Research SummarySection 14141 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 granted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) the authority to investigate, intervene into, and force reforms within any police department deemed to exhibit a pattern or practice of police misconduct. The DOJ's primary enforcement mechanism is to sue the offending jurisdiction. Such lawsuits are typically settled with “consent decrees” or court‐ordered legal agreements to implement specified reforms. We assembled a panel data set to explore the relationship between consent decrees and civil rights litigation in 23 targeted jurisdictions. The results suggest that DOJ intervention may be associated with modest reductions in the risk of civil rights filings.Policy ImplicationsFederal consent decrees are pursued under the assumption that they reduce civil rights violations, yet this assumption has remained largely untested. Such oversight is unfortunate, as it is important to gauge the effectiveness of time‐consuming and expensive federal intervention into local law enforcement affairs. Our study offers preliminary evidence that consent decrees may reduce civil rights violations, as operationalized by Section 1983 litigation, an indicator of police misconduct. Reductions in such filings may signal increased satisfaction with police agencies and a move toward reduced systemic police misconduct. As such, consent decrees should continue to be considered as a possible tool for correcting problematic police departments, but additional research in this area is critical.

Research Summary For several decades, critics have argued that civil forfeiture laws create incentives for law enforcement to increase departmental revenue by “policing for profit.” By using data on federal equitable sharing payments to nearly 600 local law enforcement agencies between 2000 and 2012, we examine the relationship between the characteristics of state forfeiture laws and equitable sharing payments to local agencies. Our results indicate that agencies in states with state laws that are more restrictive or less rewarding to police collect more in federal equitable sharing. This finding supports the critics’ argument that police behavior in regard to forfeiture activities is influenced by the financial rewards and burdens involved. Policy Implications Our results reveal that the findings of investigative journalism and case study research, that is, that police forfeiture activities are influenced by financial rewards, may be more generalizable to law enforcement than previously thought. Despite recent state‐level reforms, federal equitable sharing and most state forfeiture laws provide limited due process protections and have minimal accountability or reporting requirements. Concerns about the impact of civil forfeiture practices on perceptions of procedural justice and police legitimacy are discussed, and possible policy reforms are reviewed.

Given the nature of unsolved homicide, a complicated dynamic exists between survivors of cold case homicides and law enforcement personnel. The current study utilizes interviews with 24 survivors to explore the perceptions associated with this relationship. Employing a grounded theory framework, we find several themes depicted within these narratives that guide survivors’ overall perceptions of their relationship with law enforcement, including investigative and communication efforts. Results indicate that the survivors universally perceive original detectives were incompetent or ineffective in their original investigation, thus leading to the unsolved status of their case. Over time, secondary and current investigators were also perceived as unable to properly investigate, due to challenges such as insufficient evidence or simply not conducting a comprehensive examination of the case. Regardless of this negative view of police activity on the case, relationships were defined by the level and nature of communication survivors had with their detective. Families who felt listened to, included, and/or valued reported a positive relationship with police that allowed them to trust their case was in good hands. Participants who perceived communication to be secretive, misleading, or completely absent noted strained relationships and further disappointment. Survivors may adopt roles, such as investigator, spokesperson, or advocate, to help compensate for their perception that the case is not properly cared for by police. With regard to grief progress and health of cold case homicide survivors, it is possible treatment by law enforcement outweighs the significant of case resolution years after the homicide. Recommendations for more productive survivor/police interactions are included.

Criminal justice research often focuses exclusively on municipal police departments. Sheriffs’ departments are largely ignored in this research despite this population’s reach and role. There are nearly 3,000 sheriffs’ offices around the United States and they often serve as the only law enforcement body in rural areas. This study sought to address the scarcity of this research and focused on Texas sheriffs’ views regarding firearm regulations and the causes of mass shootings. An 18-question instrument created in consult with the Texas Narcotic Officers Association was sent to each sheriff in the 254 counties of Texas to assess their perceptions regarding solutions to mass shootings, disqualification criteria for gun ownership, and civilian access to certain types of firearms and ammunition. Responding sheriffs, as a whole, were reluctant to limit access to guns and ammunition as a general matter, but strongly agreed that certain discrete populations should have limited or no access to firearms. Policy implications are discussed.

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