U.S. Commission on Civil Rights: Reports on the Police
U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS: REPORTS ON THE POLICE, William S. Hein & Co. Inc., 2005
8 Pages Posted: 17 Nov 2005
Abstract
Created as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is entitled to substantial credit for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, among many other achievements in advancing civil rights. In its heyday, its commissioners were distinguished Americans, former governors, cabinet members and university presidents, and though it had no power other than the ability to issue subpoenas and publish reports, its prestige and investigative authority gave it a unique ability to document social conditions in a variety of areas over time.
This three volume anthology collects the hearing transcripts and reports of the Commission dealing with law enforcement, a topic it has studied for five decades. The anthology begins with the hearings held in Jackson, Mississippi leading to the report Law Enforcement: A Report on Equal Protection in the South also published in 1965, and ends with reports in 2000, Police Practices and Civil Rights in New York City, and Revisiting Who is Guarding the Guardians? A Report on Police Practices and Civil Rights in America. The downloadable document is the table of contents and introduction.
Keywords: Civil rights, constitutional law, legal history, law enforcement, police, race
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation