PHILADELPHIA — The American Law Institute announced today that it will begin a new Principles project titled Principles of the Law, Police Investigations.
“This Principles project will focus on the legal issues related to the investigative, or pre-arraignment, aspect of police procedures,” explained Lee H. Rosenthal U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Texas and Chair of The American Law Institute’s Projects Committee. “This project is intended to bring together experience, learning, and insights not only from courts and legal scholars, but also from those responsible for, and affected by, police agencies, decisions, and policies. The potential audience for this project will include police agencies and legislative and executive officials, as well as courts.”
The American Law Institute is currently considering the scope of the project and the elements of police investigations that will be examined. A preliminary list of topics includes the form of eyewitness identification (building on the National Research Council’s 2014 report), forensic evidence-gathering and preservation of exculpatory material, search and seizure, and remedies and accountability.
“Advisers for the project will include judges, academics, and legal practitioners, which is typical for an ALI project, but also current and former police chiefs and legal counsel for police departments,” Rosenthal added.
Barry Friedman, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, will serve as project Reporter. Brandon L. Garrett, Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law; Tracey L. Meares, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law, Yale Law School; Christopher Slobogin, Milton R. Underwood Chair in Law, Professor of Psychiatry, Director, Criminal Justice Program, Vanderbilt Law School; Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School; and Rachel A. Harmon, Sullivan & Cromwell Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law will serve as Associate Reporters.
“This project aims to tackle some of the hardest questions, where courts, legislatures, and police are most in need of guidance, and where technology, experience and knowledge quickly are rendering current approaches obsolete,” said Friedman. “There are a variety of model rules in existence. For example, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and other policing organizations have produced model policies to address such topics as the use of drones or the problem of wrongful convictions. Our project will examine and expand on these topics, as well as analyze and report on less documented areas of the law.”