The vast majority of the law enforcement officers in this country perform their very difficult jobs with respect for their communities and in compliance with the law. Even so, there have been incidents in which this was not the case. Police brutality and misconduct has been under the microscope for the last several years, and Loretta Prater brings these issues to light through research reports and numerous examples of cases, including the personal case of her son. On January 2, 2004, Leslie Vaughn Prater, Loretta Prater’s unarmed son, was a homicide victim in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His death resulted from an altercation with four police officers. Excessive Use of Force: One Mother's Struggle Against Police Brutality and Misconduct is the account of an African American family’s personal experience with police brutality and misconduct, the behind the scene dynamics, as well as the personal emotional trauma experienced by victims’ families. While written from the perspective of a mother, Prater brings a good balance of personal and outside information. She allows the reader to see inside her story but successfully includes secondary analysis of research and related stories of others who have experienced similar situations resulting from police officer misconduct. Excessive Use of Force engages the reader in this serious and important topic of police brutality and misconduct.

The now-famous videotape of the beating of Rodney King precipitated a national outcry against police violence. Skolnick and Fyfe, two of the nation's top experts on law enforcement, use the incident to introduce a revealing historical analysis of such violence and the extent of its survival in law enforcement today.

Hi-Lo YA nonfiction. Black Americans are disproportionately affected by police violence. One central part of the Black Lives Matter Movement calls for an end to this violence. The Police and Excessive Use of Force examines the history of policing in America, including the history of excessive force being used against Black Americans. It also discusses the proposed solutions that activists have brought forward.

Publisher Description

Data is from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods.

A comprehensive collection on police and policing, written by experts in political theory, sociology, criminology, economics, law, public health, and critical theory.

Robertson and Chaney examine how the early antecedents of police brutality like plantation overseers, the lynching of African American males, early race riots, the Rodney King incident, and the Los Angeles Rampart Scandal have directly impacted the current relationship between communities of color and police. Using a phenomenological framework, they analyze how African American college students perceive police to determine how race, gender, and education create different realities among a demographic. Based on their qualitative and quantitative findings, Robertson and Chaney offer recommended policies and strategies for police and communities to improve relationships and perceptions between the two.