You may have been seeing in the news that The Department of Justice, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, wants a comprehensive review of the consent decrees the DoJ has made with police departments across the United States. This blog is usually devoted to current legislation, so this post will be a bit of a departure, as it will be looking at actions by the executive and judicial branches instead.
What is a Consent Decree
A Consent Decree is a settlement in a lawsuit where the defendant agrees to take certain actions to remedy a particular problem, but without admitting guilt. The parties negotiate an agreement which is then agreed to — and supervised by — the court. Once the Consent Decree is agreed to by the court, it is legally binding. Consent Decrees are a common outcome of anti-trust cases and were also used for de-segregating schools. The consent decrees we are discussing in particular are cases where police departments are sued for a pattern of civil rights abuses and enter into a consent decree to enact reforms to mitigate further abuses.
Why We Have Consent Decrees with Police Departments
After Rodney King Uprising in LA in 1992, hearings were held in Congress to figure out a way to reduce police brutality and systemic racism. These hearings ultimately resulted in the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, allowing, among other things, the DoJ to sue police departments for a pattern and practice of violating citizen’s civil rights.
The fist consent decree with a police department was actually with Pittsburgh in 1997. In 2000 the DoJ the notified the LAPD that they intended to sue them for “engaging in a pattern or practice of excessive force, false arrests and unreasonable searches and seizures,” and was eventually able to negotiate a Consent Decree with the LAPD . The DoJ now has entered into 20 consent decrees with cities across the country, both big and small. There are currently 14 active decrees, including most recently in Chicago and Baltimore, who have said they will be moving ahead with their planned reforms regardless.
Although each decree is unique to the city, police department, and situation, they do tend to have some elements in common. Decrees commonly include officer training, implicit bias awareness and best practices on stopping, searching and arresting people. There can be technology elements, both in reducing the use of military-type equipment and increasing the use of things like police body cams. Often management and supervisory measures are put in place to ensure respect for civil rights. Finally, various forms of community outreach can be an important part of the reforms.
Why Is The DoJ Reviewing These Consent Decrees — Don’t They Work?
Donald Trump promised to be the “law and order administration“. Jeff Sessions, in particular, has long thought consent decrees are a harmful limit on police power. In this editorial, he lays out his case that “too much focus has been placed on a small number of police who are bad actors rather than on criminals. And too many people believe the solution is to impose consent decrees that discourage the proactive policing that keeps our cities safe.”
Like many government interventions in big thorny problems, it can be difficult to gauge how well a program is working. If the goal of a consent decree is to reduce civil rights abuses, one test might be to see if fewer civil rights lawsuits are brought by citizens against the police after the reforms in the decree are put in place. By that measure, yes, the decrees reduce lawsuits by reduce lawsuits by 12 to 36%. But do they also limit police effectiveness and cause an increase in crime? In Seattle, the statistics are all positive, showing the decree working well. Here is a look at how consent decrees are faring in some of the other cities that have them. No cities have reported significant problems with increased crime, how much good they do varies (as you would expect). At the very least they increase transparency, which is important if we’re ever going to really figure out what does and doesn’t work.
In my opinion, in theory, it is a good idea for the DoJ to review the data about the results of the decrees and determine best practices. I worry, of course, that this review is not actually being undertaken in good faith, and that this administration is going to derail current and future reforms that are badly needed. I don’t know how, in the wake of the Philando Castile travesty, you can deny that in many places in the United States there is a “pattern and practice” of systemic abuse and reforms are desperately needed. Right now is an *insane* time to take steps backward in police reform and race relations.
Additional Sources:
Mother Jones “Rodney King and the LA Riots Changed Policing. Now Jeff Sessions Wants to Turn Back the Clock.”
New York Times “Sweeping Federal Review Could Affect Consent Decrees Nationwide” (includes map of current decrees)
Improving Police “Federal Consent Decrees – Do They Work?”
New York Times “Judge Approves Consent Decree to Overhaul Baltimore Police Dept.”
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