Federal Intervention in American Police Departments

This book evaluates how structural reform litigation initiated by federal intervention has transformed police departments and reduced law enforcement misconduct.

Stephen Rushin (Author)

9781107513563, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 7 April 2017

308 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.7 cm, 0.45 kg

For much of American history, the federal government has played a limited role in local police regulation. That all changed in 1994, when Congress passed a little known statute that permitted the US Attorney General to reform troubled police departments. Since then, many of the nation's largest police departments - including those in Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Washington, DC, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Albuquerque - have been subject to federal oversight. But until recently, we've known little about how this federal process works. Drawing on original interviews, court documents, statistical data, and media reports, this book provides the first comprehensive account of federal intervention in American police departments. It shows that, under the right circumstances, federal intervention is uniquely effective at combating misconduct in police departments. However, federal intervention is far from perfect. This book concludes by arguing that Congress should expand and improve federal oversight of policing.

Introduction
1. The problem of police misconduct
2. The intervention era
3. Federal intervention in action
4. Possibilities and limitations
5. Moving forward: improving oversight of local police.

Subject Areas: Law & society [LAQ]