Controlling Police Use of Deadly Force

Albert J. Reiss
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Albert J. Reiss: Yale University

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1980, vol. 452, issue 1, 122-134

Abstract: A central problem for democratic government is how to limit their own use of force, particularly their use of deadly force. Government control of force can be accom plished in a number of ways, but principally by controlling opportunities for its exercise and decisions to use it. To con trol opportunities for the use of deadly force, institutions and their organization must be altered, whereas to control decisions to use it, organizations must manage them. Some major ways to control the use of deadly force by structuring opportunities and decisions are explored. Restricting op portunities for the legitimate use of force appears effective in reducing its use and the harmful consequences of injury and death. Current decision models for managing the use of deadly force rely too much upon a micromodel detailing the sequential "choice" points in decisions to use deadly force. Such models have distinct limits. Among the more serious ones are that they ignore the ways that the use of deadly force in police encounters with citizens may be averted or precluded and of how the behavior of police organizations can effect its use.

Date: 1980
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:452:y:1980:i:1:p:122-134

DOI: 10.1177/000271628045200112

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