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Suing the Philadelphia Police: The Case for an Institutional Approach
Author(s) -
Anechiarico Frank
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9930.1984.tb00324.x
Subject(s) - discretion , misconduct , law , political science , enforcement , dialectic , law enforcement , sociology , law and economics , philosophy , epistemology
Note: The comments of Alan Snyder, Eugene Lewis and the Editor and anonymous reviewers of Law and Policy are gratefully acknowledged. This article examines the merits of two alternative briefs in Equal Protection litigation on police misconduct. The several suits brought against the Philadelphia Police Department illustrate the shortcomings of the judicially preferred intentionality brief and indicate the need for a more completely specified institutional brief. The background of the two briefs is traced to a dialectical conflict between discretion and control in the idea of law enforcement. The use of force is not a philosophical issue for a policeman. It is not a question of should or whether, but when and how much (Rubinstein 1973:323).