Policing Posts
Court adds two cases on Native American law and issues two opinions granting police officers qualified immunity
Amy HoweThe Supreme Court on Monday morning added two new cases, both involving Native Americans, to its docket for this term. The justices also issued two unsigned decisions holding, without oral argument, that police officers are entitled to qualified immunity from lawsuits accusing them of using excessive force. The justices, however, did not act on several of the high-profile petitions that they considered at their private conference last week.
Washington Law Will Require Juveniles Speak to Attorneys First
Madison WilsonWashington State law, House Bill 1140, requires that juveniles being questioned in connection to a crime must confer with an attorney before they can speak with, or are interviewed by, police. A column in the Yakima Herald delves into the topic and the countering viewpoints.
UVA Law to Launch Project for Informed Reform
Jennifer MorinigoThe initiative’s mission is to sift through thousands of legal cases for research and to combine information as a guide to legislatures and law enforcement.
Actions Taken at the 2021 Annual Meeting (May Session)
Jennifer MorinigoThe first segment of this year’s virtual Annual Meeting adjourned last week. Below is a summary of the actions taken on May 17 and 18. All approvals by the membership at the Annual Meeting are subject to the discussion at the Meeting and the usual editorial prerogative.
Supreme Court of New Mexico Cites Principles of the Law, Policing
Megan DingleyIn State v. Martinez, 478 P.3d 880 (N.M. 2020), the Supreme Court of New Mexico cited the Principles of the Law, Policing (T.D. No. 2, 2019), in abandoning the prevailing federal rule governing the admission of eyewitness-identification evidence, as articulated in Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98 (1977), in favor of adopting a new per se exclusionary rule for unnecessarily suggestive pretrial identification procedures, based on its determination that the New Mexico Constitution provided broader due-process protection in the context of eyewitness-identification evidence than the U.S. Constitution.
Law360 Article on How COVID Has Affected Policing And Incarceration
Pauline ToboulidisThis article addresses how the pandemic has affected law enforcement and incarceration.
Assessing the Impact of Police Body Camera Evidence on the Litigation of Excessive Force Cases
Mitchell ZamoffThis article tests the hypotheses that bodycam evidence will be dispositive in most excessive force cases and that such evidence will positively impact the way those cases are litigated and decided.
Policing as a Public Good: Reflecting on the Term ‘To Protect and Serve’ As Dialogues of Abolition
Tracey L. Meares and Gwen ProwseThe goal of research described in this article is to investigate how ordinary people discuss a reconceptualization of policing in ways that respond to the current moment.
January 2021 Council Meeting Updates
Pauline ToboulidisAt its meeting on January 21 and 22, 2021, the ALI Council reviewed and discussed Council Drafts and approved drafts and portions of drafts as listed below.
Using Risk Assessment Instruments to Reduce Incarceration
Donald Kochan and Christopher SloboginOn this episode of The Marketplace of Ideas, Donald Kochan sits down with Chris Slobogin of Vanderbilt Law School, to discuss Professor Slobogin’s recent monograph titled “A Primer on Risk Assessment: Instruments for Legal Decision-Makers.”