What are the incidence and benefits of lawsuits against the police?

What will be an ideal response?


Civil lawsuits against the police are common. One study found that the police face over 30,000 civil actions each year. Between 1980 and 2005, federal court decisions involving lawsuits against the police nearly tripled.

There are some possible benefits of lawsuits, despite their cost to the police. Some argue that these lawsuits keep the police accountable, give real meaning to citizens’ rights, foster better police training, and can force police agencies to correct any deficiencies and review all policies, practices, and customs.

Criminal Justice

You might also like to view...

List and briefly describe the three branches of social process theory.

What will be an ideal response?

Criminal Justice

Studies suggest that 2/3 of adult offenders will be re-arrested within 3 years of being released from prison. Compared to adult offenders, do we know about how many juvenile offenders will be rearrested within a few years of their release from detention?

A. Juvenile offenders and adult offenders are approximately equally likely to be rearrested. B. Juvenile offenders are significantly more likely to be rearrested. C. Juvenile offenders are slightly less likely to be rearrested. D. Juvenile offenders are significantly less likely to be rearrested.

Criminal Justice

Charles was a prisoner at Elmira Reformatory in 1887. Charles received daily mail, had extended hours at bedtime, and had access to books from the library. Charles was likely classified as a(n) ______.

a. first-grade prisoner b. third-grade prisoner c. model inmate d. incoming inmate

Criminal Justice

Answer the following statement(s) true (T) or false (F)

1. As theories of crime change, so do criminal justice policies. 2. It is acceptable to decontextualize criminological theory. 3. Feminist thought has led to the gendering of criminology. 4. Although criminological theory historically has focused on what motivates people to commit crime, it has not systematically studied how variations in the opportunity to offend affect the amount and distribution of criminality in American society. 5. According to labeling theory, the key to understanding crime is in studying how people develop into offenders and how they escape from their lives of crime.

Criminal Justice