The use of force by police has proven to be a challenging and divisive issue in the United States, and for good reason. Philosophically, the government’s use of violence against community members is in tension with basic democratic norms of individual liberty, personal security, and bodily autonomy. In practice, officers use force on hundreds of thousands of individuals every year. Police violence plays an important role in shaping public attitudes toward government generally and toward policing specifically. Community trust and confidence in policing has been undermined by the perception that officers are using force, including deadly force, unnecessarily, too frequently, or in problematically disparate ways. The use of force can also serve as a flashpoint, a spark that ignites long-simmering community hostility. There are, in short, compelling reasons to think critically about police uses of force. This book explores an essential, but largely overlooked, facet of the difficult and controversial issues of police violence and accountability: the question of how society evaluates police uses of force. The authors—a prominent legal scholar and former officer, a long-time police commander, and a distinguished criminologist—draw on their experience and decades of research to offer five different answers to that question, discussing in depth the rules established by constitutional law, state laws, agency policies, international law, and community expectations, and providing critical information about police tactics and force options to allow for the accurate application of those analytical frameworks.

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Woods, to the participants of the University of Virginia School of Law's 2015 Policing Roundtable Conference, and to the participants of CrimFest 2016 for their helpful comments and suggestions. I am thankful for the research assistance of Emily Bogart, Ashlea Carver, Courtney Huether, and Colton Driver and for the editorial assistance of Carol Young and the members of the University of Illinois Law Review. As always, I am deeply grateful for the support of Alisa Stoughton.

Research Question How adequate is research in the USA for discovering best policies and practices, and best implementation strategies, for reducing loss of life and injury from police use of force. Data This analysis examines police agency policies on the use of force regulation, evaluations of training initiatives, research on supervision, problem officers, and other dimensions of the issues and possible solutions. Methods The analysis examines both documented correlates and the strength of causal inference about those correlates of reductions in the use of force. Findings The analysis concludes that while many promising ideas have been offered, there are few tested strategies that have demonstrated substantial effects in reducing the use of force. There are virtually no successful strategies that have been replicated. Conclusions The current proliferation of untested programs may divert effort from a coherent and well-funded program of research to test and select effective policies that are urgently needed.