The Unnoticed Transformation in Police Regulation

November 10, 2014 | Stephen Rushin, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, University of Illinois College of Law

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Most recognize the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA) as the measure that mandated strict truth-in-sentencing requirements, implemented life sentences for repeat violent offenders, banned numerous types of assault weapons, barred juvenile ownership of handguns, added additional penalties for hate crimes, extended the death penalty, and codified the Violence Against Women Act. But few realize that the VCCLEA also ushered in a transformative statute—42 U.S.C.

Most recognize the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (VCCLEA) as the measure that mandated strict truth-in-sentencing requirements, implemented life sentences for repeat violent offenders, banned numerous types of assault weapons, barred juvenile ownership of handguns, added additional penalties for hate crimes, extended the death penalty, and codified the Violence Against Women Act. But few realize that the VCCLEA also ushered in a transformative statute—42 U.S.C. § 14141—that gives the US Attorney General authority to initiate structural reform litigation against police departments engaged in a “pattern or practice” of misconduct. In practice, this means that the Department of Justice (DOJ) now can use § 14141 to force local police departments to adopt proactive reforms aimed at curbing future misconduct.

The passage of § 14141 as part of the VCCLEA was a historic moment. It represented a dramatic shift in how the federal government responds to the systemic failure of some police agencies to control misconduct. Yet amazingly, at the time that Congress passed § 14141, no one noticed. Major media outlets all but ignored the passage of § 14141, focusing their coverage instead on other components of the VCCLEA.

Fast forward two decades, and many of the nation’s largest police agencies have undergone or are currently undergoing structural reform litigation via § 14141, including Los Angeles; Seattle; Washington, DC; Pittsburgh; New Orleans; Cincinnati; and Detroit. Other major American cities, like New York, Portland, Austin, Columbus, Providence, Albuquerque, Newark, and Tulsa have been subject to formal DOJ investigation pursuant to § 14141. Combined, the police departments that have been subject to some sort of DOJ action via § 14141 serve a combined population of more than 56 million Americans. That means that, despite some concerns about the budgetary limitations of DOJ, nearly one in five Americans lives in a jurisdiction served by a law enforcement agency that has been subject to a § 14141 investigation. Earlier this fall, DOJ announced that it would formally investigate the Ferguson Police Department under § 14141. 

This measure has already proven effective in places like Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati. This is not to say that § 14141 is without limitations. Even so, in its first 20 years of existence, § 14141 has proven to be the single most effective regulatory mechanism available to fight police misconduct.

Stephen Rushin is a visiting assistant professor of law at the University of Illinois College of Law. He is currently working on a book, The Answer to Police Misconduct in the United States (Cambridge University Press), that argues that § 14141 is the most effective mechanism available to fight police misconduct.