Summary
Contents
Subject index
Criminology and criminal justice is in its infancy in India. This book attempts to examine India's crime problem in detail and document if and how its criminal justice system has responded to emerging challenges and opportunities. The objective is to move beyond mere observations and thoughtful opinions, and make contributions that are the next steps in the development of an empirical (or evidence-based) criminology and criminal justice on this vast and diverse country-by focusing on research that is both balanced and precise.
This book brings together a diverse set of 32 academics from India, the US, and the UK who have authored 19 chapters on many aspects of crime and justice in India.
The organizational components or sectors of the criminal justice system are the police, the courts, and corrections. The studies collected here provide balanced coverage of the entire criminal justice system and not just one component of it. The first section of this book consists of overviews of several major issues that affect the entire criminal justice system. Section Two considers topics related to the gateway of the criminal justice system, policing. Section Three takes up the operational problems of criminal law and courts and Section Four deals with the difficult question of punishment and correction, the last part of the criminal justice system.
Police Shootings: Perceived Culture of Approval
Police Shootings: Perceived Culture of Approval
Abstract
This chapter examines police officers' perceptions of their colleagues, the police organization, other criminal justice agencies, the media, the politicians and the public toward the use of deadly force against criminals in situations known as “encounters,” portrayed as spontaneous shootouts between the police and “hardened” criminals. Interviews with 38 police officers (referred to in the Chapter as T1 to T38) of various ranks in Mumbai, India, revealed that they perceived an overall sense of approval for shootouts, sometimes of dubious legality, which made accountability mechanisms more a paper exercise than ensuring compliance with legal and ethical standards. While the abuse of deadly force is neither unique nor limited to the police force reported in ...
- Loading...
