Law & Justice

On December 15, Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, announced she would drop out of a race to represent Kansas's 3rd District. In 2005, Ramsey was accused of sexually harassing a male subordinate, an accusation she has denied. As the allegations resurfaced, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee decided to withdraw its support for her campaign. "In its rush to claim the high ground in our roiling national conversation about harassment, the Democratic Party has implemented a zero tolerance standard," Ramsey said. "For me, that means a vindictive, terminated employee’s false allegations are enough for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to decide not to support our promising campaign. We are in a national moment where rough justice stands in place of careful analysis, nuance and due process." (Image: Andrea Ramsey for Congress)

Have the men and women accused of sexual harassment lost their right to a fair hearing?

Marilyn Katz, In These Times

December 29, 2017 | Like many women of the Baby Boom generation who’ve worked outside the home, I’ve experienced the full range of sexual harassment and attempted abuse from absurd comments to unwanted touches or gropes to absolutely scary assaults.

I am disturbed by the mob mentality that seems to have overtaken the nation in addressing the problem. It is one thing to accuse, quite another to equate accusation with guilt.

I’m delighted that we women have won the right to declare our bodies off limits to attackers and to call them out is a victory.  That the men who engage in the full spectrum of sexual harassment from the juvenile to the criminal are being brought to account is good.  That those called out have lost their right to a fair hearing and self-defense is not.

Marilyn Katz is a writer, consultant and long-time political activist. She is president of MK Communications, a partner in Democracy Partners and a founder and co-chair of the newly formed Chicago Women Take Action.

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• How to Fix America’'s Police
• A vivid, well-written, vitally important book.
• Related: Special Report | Curbing Police Brutality

Kirkus Reviews 

June 7, 2016 | Most of the nation's approximately 18,000 police departments receive scathing criticism from one of their own: an author who began as a San Diego beat cop in 1966 and rose to become a police chief in Seattle.

Stamper follows up his first book (Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing, 2005) with a more contemporary—and more critical—account. He concludes that police departments as currently structured—akin to military units with force as a dominant characteristic—must be rebuilt. The author recognizes that almost every police agency includes a majority of uniformed officers and plainclothes detectives who place polite, effective service above brute force. However, he maintains, the rogue cops, although a minority, too often exercise undue influence, infecting everybody with their negative attitudes toward minority and mentally ill citizens, who deserve respect rather than stigmatizing.

The author does not shy away from specific incidents of unarmed citizens killed by police; he explains, for example, why Michael Brown should never have died in Ferguson, Missouri.

Norm Stamper is an American former chief of police and writer known for his role as Chief of the Seattle Police Department ( 1994-2000) responsible for Seattle's response to the protests of the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999, which eventually led to his resignation.

Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine is headquartered in New York City.

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Related:

Special Report | Curbing Police Brutality, Compiled by David Culver, Ed., Evergreene Digest 

• Part 1: New study finds body cameras do not curb police brutality
  • Even with eyes watching, some cops continue to cross the line.
• Part 2: The Fraternal Order of Police Must Go
  • The nation’s largest police organization pursues policies that have deadly consequences for communities of color.