COMMUNITY ACCOUNTABILITY,MINORITY THREAT,AND POLICE BRUTALITY: AN EXAMINATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS*

A growing body of evidence shows that minorities are disproportionately the targets of police brutality, but important theoretical questions about the causes of that inequity remain unanswered. One promising line of research involves structural‐level analyses of the incidence of police brutality complaints; however, existing studies do not incorporate variables from alternative theoretical explanations. Drawing on the community accountability hypothesis and the threat hypothesis, we tested the predictions of two prominent structural‐level explanations of police brutality in a study of civil rights criminal complaints. The study included cities of 150,000+ population (n = 114). The findings reveal that two community accountability variables—ratio percent Hispanic citizens to percent Hispanic police officers and the presence of citizen review—were related positively to police brutality complaints, partially supporting that perspective. Two threat hypothesis measures of threatening people—percent black and percent Hispanic (in the Southwest)—were related positively to complaints, as predicted. The relative degree of support for the two hypotheses is assessed.     

略论恐怖活动组织的特征与预防

恐怖活动组织是一种性质极为特殊的犯罪组织,具有主体组织的公开性、侵害目标的象征性、行为方式的残忍性、危害后果的恐怖性、动机生成的政治性及奖金来源的合法性等特征。各国对恐怖活动组织所采取的措施更多地是建立在打击的思想基础上的,并不能从根本上减少直至消除恐怖活动组织。对恐怖活动组织的预防,应以犯罪学的预防视野进行考察。     

法律保留原则、比例原则与城管暴力执法

城管暴力执法是我国建设法治国家面临的一项重要障碍与挑战。要建设中国特色的社会主义法治国家,就必须达到阻却和禁止城管暴力执法的态势。暴力执法不仅是一个违法的问题。更是涉及到合理与否的问题。从合法性与合理性视角分析,城管暴力执法不仅违法了法律保留原则,更是违反了行政法上的比例原则。