Law Talk...
Here's a quick guide to some key legal terms.
In law talk, primary sources are the laws themselves.
Laws may consist of administrative regulations, statutes, and court cases.
- Statutes are laws enacted by Congress or the state legislatures. A collection of statutes is sometimes referred to as a code.
- Case laws are generated by the application of general laws to specific court cases.
- Administrative regulations are laws created by an executive branch agency or department such as the EPA, ATF, FCC, or FAA.
Secondary sources are articles, books, videos, training resources, and web sites that explain and interpret the law. Scholarly journal articles about the laws are known as law reviews.
Police Use of Force
Welcome! This page provides a list of resources specifically for your 360-Degree Video Project. I salute you for doing this project. The videos you create will give you practical knowledge of the use of force and also help many future students.
The resources below can help us create videos by answering these questions:
- Where can we find background info about our use-of-force issues?
- How do we know what the legal authority of police is when using force? What are police allowed to do?
- What are some concrete examples of legal and illegal police use of force that can help us develop situations to act out in our videos?
Please cite any resource that gives you inspiration or ideas for your video. An APA guide is listed on the left sidebar.
If you run across other sources that would be helpful to your fellow students, please let me know and I'll add them to this page.
Good luck and please remember to stop by my office or email me (dbs21@psu.edu) anytime you need help finding sources!
Best Wishes,
Brett Spencer
Criminal Justice Librarian
Penn State Berks
- CRIMJ 210 Wordshoot Source GameShoot the correct answer to each question!
- CRIMJ 210 Source Quick MatchLet's try this quick match video game to start thinking about the types of sources we can use for our videos!
Resources for the 360-Degree Video Project
Reference Sources
References sources like dictionaries and encyclopedia provide definitions and background info. Scan through these to get a summary of your topic as you begin your research.
- FindLaw Legal DictionaryFind a basic definition of your legal issue.
- Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal JusticeThe Library's wikipedia! An encyclopedia of credible essays about the topics in this class written by experts.
- Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) This link opens in a new windowOver 1000 encyclopedias. Look for encyclopedias that deal with criminal justice and the law.
Laws
Everyone will want to look at the primary sources--the laws--when studying use of force situations. The laws define police authority in use-of-force situations. Important Note: Please note that different jurisdictions have different laws. Most of the specific laws below deal with municipal police in PA. If your video portrays other police forces (State Police, FBI, ATF, etc.), you will want to search Nexis Uni, Westlaw, and the web for laws specific to those police forces.
- Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, Title 18, Chapter 5, General Principles of JustificationThis part of PA law deals with the justifiable use of force by civilians and police. Check ยง 508 for police use of force while making arrests.
- List of State Law CodesIf your video will be set outside of PA, this page can help you find the laws of other states. The issues in our class are generally listed as "defenses" in the codes. Deadly force is often covered as part of the use of force in the sections about defense of self, others, and property.
- U.S. Criminal CodeThe federal laws of the United States. Title 18 covers criminal matters and policing.
- Violation of Civil Rights due to Excessive ForceFederal law about citizen rights against excessive use of force.
- Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989)Classic case we should all know about, this decision had a major impact on police use of force.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowFind federal and state laws, court cases, and law reviews (scholarly journal articles about law).
- Westlaw Campus Research - Law This link opens in a new windowLike Lexis Uni, another great database for laws, court cases, and law reviews.
Police Training & Policy Resources
These resources are especially useful for creating our videos because they offer guidelines, handbooks, graphics, templates, videos, and scenarios used to train police in the legal use of force.
- Using Force Scenarios for TrainingSample use-of-force scenarios that could inspire storyboards for our videos.
- Police Manuals ListHandy site that lists police manuals for Philadelphia, New York City, and many other cities. The manuals advise police about correct use of force.
- The Use-of-Force ContinuumNational Institute of Justice offers an example of the escalating levels of an incident that may justify use of force by law enforcement officers. Some departments use this example as a template.
- Use-of-Force InfographicAwesome visual guide to police use of force from the Police Foundation.
- Defensive Handgun Skill : The Definitive Guide for Novice to ExpertEbook on using guns in self-defense. Outlines stances, tactics, weapons.
- Police Code of EthicsFrom International Association of Chiefs of Police. Guiding principles for portraying sound police ethics in our videos.
- Criminal Justice and Public Safety in Video This link opens in a new windowA "Netflix" of police training that you can use for free as a PSU student. Many of these streaming videos illustrate police use of force in the field.
Scholarly Journal Articles
What are the best practices in police use of force? Which techniques work best? Scholarly journal articles--intensive, critical studies conducted by faculty at universities--can help us answer these questions. We can act out examples of effective, legal use of forces in our videos. The Discussion and Conclusion sections usually have the main ideas.
- Reducing Police Use of Force: Case Studies and ProspectsRecent scholarly article about best practices for training police to avoid unnecessary use of force.
- Criminal Justice Abstracts This link opens in a new windowTop database for criminal justice scholarly articles.
Popular News
The news media can give us recent examples of police use of force. Important Note: some articles are based on breaking news, allegations, and rumors, so please investigate the facts about a use-of-force incident thoroughly and critically in multiple sources.
- Google NewsTop news source on the free web.