Publication Date
10-1-2025
Abstract
This Article examines the relationship between state prosecutors, federal prosecutors, and the Civil Rights Division inside the United States Department of Justice in conducting police misconduct investigations and prosecutions. While previous literature documents prosecutors’ enormous concentration of power, they remain an understudied population in the criminal legal system, particularly in how they investigate and prosecute police officers accused of crimes. To remedy this gap, I conducted over fifty interviews with prosecutors, civilian investigators, and other legal professionals working in the domain of police misconduct investigations and prosecutions in multiple field sites around the United States. This Article is one of the first to offer insights from some of the most select employees around the United States because these specific occupations are just that—uncommon, atypical, and exceptional in context of the potential universe of “line” or assistant prosecutors around the country. The interview data demonstrates that police misconduct prosecutors possess idiosyncratic and specialized skill sets. However, I find that mounting public pressure for police accountability coincides with limited prosecutorial expertise and proficiency in successfully prosecuting police misconduct around the United States. Police suspect prosecutors are not present in every jurisdiction or legal community. This sociolegal environment may encourage prosecutors with unique insights to share ideas, resources, and successful evidentiary strategies for securing indictments. Yet, I expose a novel paradox: experienced prosecutors may reject exogenous support because they understand it as disruptive and oppressive surveillance by outsiders. Results demonstrate that growing demands for police accountability confront established occupational scaffolds, and federal collaboration threatens longstanding notions of occupational autonomy and prosecutorial esteem, and risks oversight by outsiders. The Article concludes with important theoretical and practical implications for the prospect of future accountability as well as structural recommendations for facilitating criminal legal accountability for police misconduct in the future.
First Page
1
Recommended Citation
Ilana M. Friedman, The Paradox of Federal Oversight in Police Misconduct Investigations, 103 Denv. L. Rev. 1 (2025).