Consent Decrees
Files
Date
2018
Authors
Ybarra , Ornaldo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas (LEMIT)
Abstract
Description
After several high profile incidents of police misconduct like the Rodney King beating and others, the federal government received public pressure from local communities demanding oversight and police reform of local, county, and state law enforcement agencies that are unable to police themselves. According to Kupferberg (2008), “this led to the 1994 passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Section 14141 of this Act allows the U.S. Attorney General to bring an action for equitable relief against police department for unconstitutional “patterns or practices of misconduct” (p.130). While the Act has its critics on both side of the political aisle, there is no doubt that consent decrees have been a powerful tool in forcing substantial police reform in police departments that have refused to change their method of policing and self-accountability.
Consent decrees has led to the integration of contemporary data-driven information management systems that allow police supervisors to identify potential problem police officers, increased reality based training for police officers, and updated and modernized police policies and procedures involving use of force incidents and complaints. They have also led to better community outreach and engagement. Those reforms enacted by consent decrees have been successful, and the Department of Justice should continue to use consent decrees as the primary paradigm to reform those law enforcement agencies that, due to a “pattern or practice” of police misconduct, have loss the trust and confidence of the public they serve.
Keywords
Consent decrees-United States, Police misconduct