Above the Law Police and the Excessive Use of Force

The now-famous videotape of the beating of Rodney King precipitated a national outcry against police violence. Skolnick and Fyfe, two of the nation's top experts on law enforcement, use the incident to introduce a revealing historical analysis of such violence and the extent of its survival in law enforcement today.

Jerome Skolnick is Clare Clements Dean’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkely. He is the author of The Politics of Protest and co-author of The New Blue Line.

James Fyfe is Professor of Criminal Justice at Temple University. He was a member of the New York City Police Department for sixteen years as patrolman, sergeant, and lieutenant, and also taught at the Police Academy.