Resources

This report covers FBI surveillance of political activity over roughly the past decade. It find that the FBI has repeatedly monitored civil society groups, including racial justice movements, Occupy Wall Street, environmentalists, Palestinian solidarity activists, Abolish ICE protesters, and Cuba and Iran normalization proponents. Additionally, FBI agents conducted interviews that critics have argued were designed to chill protests at the Republican National Convention or intimidate Muslim-American voters.

An interactive graphic of data on the many costs of broken windows policing.

Most states neglect ordering police to learn de-escalation tactics to avoid shootings. In 34 states, training decisions are left to local agencies. Most, though, conduct no, or very little, de-escalation training. Chiefs cite cost, lack of staff, and a belief that the training isn’t needed.

When police officers misbehave, why does it often remain a secret? This Reveal podcast episode follows reporter Robert Lewis as he tries to report on a secret list of police officers with criminal convictions. Next, Nikka Singh of “Snap Judgment” tells the story of one officer who has been able to stay employed at a series of police departments, despite repeated allegations of serious misconduct. Finally, host Al Letson sits down with Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), to find out how the largest association of police officers in the United States looks at transparency, accountability and standards for misconduct.

This report provides a brief overview of what Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) is and what assumptions drive CVE programs. Given the illusive nature of CVE (and the ways that practitioners intentionally distance themselves from critiques of CVE), it also describes local CVE programs currently underway in Illinois and identifies the key players advancing this anti-terrorism project. Because CVE programs often are rebranded under different names and funding sources, this report also details ways to identify CVE. Lastly, this report shares the experiences of community partners across the country to illustrate the nature and impact of CVE, and how people have been exposing and resisting CVE.

Police sexual misconduct is often considered a hidden crime that routinely goes unreported. The current study provides an empirical data on cases of sex-related police crime at law enforcement agencies across the United States. The study identifies and describes incidents where sworn law enforcement officers were arrested for one or more sex-related crimes through analysis of published newspaper articles and court records. Findings indicate that police sexual misconduct includes serious forms of sex-related crime and that victims of sex-related police crime are typically younger than 18 years of age.

This report examines false confessions, and in particular the misunderstood typology of “coerced-internalized” false confessions. These confessions are made by individuals who falsely confess, but truly believe in their guilt despite objective evidence to the contrary. The case example of Billy Wayne Cope will be discussed at length, including the reported South Carolina Court of Appeal case, the transcripts of experts and the accused from trial, as well as an discussion of the extensive television documentary highlighting the possibility that Cope was wrongfully convicted. By looking at the specific words and reasoning of Billy Wayne Cope, this paper attempts to examine the impact of one of the
most unique and misunderstood forms of false confessions, and to suggest what needs to be done differently in the future to prevent further miscarriages of justice.

Recent DNA exonerations have shed light on the problem that people sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit. Drawing on police practices, laws concerning the admissibility of confession evidence, core principles of psychology, and forensic studies involving multiple methodologies, this White Paper summarizes what is known about police-induced confessions. This review identifies factors that influence confessions as well as their effects on judges and juries. This article concludes with a strong recommendation for the mandatory electronic recording of interrogations and considers other possibilities for the reform of interrogation practices and the protection of vulnerable suspect populations.

This is a collection of information and action items around the use of facial recognition by government and law enforcement.