Police Misconduct in America: A Reference Handbook

By Dean John Champion

Book Overview

With just the right dose of academic pragmatism, Police Misconduct in America assesses the history of police excesses from 1900 to the present.

At the dawn of the profession, police officers initially were hired based on physical strength, not personal skills. They did not understand the laws they were enforcing or how laws should be enforced. This extensive survey examines the context and types of police misconduct since the 1900s.

Written by Dean J. Champion, Police Misconduct in America covers police history back to Mesopotamia, outlines controversies, provides a broad chronology of significant eras in police history and a timeline of specific events, and offers biographical sketches of key personalities from J. Edgar Hoover to Alice Stebbens Wells, the first American policewoman. It also includes are summaries of key Supreme Court cases, an extensive list of organizations concerned about police misconduct, government documents and agency publications, and other references.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1576075990
• ISBN13: 9781576075999
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: ABC-CLIO
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 13 to 22 years
• Grade Range: Grade 8 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A Sociology of Police Misconduct

Dean J. Champion is a sociology professor at Texas A & M University with three decades of research and teaching in the field of criminal justice. "Since 1914, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided many cases involving police misconduct", he wrote in his preface(px). He has compiled a sourcebook of reference material concerning the history of police misconduct and the issues and controversies that arise. His six chapters are 1. History of Police Misconduct; 2. Issues and Controversies; 3. Chronology; 4. Biographical Sketches; 5. U.S. Supreme Court Cases; 6. Agencies and Organizations; and 7. Print and Nonprint Resources. Professor Champion is concerned about rampant police misconduct, saying "the pervasivenes of police misconduct among police departments throught the United States cannot be underestimated" (p17). He believes that studies and research into this problem are necessary to come to terms with it. Toward this end, he has produced this valuable reference work.