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When US Attorney-General Eric Holder unveiled Defending Childhood in 2010, he signalled that the Department of Justice was prioritising the victimisation and abuse of children and youth with federal initiatives. Reflective of this pronouncement, there has been increasing awareness of youth as victims and the detrimental and counterproductive effects of punitive sanctions that have characterised recent decades of juvenile justice policy. In this paper, the authors identify judicial and legislative initiatives that indicate a rejuvenilisation in juvenile justice policy. Some developments signify that the system is returning to its earlier mission and model in which youth are perceived as victims rather than mini-adult offenders, and greater emphasis is placed on interventions designed to protect and treat child victims. The authors propose that although punitive policies remain, the juvenile justice system has returned to a more youth-oriented system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports often claim a widespread use of excessive force on the part of American law enforcement officers. Although documented cases of excessive force do occur, this presumption of widespread force may be overstated. This paper reports the findings of a survey questionnaire administered by the authors to 295 sworn, active police officers across the USA regarding their experiences related to the use of force. The results of the study indicate that approximately 70 per cent of the police officers sampled had been in a situation where they could have legally used their firearm but chose not to. Furthermore, police officers exercised restraint in deadly force in 93 per cent of the situations in which they could have legally fired their weapon. Rather than an excessive use of force on the part of these officers, great restraint on their part was displayed. The interchange between the law enforcement officer and the offender in high-risk situations in which deadly force can be used legally and ethically is complex, dynamic and rapidly changing. To understand why officers in these situations very frequently choose not to use deadly force is examined within the context of 'the deadly mix'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of the some 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States, TASERs have been adopted by approximately 7,000 departments. Following on the call of White and Ready (2007) for more research on TASER use by police, this paper investigates the use of TASERs by a medium sized, Midwestern police agency. All TASER deployments by police officers in this Midwestern city are examined for a three-and-a-half-year time period (January 2004–August 2007). Findings indicate that the TASER was used primarily against physically resistant white male suspects with a history of police contact. The majority of the incidents took place at a private residence or apartment as opposed to a public place of business. The TASER was overwhelmingly effective and, as for officer safety, on the few occasions that an officer was injured, the injury was not related to the TASER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research on the public's attitudes towards the police has a long history, and gender has long been considered a potential correlate, theoretical and empirical development concerning the role of gender in forming positive or negative attitudes towards the police is limited. In this paper we approach this issue in three ways to understand better how gender may or may not affect attitudes towards the police among a sample of residents in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in two south-eastern cities. We find that the total bivariate effect of gender in the sample is small and not statistically significant. However, there is some evidence that gender plays a distal causal role because women feel less safe or at greater risk of victimisation, but are less likely to be victimised or confronted with a drug dealer. Theoretical and policy implications are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of undercover law enforcement techniques brings with it serious risks. They have the capability of threatening civil liberties and US constitutional rights of innocent individuals. Limits of governmental intrusion reflected in the Fourth Amendment, protection of privileged communications reflected in the First Amendment, and the requirement that criminal investigations be conducted in a fair manner commanded by the Fifth Amendment are endangered by undercover methods. After briefly exploring the history of covert practices, this paper will visit current internal and external policies guiding the use of undercover law enforcement methods and court cases that had major impacts on shaping behaviours of undercover officers. Since policies are not well developed at the local level and state courts have reaffirmed rulings by the US Supreme Court, references are made to federal agencies and federal case law. Results of the research indicate that some agencies have internal guidelines, however, they cannot be judicially enforced. US Supreme Court case law is the best resource in guiding law enforcement officers and minimising the risks of violating individuals' rights during an undercover investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States Constitution, as well as national values, centre on individual (human) rights. Conservatives, liberals, and independents agree that police officers must at times resort to physical force if they are to carry out fully their official responsibilities. As well, there is no question the lawful use of force by police officers frequently escalates to unlawful behaviour (police brutality), and that this must be controlled. Despite this shared attitude, however, public opinion and government policy diverge in their approach to deterring police brutality. Most recent official and unofficial policies are based on the plausibility of prevention through creation of civilian review boards, recruitment tests, counselling, and training and retraining of officers. None of these measures seems to work well in reducing police brutality, although society is answerable to the kind of police it chooses to have, whether it be by deliberation, power struggle, or total neglect, the fact is police brutality is an issue of great concern to individual officers, police administrators, and more importantly, the victims (society). This paper focuses on the deterrence effect of requiring police officers to purchase individual occupational liability insurance, on a fundamental belief of deterrence philosophy and documented examples that a high rate of police brutality stems in large part from lack of monetary liability/ accountability on the part of the individual police officer. Police brutality occurs in part because some (both normal and emotionally disturbed) officers have opportunities to commit this unlawful behaviour, and in part, because they are not deterred from committing it, and because the judiciary chose to ‘water down’ the doctrine of sovereign immunity. It's time to require all police officers to have personal liability insurance. This calls for Congressional action. Without solid reform, police brutality will have no incentive to do anything other than continue to worsen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Originally established by Commissioner William Bratton and his colleagues in the New York City Police Department, Compstat has emerged as a new organisational paradigm in policing. This paper presents data drawn from the written views of police managers from across the USA. The respondents were attending the Administrative Officer's Course at the Southern Police Institute of the University of Louisville, Kentucky. During the course of their studies, they read several works on Compstat, including Silverman's (1999) work, NYPD Battles Crime. Content analysis of their written comments reveals the strengths and weaknesses that they associate with the Compstat model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]