a just act of policing and, in turn, shows how to police in the best interest of citizens.
To find law reivew articles on a topic, consider using these sources:
