Law enforcement
480 Articles
In the Drive to Curb Police Abuses, Rein in Their Tech Too
Local groups in a national movement are pressing for oversight of how and when law enforcement agencies use technology to monitor citizens.
New Technologies, New Problems – Troubling Surveillance Trends in America
The rapid advent of powerful digital surveillance technologies raises questions about the U.S. ability to maintain a balance between security and citizens' rights. Several troubling…
Police Violence at Home Requires a Rethink of U.S. Foreign Policy and Assistance Abroad
When police brutalize and murder unarmed Black Americans, the effectiveness and legitimacy of the United States – including its ability to support justice abroad – crumbles.…
Defund America’s Endless Wars
Dismantling the structures of racist policing at home will require recognizing the continuum of security state violence that connects domestic policing, border enforcement and…
Politically Motivated Prosecutions Part II: Refuse, Report, Resign
In Part II of this series, Kristy Parker and Erica Newland explain how DOJ's career prosecutors should respond when they become aware of, or are asked to participate in, politically…
Politically-Motivated Prosecutions Part I: Legal Obligations and Ethical Duties of Prosecutors
AG Barr is poised to weaponize criminal prosecutions. In part one of a two-part series, former DOJ attorneys Kristy Parker and Erica Newland explain how politically motivated prosecutions…
The New Jane Crow: Women’s Mass Incarceration
(Editor’s Note: This article is part of a special Just Security “Racing National Security” symposium edited by editorial board member Matiangai Sirleaf. The goal of…
Portland’s Pretext: Barr’s Long History Manipulating Law to Put Federal Forces on U.S. Streets
In a 2001 interview, Bill Barr boasted that he came up with the idea in 1989.
Congress Must Seize This Chance to Help Demilitarize Law Enforcement
A bipartisan Senate amendment would restrict the transfer of US military equipment to law enforcement, including items from bayonets to weaponized drones.
Black Security and the Conundrum of Policing
We are in a new phase of the long police reform debate. Over decades, opaque spending, police staffing practices, expansion of criminal codes, and other factors have made some…
Systemic Racist Police Brutality Shocks the Conscience of Humanity, but is it an International Crime?
(Editor’s note: To mark today’s 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia, Just Security is publishing two articles. In addition to this piece by Margaret deGuzman…
Less Lethal than Firearms, But Only if Used Appropriately
Sometimes, as in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks by an Atlanta law enforcement officer, deaths involve police use of firearms. But as the killing of George Floyd has also demonstrated,…