Civil Liability in Criminal Justice

Darrell L. Ross, Ph.D., is Professor and Department Head of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, and Director of the Center for Applied Social Sciences (CASS) at Valdosta State University, USA. Ross worked for the Michigan Department of Corrections as an officer, cell block supervisor of mentally impaired prisoners, probation officer, and instructor in the training academy, and taught in the Police Academy at Ferris State University as a certified instructor teaching subject control techniques, human factors, mechanics of arrest, and responding to the mentally ill person. He was the Director of the School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration at Western Illinois University and served on the faculty and as chair of the criminal justice program at East Carolina University. Ross has published five books, more than 95 articles, book chapters, and monographs, and has provided expert witness services since 1987.

1. Overview of Civil Liability 2. Foundations for Liability 3. Civil Liability Under State and Federal Tort Law 4. Civil Liability and Federal Law 5. Defenses to Civil Litigation and Risk Management 6. Administrative and Supervisory Liability 7. Liability for Failure to Train 8. Operating Criminal Justice Agencies Under a Consent Decree 9. Personnel Issues and Liability 10. Use of Force in Law Enforcement and Corrections 11. Section 1983 and Correctional Liability Issues 12. Section 1983 Actions in Law Enforcement 13. Liability and Arrest-Related Deaths 14. Liability and Suicides in Detention 15. Conclusions: Shifting Directions in Civil Litigation