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The first thorough study of the Justice Department’s pattern or practice program, examining how it works and how court-imposed consent decrees implement needed reforms
American society grapples with an enduring crisis in policing which is inextricably intertwined with the nation’s deeply rooted racial issues. While there have been great strides in policing over the past five decades, the United States continues to wrestle with serious crime and strained relations between law enforcement and African American communities.
In this comprehensive analysis, Samuel Walker, a leading figure in the study of criminal justice, focuses on the pivotal federal effort behind police reform—the US Justice Department’s pattern or practice program. Created by Congress in 1994, this program gives the Justice Department the authority to investigate police departments that display patterns of unconstitutional practices, initiate civil suits, and secure court-enforced consent decrees that mandate reform. Walker meticulously examines the reforms dictated by these consent decrees, delves into the challenges of their implementation, and evaluates the progress made by various departments in enhancing police services. Despite various obstacles, the program has proven successful.
The Future of Police Reform also considers the broader societal, political, and legal issues that profoundly influence reform efforts, such as an entrenched police subculture hindering change, the formidable power of police unions, and a lack of full support from local political leaders.
In conclusion, Walker celebrates reform efforts across the country and foresees a network of local and state centers of activity fostering continued optimism for the future of police reform in the US. A collective effort holds the promise of genuine and lasting change.
"Walker leads the reader through a deep, thoughtful examination of the U.S. Department of Justice’s “pattern or practice” program. Walker tells the full story of the program and its impact, and he also provides an insightful analysis of the primary obstacles to the U.S. DOJ’s reform efforts. He expertly highlights the role of the program in promoting police reform at the state and local levels all across the U.S. This may be the greatest long-term contribution of the pattern or practice program, as the growing network of local and state reform initiatives described by Walker will be the drivers of meaningful, long-term change in American policing."
"Walker is among the nation’s leading experts in the history and efficacy of police reforms in the United States. The Department of Justice’s power to investigate and sue police departments is among the most important police reforms initiated in the past half-century. Walker’s analysis of the Department of Justice’s police reform efforts is insightful, even-headed, nuanced, and empirically grounded. Like all of his work, I anticipate that it will become a go-to resource for those interested in police reform and the Department of Justice’s work."
"This timely book describes what may be the most significant impetus for reform in the last 100 years of American policing. A central insight of the book is that consent decrees facilitate the reform of internal systems by coordinating the integration of policymaking, funding, training for, equipping, supervising, and rewarding a suite of reform efforts. This promotes true organizational transformation, which is more likely to survive than half-hearted commitments to piecemeal changes that are often thwarted politically and may not survive future cost-cutting. This lesson should travel beyond the individual agencies involved, for it describes what true police reform requires."