NCJ Number
131509
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 60 Issue: 8 Dated: (August 1991) Pages: 14-18
Date Published
1991
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Focusing particular attention on the investigation and prosecution of violations involving police misconduct, this discussion explains the general steps taken by the Civil Rights Division (CRD) of the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI's Civil Rights Unit (CRU) to investigate three civil rights program priorities: racial violence, involuntary servitude and slavery, and misconduct of law enforcement officers.
Abstract
The rights protected under Section 242 of Title 18 of the U.S. Constitution, the police misconduct statute, include the right to be free from unwarranted assaults, to be free from illegal arrests and illegal searches, and to be free from deprivation of property without due process of law. Several factors guide Justice Department police misconduct prosecutorial decisions: police misconduct that clearly is offensive and unmistakably violates the rights of the individual victim, the response of local authorities to the alleged misconduct of the subject officers, the willfulness of the misconduct, and the evidentiary strength of the case. The difficulty in prosecuting false misconduct charges is considered.