Source: (2004) Criminal Justice Studies. 17(1): 19-31.
Some police officers have been studying the strategies of nonviolence, as presented in the
words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to incorporate them into their own policing
strategies. This article explores the principles of the Kingian philosophy and how they
are applied in the Tallahassee Police Department while placing this police reform into a
context of restorative justice. The paper also reflects upon the potential value of this strategy
in producing a more responsive and less violent police force which is equipped to improve
police community relations. Finally, this paper explores the dialectic relationship of reform
and repression as it contemplates on the potential of this program, or any other criminal
justice ‘reform,’ for producing social justice. Author’s abstract.
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