Annotated Bibliography Police Accountability

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Annotated Bibliography
Walker, Samuel. “Police Accountability and the Central Problem in American Criminal Justice.” Holding Police Accountable. Ed. Candace McCoy. New York: Urban Institute Press, 2010. Print. The source by Walker offers a comprehensive review of literature of the history of political reformation and public criticism related to police discretion in the United States since the 1960s. It is important noting that Walker, in the source, relies a lot on the research work of Fyfe, and he offers empirical evidence aimed at showing the inadequacy of the conventional approach to controlling the discretion of the police, in mitigating the unnecessary police shooting of racially segregated and unarmed persons. The findings of the study
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Department of Justice, June 2002. Print. In the 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision on the case of Tennessee v. Garner, (471 U.S. 1). The restrictions on the use of deadly force by police were for the first time established as a precedent of law. The ruling was that there should be use of deadly force not unless it is indispensable to avert the escape and the police officer on duty is inclined to believing that the suspect is a potential threat and may cause serious physical injury to other innocent persons or the officer. According to the ruling presented in this source, the primary role of the police, as per the job description in the relevant legislation, is to protect the safety of the common citizen. The police should thus devote their skills and energy to doing the same. As per the source, there is a visible discrepancy in the fact that citizens don’t believe in the police’s effort and legal duty to protect the common person in the United States. They have a tainted picture of the police system hence wanting confidence and trust towards them. These matters must be addressed urgently in order to restore the confidence of the citizens with the police. The source offers a crucial guideline in security police formulation. Students and academicians of interest may also find the source vital in their …show more content…
“Black Cities/White Cities: Evaluating the Police.” Political Behavior 26.1 (2004): 45-68. In this journal article, the authors attempt to analyze the points of view of both African-Americans and White-Americans on the issue of police and racial disparities in shooting. In order to gather information for the study, the authors sampled four cities; two predominantly black and two predominantly white (Detroit, New Orleans, Chicago, Charlotte). The study was based on the social dominance theory which asserts that societies are organized around dominant and subordinate social clusters differentiated by the amount of power, wealth and statuses possessed. The findings of the study indicated a negative picture of the police among the black population. Accordingly, the population doesn’t seem to honor the legal duties allotted to the police because of their exaggerated violent interactions. In the cities dominated by the White, the stories take a different course with most people having good comments about the police services. This is to imply that the police treat the White population differently. The journal is crucial in the studies related to crime studies or legal matter as well as other academicians of interest. Policy makers may also find the source important especially in proving guidelines during the process of policy formulation and also

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