NCJ Number
85568
Date Published
1981
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Control of police deviance that is not firmly grounded in law is bound to be ineffective. Current Canadian law legitimizes police behavior that is either deviant or conducive to deviance.
Abstract
Deviance is established through legal definition. Police deviance is often defined out of the field of illegal behavior. Police officers are rarely brought to trial for abusing their powers and even when charges are laid, they seldom result in convictions. Ambiguities in the criminal law favor those who have the power to take advantage of them. The police not only have this power but are in the position to use it where legal uncertainty can be decisive (i.e., not in the higher courts, whose function is to resolve such ambiguities, but in the earlier stages of procedure before the lower courts). The police mandate, particularly special mandates, cannot be in strict accordance with the law. Furthermore, because police must fulfill duties far exceeding their operational capabilities, they are led to translate crime control into crime containment, with the latter giving way to crime management. This leads to police impotence which breeds deviance. More legal checks on police behavior and operations will only add to their impotence, thus generating more deviance. One strategy of uprooting police deviance is to redefine the police mandate, implying a specification of the police function and a reevaluation of the criminal law. Reference notes and case studies are included.