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Title: Shielded From Justice by Human Rights Watch Staff ISBN: 1-56432-183-5 Publisher: Human Rights Watch Pub. Date: 08 July, 1998 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $20.00

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: Opens Your Eyes but Doesn't Show Everything
Comment: Human Rights Watch has the responsibility of tracking human rights violations around the world. In this piece it presents and analyzes appalling defiance. The most devastating information in this book is that all violations have occurred within the borders of the United States. Instead of the traditional model of the United States looking outward and bringing attention to other nations, this time it is the United States that must be reassessed. These breaches have been pulled from the files of justice and deal with the frightening reality of police brutality in the United States. This study includes 14 cities and two and a half years of data. Human Rights Watch is an organization that has stated their goal 'to hold governments accountable if they transgress the rights of the people.' The non-governmental organization was started in 1978 and 'address[es] the human rights practices of governments of all political stripes, of all geopolitical alignments, and of all ethnic and religious persuasions.' As a government watchdog agency, Human Rights Association is aware that policy makers are their main audience. The book is presented very matter-of-factly as the piece starts with a summary. It is in the format of 'here's the problem - here's the solution.' If one did not want to continue through the book to find out how the Human Rights Association came to these conclusions one would not need to. The authors make sure to note, several times, that their accounts are not typical of all officers. Their findings conclude that a minority of 'problem officers' are the nucleus of the problem. Going further, Human Rights Watch construes that the present system does little to nothing to solve the tribulations associated with such officers. The book starts out with a summation of its findings and lists of panaceas to eradicate the evils. The most influential and promising reform they presented was a changing of how the higher officials in a local precinct operate. Their conclusion was for the higher officials to hand down accountability for wrongdoings. Presently, the anecdotes, and statistics suggest police involved in brutality, or the so called 'problem officers,' are not held responsible. Usually, internal affairs divisions sweep the problem aside and the officer is promoted as to show that nothing had gone wrong in the first place, and in fact that police officer is doing a superb job. The book illustrates that if there is substantial ground for proof of police brutality, the civil courts usually solve the dispute. After the local prosecutor turns down the opportunity to try a police officer, in the interest of smooth dealings from the police in future matters, the victim of the brutality sues the officer. Even at this level, the officer is not held accountable. Neither the office nor the precinct pays for the tort. The city pays this compensation. Therefore the responsibility lies on no one and the paycheck is picked up by tax dollars. The book explains that taxpayers pay thrice for the brutality: "...[O]nce to cover their salaries while they commit the abuse; next to pay settlements or civil jury awards against officers; and a third time through payments into police "defense" funds provided by the cities." Civil courts deal with a majority of the cases because the other agencies that deal with accountability in this area are hesitant to put a police officer on trial. The book would conclude that there is a nationwide, institutionalized, absence of accountability. The intent of an internal affairs investigation is to clear an officer of a unbecoming conduct. District Attorneys have a unique relationship between police and would not compromise this by trying a police officer that would, more than likely, be acquitted. It is expected that police officers will be acquitted because of the desire to believe police accounts over other testimony. Because of this national trend, Human Rights Watch believes that the United States Federal Government has an obligation to get involved. Specifically, it looks to documents that the U.S. has signed onto in the United Nations. Human Rights Watch would like the United States to enact domestic laws to parallel the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or degrading Treatment or Punishment. According to Human Rights Watch, this national trend to improve precincts should focus on reform of police administration, early warning systems for 'problem officers,' and more transparency; that is, ease of gathering information about the officers. Human Rights Watch is a watchdog agency. They write numerous, intellectual analyses of hundreds of situations in the world. It looks at these situations from the outside. Besides the precursor that stated 'not all officers are problem officers' the officers' points of view is not analyzed. This might lead one to question how complete its information or analysis is. Certain issues such as the 'code of silence' and the 'blue wall' are heavily scrutinized without discussion on why these have certain applications that may be beneficial to the precincts as a whole. Certainly, in the past, there have been reasons for these to exist. Though, 440 pages long, Shielded from Justice is a quick read. The main points are presented very early and are constantly reinforced by the information presented thereafter. It would be very effective source of information for its intended audience of policy makers. It also includes very specific information from case studies in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Providence, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.