Presumed guilty : how the Supreme Court empowered the police and subverted civil rights Cover Image

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Presumed guilty : how the Supreme Court empowered the police and subverted civil rights / Erwin Chemerinsky.

Summary:

"This book reveals how the Supreme Court allows the perpetuation of racist policing by presuming that suspects, especially people of color, are guilty. It presents a troubling history that reveals how the Supreme Court enabled racist policing and sanctioned law enforcement excesses. The fact that police are nine times more likely to kill Black men than other Americans is no accident; it is the result of an elaborate body of doctrines that allow the police and courts to presume that suspects are guilty before being charged. Demonstrating how the prodefendant Warren Court was a brief historical aberration, Erwin Chemerinsky shows how this more liberal era ended with Nixon's presidency and the ascendance of conservative justices, whose rulings (like Terry v. Ohio and Los Angeles v. Lyons) have permitted stops and frisks, limited suits to reform police departments, and even abetted the use of chokeholds. The book concludes that an approach to policing that continues to exalt 'Dirty Harry' can be transformed only by a robust court system committed to civil rights"-- Provided by the publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 9781631496516
ISBN: 1631496514
Physical Description: xiii, 362 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York, NY : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, [2021]
Copyright: ©2021

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Part I: The Supreme Court, race, and policing -- "I Can't Breathe" : why courts can't stop police from using chokeholds -- Confronting the realities of race and policing -- The Supreme Court's essential role in enforcing the Constitution and controlling police -- Part II: A minimal judicial role : the Court and policing before 1953 -- Why the Supreme Court ignored policing for much of American history -- Judicial silence on Constitutional protections and remedies before 1953 -- Part III: The Warren Court : finally enforcing constitutional protections and remedies -- "Each era finds an improvement in law for the benefit of mankind" : applying the Bill of Rights to state and local police -- Both limiting and empowering police : the Warren Court and the Fourth Amendment -- Miranda : trying to solve the problem of coercion in police interrogations -- Protecting the innocent from wrongful convictions : safeguards against false eyewitness identifications -- Rights need remedies -- Part IV: Retrenchment : the Burger Court limits constitutional rights -- "Only the guilty have something to hide" : undermining Fourth Amendment protections -- Hollowing out Miranda -- Refusing to check police eyewitness identification procedures -- Eroding remedies for police misconduct -- Part V: Empowering police : the Rehnquist and Roberts Courts -- The police can stop anyone, at any time, and search them -- You don't really have the right to remain silent -- Ignoring the problem of false eyewitness identifications -- The vanishing remedies for police misconduct -- Part VI: It can be done : overcoming the Supreme Court to reform policing -- The path to meaningful police reform.