Criminal Justice Newsletter Volume 11 No. 1

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VOLUME 11 
NUMBER 1 

JAN. 7, 1980

A PUBLICATION OF 
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL 
ON CRIME AND DELINQUENCY

A Bi-Weekly Report on Significant Developments 
For Leaders in Criminal Justice Administration

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SUMMARY POLICE
“A nutioruil data bank and mandated reporting of 
police-related deaths will resolve many of the problems 
confronted in the development of a nationally accepted 
standardfor police use of deadly force. ’ ’ Joseph Dominelli
(p. 2).

Police (I) •  National meeting of law enforcement 
and minority group leaders seeks solutions to misuse of 
deadly force •  lACP president calls for mandatory 
national reporting of deadly force cases •  New 
accreditation commission gets organized.

Legislation (3) •  Pres. Carter signs law reorganizing 
and extending the life of LliAA •  LHEP in limbo 
•  Status report on criminal justice bills in Congress.

Planning (5) •  A guide to more than $100 million in 
LEAA discretionary grants available this year •  Arson 
initiative doubled in size to $9 million.

Research (7) •  An outline of research grants 
planned for this year by the National Institute of Law 
Enforcement and Criminal Justice.

300 LEADERS AHEND NATIONAL MEETING 
ON USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE BY POLICE

At least one civilian is killed by police in the U.S. on 
an average day. There is a better-than-even chance that the 
officer is white and the person killed is black or Hispanic. 
And, if the civilian was unarmed, the minority community 
may well be aroused to protests and becc'me permanently 
embittered toward police.

These are the harsh facts that led the Justice 
Department’s Community Relations Service to convene a 
National Consultation on Safety and Force in Silver Spring, 
MD last month. The meeting was co-sponsored by the 
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and 
the National Urban League.

Problem Stated. In opening remarks, LULAC 
President Ruben Bonilla called police use of deadly force 
“ the most volatile and divisive issue in minority 
America.” Urban League President Vernon Jordan put the 
issue starkly; “ so long as deadly force is used [by police] 
and so long as it reflects racial disparities, my life and the 
life of every black person is in danger.”

International Association of Chiefs of Police

Copyright 1980 National Council on Crime and Delinquency, 411 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack, NJ 07601. All rights reserved.



Asmk.,, n rR-suk-iit Joseph Domindli Saul. 'I he use ol 
deadly (oree is the most awesome frightening duty evei 
imposed upon a poliee offieer i lemoeralie society.” 
And Chief Joseph MeNamara of San Jose, CA called ii a 

no-win situation where . . . there is no turning baek lor 
(the officer], the community or the poliee department.” 

There was some dispute about whether the problem is 
worsening. Drew Days, chief of the Justice Department’s 
Civil Rights Division, believes we have moved a 

significant distance from the days when police were 
seen in minority communities as an “ occupying army.” 
Likewise, Police Foundation President Patrick Murphy 
■said that ‘ ‘events of the past 15 years have caused the poliee 
service to exercise increasing restraint in the use of force.” 

However, Bonilla of LULAC asserted that because of 
the comparative youth and high population growth of die 
Hispanic minority, the problem “ is going to get worse 
before it gets better.”

Data Disparities. Public health records have been the 
main source of data on deaths caused by police. In recent 
>ears these death eemfieaies have recorded an average of 
about 350 annual deaths by “ legal intervention.”

However, in an article to appear in the Winter 1979 
issue of Ihc Jounuil o f Criminal Law and Criminology 
Lawrence Sherman argues that in these records “ the 
national incidence of police homicide is substantially 
underreported, possibly by around 50%.” Moreover, since 
none of the commonly used data sources is fully 
reliable, Sherman states that, “ American society simply 
does not know how many of its citizens arc killed each year 
under the authority of the state. ” (See related story below.)

Another issue in dispute is whether minority citiz.ens 
represent a di.sproportionate share of the civilians killed by 
police. Professor Paul Takagi has estimated that minority 
citizens arc at least nine times more likely than whites to be 
killed by police, a proportion far larger than the number of 
crimes — or even index crimes — committed by minority 
persons.

However, at least in New York City, the racial 
disproportion has been attributed to the higher proportion of 
minority group civilians who were armed during their 
confrontation with police.

Yet a third gap in the facts concerns how often killings 
hy police are justifiable. Most writers view the u.se of 
deadly force as justified in defense of the officer’s or a 
bystander’s life, but as unjustified when used solely to 
apprehend a fleeing suspect. Along the.se lines, Arthur 
Kohler classified two-fifths of police shootings as 
justifiable, one-fifth as questionable, and two-fifths as 
unjustified.

Most studies estimate that 55-60% of the slain 
civilians were armed. However, Sherman cautions that 
these official data may overstate the number because “ the 
problem of the throw-away weapon that poliee officers 
plant on a victim of homicide is a very real one.” 

Recommendations Offered, The consultation 
produced suggestions galore about how to alleviate die 
problem of excessive force.

An official “ statement of consensus” approved in a
2

pletiary session ave- -d that “ the only justification loi the 
use of deadly tor for the protection of human hie.” 

l urther, the sl.iiemenl proposes that. “ Emphasis 
should be placed on the areas of police recruiting of 
minorities, police training and testing, police/community 
communication, development of a national standard for the 
use of deadly force, effective ways to adjudicate complaints 
and claims involving the police, and relevant research 
needs.”

It was fuilherrecommended that the Attorney General 
develop, in consultation with representatives of police and 
minority groups, standards for the use of deadly force. 

Each ol the main proposals was exposed to pro and eon
arguments. Lor example. Professor JamesFyfe reported on
the success of New York City’s strict “ defense of life” 
policy (see L lU Bulldin 12/79); police shot and killed 1.6 
persons per week before the policy as compared to .6 
persons per week last year. Moreover, while the number of 
police killings in defense of life was fairly constant, the 
incidence of .shootings of fleeing felons dropped 75%, 

Neveriheles.s, byte himself cautioned that, “ .Some 
departments have on paper very credible policies, but never 
seem to find a cop unjustilicd in real life.” Even in New 
York City there have been several recent incidents in which 
minority groups have complained of unjustified police u.se 
ol force.

There was also considerable dispute at the conference 
about whether increased minority recruitment, better 
training and screening, and improved complaint 
investigation would make a difference.

Broad agreement was in evidence, however, on the 
notion that poliee administrators can decrease excessive 
force. Safety director Hubert Williams of Newark said a 
chief can “ substantially limit” exce.ssive force by 
enforcing policies that “ communicate to the officer that 
discharging the weapon is a serious matter and the highest 
levels of the agency are going to investigate.”

One .solution that is still anathema to police rank and 
filers the civilian review board. After noting that an officer 
may be investigated simultaneously by departmental, 
municipal, state and federal authorities, as well as the 
press, John Dineen of the Fraternal Order of Police in 
C hicago said civilian boards raise the question of “ Who is 
really on trial? Is it the poliee offieer or the criminal?”

The Community Relations Service is planning to 
publish a proceedings document from the consultation. For 
miorniation, contact the CRS, Dept, of Justice, 
Washington, DC’ 20530 (202/724-7386).

lACP PRESIDENT WANTS NATIONAL DATA BANK

In a sunrrising move, lACP President Joseph 
Dominelli on January 2 called for a “ national data bank and 
mandated reporting of police-related deaths” by local 
authorities.

It was a surpri,se to hear the lACP head advocate a 
mandatory national reporting system because heretofore

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such ideas have been assoeialcd (.in'v with outspoken erities 
ot“the use of deadly foree by p

Dominelli said a national da.v. bank “ will resolve 
many of the problems eonfronted in the development of a r nationally aeeepted standard for poliee use of deadly
lorce.” The lACP reeently obtained a grant for research on 
the deadly force issue (CJN 10/22/79).

The lACP president said his statement was issued in 
response to Lawrence Sherman’s new findings about 
underreporting of police-caused deaths. Although seeming 
to agree with Sherman that public health records are 
unreliable sources, Dominelli went on to question 
-Sherman's conclusions “ as a gross misrepresentation of the 
facts."

In response, Sherman congratulated Dominelli for 
“ his courageous, statesmanlike call for a ‘national data 
bank and mandated reporting.’ ’’

Sherman, who on January I became director of 
research for the Police Foundation, said; “ While Chief 
Dominelli may have doubts about a conclusion of mv 
research, what is important about his statement is calling 
for mandatory reporting rather than the current system of 
voluntary reporting. This is truly an important stand for a 
national organization to take.”

For copies of the statements, contact the lAC'P (I I 
Firstlleld Rd., Gaithersburg. MD 20760) and Police 
Foundation (1909 K St., NW, Washington, DC 20006).

NEW COMMISSION HOLDS FIRST MEETING

^  Four rotating chairmen were chosen at last month’s
maiden meeting of the new Commission on Accreditation 
for Law Enforcement Agencies.

The commission’s job is to adopt staiulards for police 
agencies and devise an accreditation program certifying 
compliance with those standards (CJN 10/8/79). Staff for 
the LEAA-funded commission is being supplied by the 
International Association of Chiefs of Police, National 
Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, 
National Sheriffs’ Assn., and Police Executive Research 
Forum.

Named as rotating chairmen were: Lee Brown, 
Atlanta public safety commissioner; Thomas Hastings, 
Rochester (NY) police chief; Glen King, Dallas police 
chief; and Richard Wille, sheriff at Palm Beach County, 
FL.

Other commission members, all of whom wcrecho.sen 
witli the concurrence of the four organizations, arc: 
Rosemary Ahmonn, county commissioner, Olnestead 
County, MN; John Ball, public safety director, RoyalOak, 
Ml, Bruce Baker, chiel, Portland, ( )R; Sidney Barthelemy, 
councilm.m. New Orleans; Egon Bittner, Brandeis Univ.; 
Lee Brown, Atlanta public safety commissioner; Gov. 
Brendan Byrne, New Jersey; Chief Justice William 
Erickson of Colorado; State Rep. Barney Frank of Boston, 
MA; Mayor Jane Gray Hayes of San Jose, CA; Thomas 
Hasting, chief, Rochester, NY; Kenneth Joseph, asst, dir., 
FBI Academy; William Lucas, sheriff, WayneCounty, Ml; 
Kenneth Medeiros, chief, Bismarck, ND; Lt. JackPearson,
1/7/80

San Diego Police 
Dept, of Public I 
Newport, RI; Gera.
Sheriff’s Dept.

For further information, contact WilliamDean, lACP, 
11 Firstlield Rd., Gaithersburg, MD 20760.

icers’ Assn; Wilson Speir, I c\as 
j \  Paul Steinbrenner, city manager, 
Wattigny, Iberia Parish (LA)

LEGISLATION

PRESIDENT SIGNS JUSTICE IMPROVEMENT ACT

President Carter on December 27 signed into law the 
bill reorganizing and extending the life of the federal 
grant-in-aid program for improving state and local criminal 
justice.

This Justice System Improvement Act of 1979 (S. 
241) becomes the successor to the Crime Control Act of 
1%8 as amended, which expired last October I. (The 
interim has been filled by stop-gap extensions of the old 
law.)

Final passage of the authorizing legislation occurred in 
the Senate by voice vote on December 11 and in the House 
by a vote of 304-8.7 on December 12.

The new law is an outgrowth of proposals submitted to 
Congress by theCarter Administration 18 months ago (CJN 
7/17/78), anil subsequently modified, but not altered 
fundamentally, during the legislative process.

Because the current fiscal year is regarded as a 
transition year, many of the changes mandated by the new 
legislation will not become effective until next October.

Major Provisions. Following is a reprise of the major 
provisions of the act:

•  Reauthorizuiion -  Authority for federal programs 
of criminal justice research, statistics, and assistance to 
states and localities, was extended through fiscal
1980-1983.

•  Reorf’imizution — Existing research and statistics 
units in the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration 
are formed into separate agencies, the National Institute of 
Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics respectively. 
Each will have a director, an advisory board, and 
grant-awarding authority.

•  OJARS — The Office of Justice Assistance, 
Research and Statistics is created to provide coordination 
and staff support to LEIAA, NIJ and BJS. The head of 
OJARS may also resolve differences between the heads of 
the three agencies. However, the authority of the OJARS 
director is a “ shadow ol its former s e lf ’; OJARS will not 
set policy lor the awarding of grants by the three agencies. 
An exception is that the heads of OJARS and LEAA are to 
jointly set broad program objectives for National Priority 
Program and di.scretionary grants; the Attorney General 
will resolve any differences between them.

•  Fuiuliiif’ — rtieNlJ and BJS may each spendupto 
$25 million per year. LEAA’s maximum is $750 million, 
including a maximum of $25 million for its Office of 
Community Anti-Crime Programs. Fonuula grants receive