Review 7 & 14 Flashcards
Use of Force
The type and amount of effort required to compel compliance by an unwilling suspect.
Such force can be verbal directives, empty-hand control (grabs, holds), less-lethal means (chemical sprays, baton, electrical device), and lethal means.
Use of force must be “objectively reasonable”. Perhaps a good test is provided by theSupreme Court inGraham v. Connor (1989): whether an officer’s actions werereasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting him, withoutregard to his underlying intent or motivation.
The President’s Task Force on21stCentury Policing created in late 2014 to examine the potential “use-of-forceproblem.”
The task force noted “recent events have exposed rifts in the relationships between local police and the communitiesthey protect and serve.”
Its mission was to determine “how tofosterstrong, collaborative relationshipsbetweenlocal law enforcement and thecommunitiesthey protect, and to makerecommendationsto the President on how policing practicescan promote effective crimereduction whilebuilding public trust.”
Police as “Guardians” or “Soldiers”
Define constitutional policing, legitimacy, procedural justice, and consent decrees as they apply to police efforts to bring harmony to their whole approach—and to achieve a “guardian” rather than “soldier” mindset. If the police have a high level of perceived legitimacy, community members tend to be more willing to cooperate with the police and to accept the outcome of their interactions with the police: Public confidence involves the belief that the police are honest, are trying to do their jobs well, and are striving to protect the community against crime and violence.
- Constitutional policing: Policing practices that emphasize the protection of civilians’ civil rights and equal protection under the law; forms the foundation of community policing; important to form positive and productive relationships with citizens.
- Legitimacy (of police): The extent to which the community believes that police actions are appropriate, proper, and just, and its willingness to recognize police authority.
- Procedural justice: A philosophy meaning that the manner in which an individual regards the criminal justice system is tied closely to the perceived fairness of the process and how he or she was treated rather than to the perceived fairness of the outcome. It revolves around four principles: fairness to all; voice; transparency and openness of process; and impartiality and unbiased decision making.
- Consent decree: Where police officers have violated citizens’ civil rights, a tool used by the courts to compel an agency to generally perform within the dictates of the Constitution and make specific reforms.
The contemporary chasm between police and minorities, and many people in society-at-large: revolves around how police are often being seen as “soldiers” or “warriors.”
How To Develop Harmony, Justice, and Policy
Seriously examine cities’ relationships and understand their minority communities: In a community such as Ferguson, where 67 percent of the population but only 5 percent of police officers were African American, and in a nation where many people see discrimination and prejudice when blacks are arrested at nearly three times the rate of people of other races, a good starting point is to diversify the agency, thus giving people a greater sense of representation and voice.
Diversify the agency: Giving people a greater sense of representation and voice.
Other reforms include:
Stopping militarization of police;
Mandating use of body-worn cameras;
Having U.S. Department of Justice investigate such shootings to determine if any civil rights violations occurred, and
Implementing training on racial profiling, dehumanization, and stereotyping.
Militarization (of the police): The idea that the increasing use (since 9/11) of military equipment and tactics by the police has made them pattern themselves around and adopt the military model.
Influence of women and minorities in policing
A goal for today’s police agencies: for them to be represented by more women and minorities:
According to research by the National Center for Women and Policing, female officers:
Are as competent as their male counterparts.
Are less likely than male officers to use excessive force.
Use a less authoritarian style that relies less on physical force and communication skills that allow them to defuse situations.
Implement community-oriented policing and problem solving, which emphasizes communication and cooperation.
Are more effective in responding to crimes against women than are male officers.
Can help reduce problems of sex discrimination and harassment within their agencies.
Police brutality
Police can be “brutal” in three ways:
the physical abuse of others,
the verbal abuse of citizens, and
officers representing the majority group’s law to keep minorities in their place.
Status of Police Body-Worn Cameras
Body-worn camera: An audio, video, or photographic recording system worn by police to record their interactions with the public or gather video evidence at crime scenes.
Legislation of all states governing use of body-worn cameras: enacted or pending. These statutes are intended to address two compelling issues:
When, specifically, should the cameras be used; and
Who should be allowed to view which kinds of footage?
A concern that applies to the individual agencies: That body-worn cameras can carry tremendous costs as well as the impact of public disclosure or open-records requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
When Failing the Public Trust: Civil Liability
High price of failure among public servants in both human and financial terms: Policeemployees from time-to-time actinamanner that evokespublicscrutiny,complaints, and callsforfinancialremuneration to persons whohavesufferedas a result.The price of failure among public servantscan be quite high, in both human andfinancial terms.
Police aresusceptibletolitigation and liability as they are frequently cast into confrontational situations and given the complex nature of their work and its training needs.
Tort: A civil wrong or infraction; the remedy will be damages awarded in civil trial.
Three categories of torts generally cover most of the lawsuits filed against criminal justice practitioners.
- Negligence: failure to perform a duty owed. It can arise when a criminal justice employee’s conduct creates a danger to others.
- Intentional torts: occur when an employee engages in a voluntary act that has a substantial likelihood of resulting in injury to another.
- Constitutional torts: involve employees’ duty to recognize and uphold the constitutional rights, privileges, and immunities of others; violations of these guarantees may subject the employee to a civil suit, most frequently brought in federal court under 42 U.S. Code Section 1983.
Some torts brought against police officers: assault, battery, false imprisonment, false arrest, invasion of privacy, negligence, defamation, and malicious prosecution.
- False arrest: Unlawful physical restraint by a police officer, for no valid reason.
- Civil liability: In tort law, the basis for which a cause of action (e.g., fine) is made to recover damages; in criminal justice, where a police or corrections officer, for example, violates someone’s civil rights.
Section 1983: A portion of the U.S. Code that allows a legal action to be brought against a police officer or other person in position of authority who, it is believed, used his or her position (“acted under color of law”) to violate one’s civil rights.
Vicarious liability: A legal doctrine whereby a person is responsible for the actions of another and is to exercise reasonable and prudent care in supervising that person. So, a city can be held liable for the actions of its police officers. States for the actions of State Police.
Respondent superior: Latin for “let the master answer,” a doctrine in liability that establishes a duty of supervisors to control their employees and be considered liable for their actions.
Proximate Cause: A factor that contributed heavily to an event, such as an auto crash or death. Examples: where an officer is negligently involved in a high-speed chase and the fleeing driver strikes an innocent third party, when an officer who leaves the scene of an accident is aware of dangerous conditions and does not give proper warning to motorists.
Persons in Custody and Safe Facilities.
- Duty of care: a legal obligation imposed on someone; in the case of the police, they have a legal responsibility to see that persons in their custody are free from harm, given necessary medical assistance when necessary, and treated humanely. This duty, however, typically does not include self-inflicted injury or suicide, because these acts are generally considered to result from the detainee’s own intentional conduct.
However, if a prisoner’s suicide is “reasonably foreseeable” from his or her actions or statements, then the jailer has a duty to help prevent that suicide.
A Related Issue: How to Treat the Mentally Ill Population: The “tenets” of police interactions with the mentally ill, as espoused by psychiatrists, include the following: Respond with more than one officer (preferably being uniformed and without red lights, siren, etc.); remain with them until help arrives; move slowly and reassure the person; try to obtain help from friends, relatives, and others known to the individual; use a weapon only when necessary to save a life; if delusional, don’t argue with them, but try to bring them back to reality; take all suicidal behavior seriously; ensure they are not physically ill or injured; and try to get the person to a treatment facility.
Failure to Protect: a situation in which police place someone in jeopardy, such as by giving out the location of a battered spouse or names of victims or witnesses.
Claims of failure to protect most often involve battered women. However, police informants, witnesses, and other people dependent on the police can be a source of police liability if an officer fails to take reasonable action to prevent them from being victimized.
Vehicle Pursuits:
Vehicle pursuit is justified only when the necessity of apprehension outweighs the degree of danger created by the pursuit.
Given the tremendous potential for injury, property damage that concerns vehicle pursuits, police policy and procedure manuals typically order the supervisor to shut down the pursuit unless there is probable cause to believe the suspect presents a clear and immediate threat to the safety of others, or has committed or is attempting to commit a violent felony.
Alternatives to incarceration
Probation:An alternative to incarceration in which the convict remains out of jail or prison and in the community and thus on the job, with family, and so on, while subject to conditions and supervision of the probation authority.
Alternatives to incarceration:A sentence imposed by a judge other than incarceration, such as probation, parole, shock probation, or house arrest.
Reasons for usingalternatives toincarceration:
It allows the offender to remain in the community, which has a greater rehabilitative effect, thereby reducing recidivism.
It allows the offender to take greater advantage of treatment orcounsellingoptions.
It allows the offender to avoid the “pains” of imprisonment.
It is far less expensive.
It permits ongoing ties with family, employment, and other social networks.
Three prerequisite elements foreffectivealternative to incarceration:
It must incapacitate offenders enough so that it is possible to interfere with their lives and activities to make committing a new offense extremely difficult.
It must be unpleasant enough to deter offenders from wanting to commit new crimes.
It has to provide real and credible protection for the community.
Development of intermediate sanctions: Economic reality dictates that cost-effective measures be developed, and this is motivating their development.
Origins of Probation (the shoe cobbler)
“Judicial reprieve”:Was used in English courts to serve as a temporary suspension of sentence.
In U.S., the suspended sentence was used in 1830 in Boston.
It became widespread in American courts, even though there was no statutory provision for it.
Raised legal question;development of probation statutes:
By mid-19th century, a legal question arose: Could judges suspend sentences wholesale, after trials that were scrupulously fair, simply to give the defendant a second chance?
In 1916, the U.S. Supreme Court held thatjudges did not have the discretionary authority to suspend sentences.
However, Congress could authorize temporary or indefinite suspension of sentences.
This led to the development of probation statutes.
John Augustus: the “father of probation”: He performed several tasks that are reminiscent of modern probation.
By 1869, Massachusetts legislature: Required that a state agent be present if court actions might result in the placement of a child in a reformatory.
In 1878, Massachusetts passed the firstprobation statute: Mandating an official state probation system with salaried probation officers.
Other states quickly followed suit.
Origins of Parole (Alexander Maconochie)
The wordparolestems from the Frenchparol,or “word of honor,” which was a means of releasing prisoners of war who promised not to resume arms in a current conflict.
Philosophy of punishment based on reform: In1840,Alexander Maconochie became superintendent of British penal colony on Norfolk Island, Australia. Hebegan a philosophy of punishment based on reforming offenders:The convict was to be punished for the past while being trained for the future.His system was ridiculed by some Australians as “coddling criminals.”
“Ticket of leave” system:
Walter Crofton became director of Irish system of penal management in 1854.
He implemented “ticket of leave” system, allowing inmates to be conditionally released from prison, to be supervised by the police.
He recommended a similar system for U.S.
America’s first parole system: In 1876, when Zebulon Brockway was appointed superintendent of Elmira Reformatory in New York, he drafted a statute providing for indeterminate sentences. Continued good behavior by inmates resulted in early release.
Theparolelegislation spread rapidly. Some reasons were:
Parole would promote reformation of prisoners by providing an incentive to change.
It would also serve as a means of equalizing disparate judicial sentences.
Release before sentence expiration was already an aspect of most prison systems.
Parole was believed useful for enforcing prison discipline and for controlling prison population levels.
Probation and Parole Today
Judges consider these factors when evaluating the eligibilityof an offender for probation:
Nature and seriousness of the current offense.
Whether a weapon was used and the degree of physical or emotional injury, if any, to the victim.
Whether the victim was an active or a passive participant in the crime.
Length and seriousness of the offender’s prior record.
Offender’s previous success or failure on probation.
Offender’s prior incarcerations and success or failure on parole.
Types of violations that might be committed:
Technical violation:In probation and parole, when one violates certain conditions that must be obeyed to remain out of prison, such as violating curfew, using drugs or alcohol, or not maintaining a job.
Substantiveviolations:An allegation that one was arrested for a new criminal offense while serving probation.
Factors that the judge and prosecutor may take into account when considering a probation violation:
Seriousness and nature of the probation violation.
History of previous probation violations.
New criminal activity surrounding the probation violation.
Aggravating and mitigating circumstances of the probation violation.
The probation officer and/or probation department’s view of the probation violation.
Probation violation with respect to the probation term.
Violation of probation: Can be a felony.
An arrest may soon follow, and the defendant may be ordered to appear in court for a hearing.
If a judge revokes probation, state laws often allow the judge to impose maximum penalty.
Judges take into account the following criteria when considering whether or not an inmate should be granted parole:
Nature and seriousness of the current offense, including aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
Statements made in court concerning the sentence.
Length and seriousness of the offender’s prior record.
The inmate’s attitude toward the offense, family members, the victim, and authority in general.
Attitude of the victim or victim’s family regarding the inmate’s release.
The inmate’s insight into causes of past criminal conduct.
The inmate’s adjustment to previous probation, parole, or incarceration.
The inmate’s participation in institutional programs.
The adequacy of the inmate’s parole plan, including residence and employment.
Types of violations:
Technical violations: Includes failing to report regularly to parole officer (PO), not keeping the PO informed of changes in address, employment, any new arrest, associating with other felons, traveling in violation of time or distance constraints, possessing weapons, using alcohol or drugs, wearing electronic monitoring device improperly, or contacting a partner who was victimized in a domestic violence case.
Substantiveviolations:These occur when the parolee commits a new criminal offense.
Charges of parole violation: An arrest may soon follow, and the defendant may be ordered to appear in court for a violation hearing;resulting in a judge’s revocation order.
Revocation:The court’s revoking probation or parole status for the purpose of returning an offender to prison (usually for not following the conditions of probation or parole, or for committing a new offense).
Rights of parolees under the Fourteenth Amendment:
Written notice of the alleged violation(s).
A preliminary hearing to establish whether there is probable cause.
Disclosure of evidence against the parolee.
Opportunity to be heard in person and to present witnesses and documentary evidence.
Right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses.
A neutral and detached body to hear the evidence.
A written statement by the fact finders concerning the evidence relied upon for any revocation decision.
Needs and dangers to victims in decision-making procedures: Today, paroling authorities typically provide victims with information concerning any activity in their offender’s case, provide opportunities for input to the board, and take into account the needs of and dangers to victims as part of their decision-making procedures.
Study by California’s Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center to determine:
The extent to which people on probation and parole contribute to crime, as measured by arrests.
The types of crimes these people are most likely to commit.
Findings:
People under probation or parole supervision accounted for 22 percent of total arrests, which means that nearly 8 of 10 arrestees were not supervised.
However, people under supervision were more likely to be arrested on drug offenses; one in three arrests fordrugcrimes involved someone who was on probation or parole.
Decline in arrests: During the study period, the number of total arrests declined by 18 percent, while the number of arrests of people who were under supervision declined by40 percent. It seems thatsupervision generally works. However, more work remains to be done in terms of keeping parolees and probationers from reoffending for drug abuse.
Functions of Probation and Parole Officers
Important skills and similar functions of both probation and parole officers:
Good interpersonal communication, decision-making, and writing skills.
Operate independently, with less supervision.
Trained in supervising offenders and then assigned a caseload.
May be on call 24 hours a day to supervise and assist offenders at any time.
Probation officer (front end):One who supervises the activities of persons on probation.
Probation officers supervise offenders atthefrontend of thesentencing continuum. They monitor behavior of offenders with a suspended prison sentence in the community and their compliance with the conditions of probation.
Duties of probationofficers:
Reporting to the court any probation violations.
Performing presentence investigations and preparing reports on their caseload.
Enforcing related court orders.
Performing searches, seizing evidence, and arranging for drug testing.
Attending hearings to update the court on offenders’ efforts at rehabilitation and compliance with the terms of their sentences.
Utilizing technologies as required (electronic monitoring devices and drug screening).
Seeking assistance of community organizations.
Both probation and parole officers experiencerole conflict: On one hand, their job is to “enforce” lawful behavior of their clients, and sometimes revoke probation and parole; on the other hand, they must also be empathetic and understanding, and provide guidance and counseling to their clients.
Parole officer (back end):One who supervises those who are on parole.
Duties of paroleofficers:
Helping parolees adjust back into society and avert any actions that would jeopardize their parole status.
Developing a plan for the parolee before he or she is released from prison.
Planning employment, housing, health care, education, drug screening, and other activities that help the parolee’s rehabilitation and functioning in a community.
Arranging for offenders to get substance abuse rehabilitation or job training.
Attending parole hearings and making recommendations based on their interviews with and surveillance of parolees.
Caseload:The number of cases awaiting disposition by a court, or the number of active cases or clients maintained by a probation or parole officer.
Is there a precise number of offenders that can be supervised effectively by an officer?: The answer isno, because the number of offenders an officer can supervise effectively is a function of the type of offenders being supervised by certain officers. All offenders and officers are unique and bring different knowledge, skills, capacities, and competencies.
Caseload size can affect supervision: Can bring media glare when something goes wrong.
American Probation and Parole Association (APPA)points out that caseload sizes have long been too large, and for several identifiable reasons:
Probation and parole officer workloads exceed realistic potential for accomplishing the numerous tasks required to supervise offenders.
To add to the problem is the current trend of concentrating on sex offenders, infusion of electronic monitoring technologies, and increasing the use of probation for higher-risk offenders as well as widening the justice net to low-risk offenders.
Debate whether probation and parole officers should be armed:
It is argued that if officers carryweapons, they are perceived differently than as counselors or advisors, whose purpose is to guide offenders into treatment and self-help programs.
Conversely, some people view a firearm for these officers as an essential for protecting them from the risks associated with confronting violent, serious, or high-risk offenders.
Authority to arm in some states: Both on and off duty.
Other Alternatives: Intermediate Sanctions
+ Intermediate sanctions:Formsof punishment that are between freedomand prison, such as home confinement andday reporting.
More restrictive than probation: Reduce those populations.
+ Intensive supervision probation and parole:Post-release supervision that usually includes much closer and stricter supervision, more contact with offenders, more frequent drug tests, and other such measures.
Intensive supervision can be classified into two types:those stressing diversion and those stressing enhancement.
Adiversion programis known as “front door” program because its goal is to limit the number of low-risk offenders who enter prison.
Anenhancement programselects already-sentenced probationers and parolees and subjects them to closer supervision in the community than they receive under regular probation or parole.
ISP’s demand for probationers and parolees:
Does not represent freedom.
It may stress and isolate repeat offenders more than imprisonment does.
Given the option, many offenders have chosen prison.
+ House arrest/home confinement:Detention ofoffenders in their own homes; compliance is often monitored electronically.
Puts offender in touch with opportunities and resources for rehabilitative services:
It has been found that thesentence combination associated with the least likelihood ofre-arrestwas house arrest/probation.
The combinations of house arrest/work release and house arrest/incarceration were also significantly associated with decreased chances ofre-arrestcompared to traditional probation.
+ Electronic monitoring:Use of electronic devices (bracelets or anklets) to emit signals when a convicted offender (usually on house arrest) leaves the environment in which he or she is to remain.
Particularly useful for high-risk offenders: Especially for sex offenders for whom use of a GPS is needed.
EM reduces arrests by 24 percent, on average, for program participants.
Types of EM devices: active and passive:
Active forms are continuous signaling devices attached to the offender that constantly monitor his or her presence at a particular location.
The passive type of EM involves the use of programmed contact devices that contact the offender periodically to verify his or her presence.
+ Shock probation/parole:A situation in which individuals are sentenced to jail or prison for a brief period, to give them a taste or “shock” of incarceration and, it is hoped, turn them into more law-abiding citizens.
Combines brief exposure to incarceration with subsequent release: Itallows judges to reconsider the original sentence to prison and place him or her on probation. The idea is that the “shock” of a short stay in prison will give the offender a taste of institutional life; thus, they will be deterred from future crime.
Can provide the offendercommunity resources once on supervised probation.
+ Boot camp:A short-term jail or prison program that puts offenders through a rigorous physical and mental regimen designed toinstilldiscipline and respect for authority.
First implemented in 1983: Offenders served a short institutional sentence and then were put through a rigorous regimen of hard physical labor. Young, nonviolent offenders were considered eligible.
Goals: To reduce recidivism, prison and jail populations, and operating costs.
Decline in number:
Boot camps not effective in reducing recidivism: National Institute of Justice:
Only boot camps that were carefully designed, targeted the right offenders, and provided rehabilitative services and aftercare were deemed likely to save the state money and reduce recidivism.
As a result of these findings, the number of boot camps declined.
Evolution of second-generation boot camps: Second-generation boot camps have evolved over time, however, and added components such as alcohol and drug treatment and social skills training.
+ Day reportingcenter:A structured corrections program requiring offenders to check in at a community site on a regular basis for supervision, sanctions, and services.
Purposes of DRCs:
To heighten control and surveillance of offenders placed on community supervision.
Increase offender access to treatment programs.
Give offenders more proportional and certain sanctions.
Reduce prison or jail crowding.
+ Halfway house:A communitycenteror home staffed by professionals or volunteers designed to providecounselingto ex-prisoners as they transition from prison to the community.
Such facilities are to provide a safe, supervised environment, employment counseling, job placement, financial management assistance, etc.
+ Purpose of furlough: Allow jail inmates to obtain medical or mental health treatment, attend birth of a child or a relative’s funeral, and so on.
RNR Model
Risk-need-responsivity (RNR) model: Operates on the assumption that using trained personnel to identify individual offenders’ risks and needs, and then responding to them with the best combination of services and supervision, can lead to a significant reduction in recidivism.
Offenders’ risk levels are determined by certain factors that can be changed through intervention:
One’s antisocial behavior.
Close association with known offenders.
Poor family and/or marital relationships.
Bad school or work relationships.
Substance abuse.
Need fortools to enhance RNR effectiveness: Recent advancements suggest the need for culturally specific and gender-specific tools to enhance RNR effectiveness.
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice:The view that crime affects the entire community, which must be healed and made whole again through the offender’s remorse, community service, restitution to the victim, and other such activities.
Many Americans think it that a major shortcoming in the criminal justicesystem:
It considers crime as an actagainst thestaterather than againstpeople,and thus removes human victims and theirvoices from the entireprocess.
Even though costs of prisons and jails haveskyrocketed, they do not feelsafer.
Restorative justiceworks to remove the barriers between victims and offenders: It is victim driven and tries to transform offenders by making them more accountable of the harms they perpetrated.It can involve victims and offenders having a dialogue by meeting face-to-face or exchanging letters.
