Month: January 2026

Resource spotlight: Data projects tracking police misconduct, use of force, and employment histories | Prison Policy Initiative

The need for law enforcement transparency, oversight, and accountability has never been clearer. We highlight data projects that have helped document and investigate misconduct, as …
— Read on www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2026/01/26/police_misconduct/

Police Against the Movement: How Local Cops Sabotage Freedom Struggles with Author Joshua Davis | KPFA

This is the link to the Podcast https://archives.kpfa.org/data/20260121-Wed1600.mp3

On this episode of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D sits down with Joshua Davis, a history professor at the University of Baltimore and author of Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back. The conversation digs into a part of civil rights history that is usually blurred out of the frame: how local police departments, not just the FBI, designed and refined a playbook to crush Black freedom movements and the organizers who led them.
— Read on kpfa.org/episode/hard-knock-radio-january-21-2026/

Reported Flash Mob Shoplifting Incidents: 2020‒2024 U.S. Department of Justice—Federal Bureau of Investigation

The FBI describes a flash mob as a form of shoplifting that occurs when an organized group
selects a specific retail store from which to collectively steal. Flash mob shoplifting is not a
dedicated offense for law enforcement agencies to report in the National Incident-Based
Reporting System (NIBRS) of the FBI’s UCR Program; however, NIBRS data are versatile and
can be used to compile incidents that align with the FBI’s description.

This report defines a flash mob shoplifting incident as one that includes a reported shoplifting
offense occurring at a location defined as a store or otherwise dealing in buying/selling activity,
with six or more offenders, and no more than one business reported as a victim. This study
analyzes shoplifting data over five years, from 2020 through 2024, that meet this constructed
definition for a flash mob.

Get the Report HERE

The Legality of Deadly Force: Three Critical Questions about the ICE Shooting in Minneapolis | Seth W. Stoughton | Verdict | Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia

The recent fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis has already prompted intense public debate, much of it unfolding before the relevant facts are fully known. That instinct is understandable—police shootings, particularly those involving federal agents engaging in controversial actions, implicate profound questions about authority, accountability, and public safety—but it is also precisely the moment when caution is most warranted. It is far too early for anyone to offer a definitive conclusion; indeed, doing so would be professionally inappropriate. It is possible, however, to identify the questions that will need to be answered to come to a definitive conclusion about whether the officer complied with or violated applicable law.
— Read on verdict-justia-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/verdict.justia.com/amp/2026/01/09/the-legality-of-deadly-force-three-critical-questions-about-the-ice-shooting-in-minneapolis

Universal Mental Health Screening in Schools

Mental health screening in public schools has grown in recent years. As of 2021, nearly one-third of American schools reported that their district mandated student screening.[1] While widespread implementation has occurred somewhat inconspicuously, empirical evidence has shown that universal mental health screening does not improve clinical or academic outcomes and indeed has harmful effects. This […]
— Read on manhattan.institute/article/universal-mental-health-screening-in-schools-a-critical-assessment

Prevention Beyond Deterrence

Abstract

This Article reconceptualizes preventive justice—the public safety paradigm that seeks to prevent harm before it occurs. Scholars have long documented how cities have advanced this paradigm through largely punitive measures, notably variants of broken windows policing, which posit that aggressive misdemeanor enforcement deters more serious crime. Yet in the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd protests, and as underscored recently in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, these measures have faced a legitimacy crisis—prompting calls for nonpunitive responses to nonviolent incidents.

This Article establishes a preventive justice approach that advances health and safety without emphasizing crime deterrence. It draws on fieldwork research on alternative emergency response programs (“Alternative Responses”) that proliferated after the 2020 protests to replace police in health crises and other nonviolent incidents. Data include interviews with fifty individuals and over two hundred hours of observations in Oakland, California; Dayton, Ohio; and Madison, Wisconsin.

Get the article HERE

The Impact of School Police Reform on Student Safety and School Experiences

Executive Summary

Background

Following widespread calls for police reform in 2020, school districts across California made critical decisions about school policing. This study examined what happened when districts removed police from schools—the first comprehensive research of its kind. Using rigorous quasi-experimental methods, WestEd compared 60 schools from 6 districts that removed Police during 2019–2021 with 120 matched comparison schools from 30 districts that retained police, tracking outcomes through the 2021–22 school year.

Key Findings

Schools that removed police saw significant improvements in how students experienced their school environment. Students reported stronger caring relationships with staff and more meaningful participation in school. Both effects represent medium but substantively important impacts on student well-being. Contrary to concerns, removing police did not lead to increases in violence victimization, harassment or bullying, substance use, delinquency, or suspension rates (overall or by race/ethnicity). Finally, schools with higher student-to-counselor ratios (averaging 488:1, nearly double the recommended 250:1) that retained police showed higher rates of student-reported violence. However, schools that removed police were protected against this negative effect, regardless of counselor ratios.

Read the Final Report HERE

“Brady Lists” by Rachel Moran

Interesting article on “Brady Lists” by Rachel Moran

INTRODUCTION

Brady lists, named after the Supreme Court decision Brady v. Maryland, are lists some prosecutors maintain of law enforcement officers with histories of misconduct that could impact the officers’ credibility in criminal cases. Brady and its progeny require prosecutors to disclose exculpatory evidence within the government’s possession or control to defendants in criminal cases. This includes evidence that could impeach a witness’s credibility. Evidence that a police officer involved in a criminal case has, for example, previously written a false police report, lied in court, or used racial slurs during an arrest may be exculpatory because it casts doubt on the officer’s truthfulness, credibility, and impartiality. Brady lists originated from this disclosure obligation: the lists ostensibly allow prosecutors to keep track of, and disclose to defense counsel when necessary, information that negatively impacts officers’ credibility.

Access the full article HERE