Citation

Kappeler VE, Kappeler SF, Carmen RV. J. Crim. Justice 1993; 21(4): 325-337.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0047-2352(93)90017-H

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article analyzes the content of 1,359 police civil liability cases handed down by the United States Federal District Courts from 1978 through 1990. A data classification system was developed to enable the content analysis to determine the longitudinal trends in these cases, the types of law enforcement agencies being sued, the prevailing parties, allegations against the police, and amounts of damages and attorney fees awarded to successful plaintiffs. Issues brought before the courts were classified, and high-risk areas of police behavior were identified in a longitudinal fashion. The research focused exclusively on published federal litigation brought against the police under Title 42 United States Code, Section 1983, as opposed to civil liability under state of federal tort law.