Jerome Skolnick
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Jerome Skolnick is a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former president of the American Society of Criminology. He is also affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley and the New York University School of Law. Skolnick has a Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University.
Clearance Rates
Jerome Skolnick has argued that clearance rates demonstrate the reality of the criminal justice conflict model by encouraging police to focus on appearing to do their job, rather than on actually doing their job. This is a comparable argument to that regarding standardized testing, and "teaching to the test". Skolnick noted one incident where police coerced a man to confess to over 400 burglaries so that they could have a high rate of crime solving (clearance).
Quotes
- The law often, but not always, supports police deception. (1997)
- Courtroom lying is justified within the police culture by the same sort of necessity rationale that courts have permitted police to employ at the investigative stage: The end justifies the means.
Writings by Jerome Skolnick
Most of his writings deal with criminal justice.
- Crisis in American Institutions (CoAuthor: Elliot Currie) (1997)
- Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of Force (CoAuthor: James Fyfe) (1993)
- Justice Without Trial: Law Enforcement in Democratic Society (1993)
- Criminal Justice; a Casebook (CoAuthors: John Kaplan and Malcome Feeley) (1991)
- The New Blue Line: Police Innovation in Six American Cities (CoAuthor: David Bayley) (1986)
- House of Cards: Legalization and Control of Casino Gambling (1978)
- Justice Without Trial: Law Enforcement in Democratic Society (1966)
See also: Black Panther Party, Amadou Diallo, John Birch Society, Rodney King, Abner Louima, Justin Volpe