About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

16 Criminology & Pub. Pol'y 607 (2017)
Which Way to Better Policing

handle is hein.journals/crpp16 and id is 609 raw text is: POLICY ESSAY POLICE CONSENT DECREES Which Way to Better Policing? Michael S. Scott Arizona State University n their important and helpful study of the impact of federal pattern-and-practice lawsuits and consent decrees on local police agency practices, Zachary A. Powell, Michele Bisaccia Meitl, and John L. Worrall (2017, this issue) assert, reasonably, that the primary goal of the law authorizing such suits is to reduce unconstitutional policing practices. They then argue, also reasonably, that the incidence and rate of private-citizen federal civil-rights lawsuits against local police officers and agencies (so-called § 1983 actions of the Civil Rights Act of 1871) serve as valid measures of the incidence of unconstitutional policing practices. They conclude that the evidence from their study indicates that these federal pattern-and-practice lawsuits, and the ensuing consent decrees, may be associated with modest reductions in federal civil-rights lawsuits filed against the defendant police officers and agencies (emphasis added). They further qualify that conclusion by pointing out that the positive effects of these lawsuits might not be immediate-that there likely is a time lag before the unconstitutional policing practices in question meaningfully cease-and that there is evidence that the positive effects brought about by the lawsuits might not last long beyond the period of actual oversight. In brief, they conclude that federal lawsuits against local police might marginally reduce unconstitutional policing but neither quickly nor for very long. To which I reply, so far, so good. In my mind-one well trained in policing and in law, although only rudimentarily in social-science research methods and statistics- Powell et al. (2017) have conducted a well-designed study, analyzed their data appropriately (although most police practitioners, lawyers, and other policy makers will have to take the validity of their analysis on faith in the peer-review process), measured the proper things (outcomes, not outputs), and reached appropriately cautious, reasonable conclu- sions about their findings. Thus, one policy implication of this study is that it can be placed on the side of a scale tipping, however slightly, in favor of continuing to use Direct correspondence to Michael S. Scott, Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave., Suite 600, Mail Code 4420, Phoenix, AZ 85004 (e-mail: msscott5@asu.edu), DOI:10.1 111/1745-9133.12294 D 2017 American Society of Criminology 607 Criminology & Public Policy * Volume 16 * Issue 2

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most