NCJ Number
162618
Journal
International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice Volume: 19 Issue: 2 Dated: (Fall 1995) Pages: 195-209
Date Published
1995
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This satire of sociology and field anthropology research on comparative police behavior uses humorous anecdotes to make the point that civilian review boards are essential to police reform efforts.
Abstract
The author claims that, until civilian review boards assume police supervision, police behavior will never conform to community morality despite attempts at police reform. He compares United States, German, Italian, Russian, and French police subcultures in an attempt to determine the correlation between police behavior and its conformity to community morality, and whether a high correlation results from a high degree of civilian oversight. The author concludes that, because no country has appreciable civilian oversight, and because no country's police conform to community morality, there is therefore a perfect correlation between lack of civilian oversight and lack of police conformity to community morality. He hopes that this study will supplement recent incidents of police power abuse in the United States to supply a cogent argument for improving methods of police accountability. Table, notes, references