Negative sentiment regarding conducted energy weapons is due largely to a lack of understanding about the technology behind such weapons and a misunderstanding of those weaponsOCO physiological effects. Media accounts that speculatively associate sudden in-custody deaths with the use of conducted energy weapons only add to the confusion. TASER ELECTRONIC CONTROL DEVICES AND SUDDEN IN-CUSTODY DEATH documents 310 deaths in the United States proximate to the application of TASER electronic control devices from 1983 through 2006. The study examines the phenomenon of sudden death as it relates to electromuscular disruption technology and TASER electronic control devices by constructing 213 cases studies, dating from 1983 through 2005, and analyzing information available from news accounts, police reports, and autopsies. After reviewing the available evidence from this extensive case study, the author concludes that these conducted energy weapons are excluded as the cause of death in 182 of the 212 cases. In only two cases did the evidence tend to confirm the weapon was either a cause of death or a significant contributing factor. While arguing that the TASER electronic control devices are safe less-lethal weapons, the author also cautions that they are not completely effective. He notes that the weapons were not effective in subduing more than 60 percent of violent or aggressive subjects in the 213 case studies, and he documents 131 cases of fatal police shootings and one police fatality following the failure of the weapons. The only way to determine whether the TASER electronic control devices is responsible for deaths is to separate evidence from conjecture and analyze the facts of each case. This book will be an excellent resource for law enforcement professionals, attorneys, investigators, and criminal justice personnel."

A wide-ranging investigation of how supposedly transformative technologies adopted by law enforcement have actually made policing worse—lazier, more reckless, and more discriminatory American law enforcement is a system in crisis. After explosive protests responding to police brutality and discrimination in Baltimore, Ferguson, and a long list of other cities, the vexing question of how to reform the police and curb misconduct stokes tempers and fears on both the right and left. In the midst of this fierce debate, however, most of us have taken for granted that innovative new technologies can only help. During the early 90s, in the wake of the infamous Rodney King beating, police leaders began looking to corporations and new technologies for help. In the decades since, these technologies have—in theory—given police powerful, previously unthinkable faculties: the ability to incapacitate a suspect without firing a bullet (Tasers); the capacity to more efficiently assign officers to high-crime areas using computers (Compstat); and, with body cameras, a means of defending against accusations of misconduct. But in this vivid, deeply-reported book, Matt Stroud shows that these tools are overhyped and, in many cases, ineffective. Instead of wrestling with tough fundamental questions about their work, police leaders have looked to technology as a silver bullet and stood by as corporate interests have insinuated themselves ever deeper into the public institution of law enforcement. With a sweeping history of these changes, Thin Blue Lie is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand how policing became what it is today.

Although surveillance hit the headlines with revelations by Edward Snowden that the National Security Agency had been tracking phone calls worldwide, surveillance of citizens by their governments actually has been conducted for centuries. Only now, with the advent of modern technologies, it has exponentially evolved so that today you can barely step out your door without being watched or recorded in some way. In addition to the political and security surveillance unveiled by the Snowden revelations, think about corporate surveillance: each swipe of your ID card to enter your office is recorded, not to mention your Internet activity. Or economic surveillance: what you buy online or with a credit card is recorded and your trip to the supermarket is videotaped. Drive through a tollbooth, and your license plate is recorded. Simply walk down a street and your image could be recorded again and again and again. Where does this begin and end? In all levels of social structure, from the personal to the political to the economic to the judicial, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy uncovers and explains how surveillance has come to be an integral part of how our contemporary society operates worldwide and how it impacts our security and privacy. Key Features: Approximately 450 signed entries from contributors around the globe Further readings and cross-references conclude each article to guide students further as they explore a topic A Reader′s Guide organizes entries by broad thematic areas

This collaborative text brings perspectives and ideas for police labour leaders to succeed in these challenging times.

The first monograph analysing all legal regimes applicable to the use of less-lethal weapons.

As unrest over officer-involved shootings and deaths in custody takes center stage in conversations about policing and the criminal justice system, Guidelines for Investigating Officer-Involved Shootings, Arrest-Related Deaths, and Deaths in Custody addresses critical investigation components from an expert witness perspective, providing the insights necessary to ensure a complete investigation. Investigating a custodial death or an officer involved in a shooting presents unique and complex issues: estate, community, judicial, agency, involved officer, and public policy interests are all at stake. These types of deaths present various emerging medical, psychological, legal and liability, technical, and investigatory issues that must be addressed through a comprehensive investigation. This book is ideal for students in criminal investigation, death investigation, crime scene investigation, and special topic courses in custodial deaths and officer-involved shootings, as well as for death investigators, law enforcement officers, police administrators, and attorneys.

Research Methods in Crime and Justice, 2nd Edition, is an innovative text/online hybrid for undergraduate Criminal Justice Research Methods courses. This material uniquely addresses the fundamental teaching issue for this course: how to show students that success as criminal justice practitioners is linked to their acquisition of research skills. Brian Withrow, a widely published academic researcher and former Texas State Trooper, developed this approach for his own undergraduate Research Methods class. He persuasively demonstrates that research skills aren’t just essential to university academic researchers but to successful criminal justice practitioners as well. More than 80 short, sharply focused examples throughout the text rely on research that is conducted by, on behalf of, or relevant to criminal justice practitioners to engage students’ interest like no other text of its kind. Extensive web materials all written by the author provide an array of instructor support material, including a Researcher’s Notebook that provides students (and their instructors) with a series of structured exercises leading to the development of a valid research project. Withrow systematically walks students through defining a question, conducting a literature review, and designing a research method that provides the data necessary to answer the research question—all online, with minimal instructor supervision. The second edition features expanded coverage of measurement, qualitative research methods, and evaluation research methods, as well as additional downloadable journal articles to ensure students begin to think critically about research and can read scholarly literature.

This fresh and innovative hybrid text/online material for undergraduate CJ RESEARCH METHODS uniquely addresses the fundamental teaching issue for this course: how to communicate and successfully teach students that their future success as criminal justice practitioners is linked to their acquisition of research skills.? The author Brian Withrow, a former Texas State Trooper, widely published academic researcher, and teacher of the undergraduate methods course, consistently demonstrates how research skills aren't just essential to university academic researchers; they are essential to student success as criminal justice practitioners, and to all who want to succeed in an information economy. More than 80 short, sharply focused examples throughout the text rely on actual research that is conducted by, on behalf of, or relevant to criminal justice practitioners. The book engages students' interests like no other. The online materials provide a wide array of instructor support material, all written by the author, and also offer a unique feature, The Researcher's Notebook, which provides students (and their instructors) a series of structured exercises leading to the development and completion of a research question, conducting a literature review, and designing a research method that provides the data necessary to answer the research question - all with a minimal amount of instructor supervision. Cover images are courtesy of Lauren Withrow

Introductory Criminology: The Study of Risky Situations takes a unique and intuitive approach to teaching and learning criminology. Avoiding the fragmentation of ideas commonly found in criminology textbooks, Marcus Felson and Mary A. Eckert develop a more practical, readable structure that engages the reader and enhances their understanding of the material. Their descriptive categories, simultaneously broad and realistic, serve better than the usual philosophical categories, such as "positivism" and "classicalism," to stimulate students’ interest and critical thinking. Short chapters, each broken into 5–7 sections, describe situations in which crime is most likely to happen, and explain why they are risky and what society can and can’t do about crime. They create a framework to organize ideas and facts, and then link these categories to the leading theories developed by criminologists over the last 100 years. With this narrative to guide them, students remember the material beyond the final exam. This fresh new text was created by two professors to address the main points they encounter in teaching their own criminology courses. Problems solved include: reluctant readers, aversion to abstract thinking, fear of theory, and boredom with laundry lists of disconnected ideas. Felson, a leader in criminology theory with a global reputation for innovative thinking, and Eckert, an experienced criminal justice researcher, are uniquely qualified to reframe criminology in a unified arc. By design, they offer abstractions that are useful and not overbearing; their prose is readable, and their concepts are easy to comprehend and remember. This new textbook challenges instructors to re-engage with theory and present the essence of criminological thought for adult learners, coaching students to grasp the concept before any label is attached and allowing them to emerge with deeper understanding of what each theory means and offers. Lean, with no filler or fluff like stock photos, Introductory Criminology includes the authors’ graphics to crystallize and expand concepts from the text.

Atlas of Forensic Pathology: A Pattern-Based Approach, by Dr. Walter L. Kemp (Montana State Medical Examiner), Dr. Rhome L. Hughes, and Dr. Jeffrey J. Barnard (Dallas County Chief Medical Examiner) provides a highly illustrated succinct “day-to-day” educational guide to the interpretation of patterns of findings at forensic autopsy to best allow for an accurate determination of cause and manner of death. The format of the book will also guide a pathologist in how to identify pertinent information (i.e., how to search for the patterns) and assemble a thorough and streamlined autopsy report.