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46 S. Cal. L. Rev. 284 (1972-1973)
Killings by Chicago Police, 1969-70: An Empirical Study

handle is hein.journals/scal46 and id is 294 raw text is: KILLINGS BY CHICAGO POLICE, 1969-70: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY RICHAiD W. HARDING* assisted by RICHARD P. FmmY* During 1969 and 1970, Chicago police killed 85 citizens in incidents involving confrontation and arrest. Inquest transcripts, newspaper re- ports, and other publicly available information revealed 11 apparent prima facie cases of manslaughter or murder. Several other incidents presented factual anomalies sufficient to suggest that a thorough inves- tigation might well have revealed such prima facie cases. Yet only one policeman has faced a criminal trial as a result of these events. This sustained trend of failure to test the legality of such conduct re- suits either from the collaboration between or the inertia of those pri- marily charged with the administration of the criminal law-the police and the State's Attorney. Mutual reinforcement of the other's attitude has erected an almost impenetrable barrier to effective testing of ques- tionable police conduct. The Coroner, whose office has a residuary law enforcement power in homicide cases, seems similarly unprepared to challenge police conduct effectively. Moreover, there is a wide measure of public tolerance of the use, and thus the occasional misuse, of firearms in law enforcement. This Article examines killings by Chicago policemen during 1969- 70, both from the perspective of official versions of the incidents and, in addition, alternative versions of the same incidents constructed from * Senior Lecturer, University of Western Australia Law School. LL.B. 1960, London University; LL.M. 1962, Columbia University. The author wishes to thank the following members of the Center for Studies in Criminal Justice, University of Chicago Law School for their constant help and encouragement in this project: Hans W. Mattick, Gordon J. Hawkins, Norval Morris, Franklin E. Zimring, Wayne A. Kerstetter, and Henry Balikov. ** B.A. 1966, San Francisco State College; J.D., 1971, Northwestern University Law School. The author is presently attorney in charge of Dinebeinna Nahiilna Be Agaditahe, Shiprock, New Mexico. Both authors wish to thank Miss Debbie Palmer of Northwestern University Law School for her assistance at various stages of this project. They also wish to thank Businessmen for the Public Interest for various materials made available to them in the early stages of this study.

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