Emerging Trends in Civil Liability Cases - Annotated Bibliography Example

Running head: EMERGING TRENDS IN CIVIL LIABILITY CASES Emerging Trends in Civil Liability CasesRoss, D. (1997). Emerging trends in correctional civil liability cases: a content analysis of federal court decisions of Title 42 United States Code Section 1983: 1970-1994. Journal of Criminal Justice , 25 (6), 501-515.Summary of the articleThe article is an analysis of decisions made by the United States District Court system in relation to civil liability filings under Section 1983, covering the period between 1974 and 1994.

Ideally, Section 1983 provides legal relief for individuals injured by government officials, as it seeks to prohibit such officials from violating people’s constitutional rights. For a case to be successful, the applicant has to prove that the government official violated his or her constitutional or federal law rights, and whether the official acted under color of law. As such, the article presents a discussion of a series of case rulings in which the plaintiffs sought to be awarded legal relief under provision of Section 83.

The liability cases studied and analyzed by Ross are related to correctional officers, since such officials are at the highest risk of litigation. Evaluation of the articleIn total, the study examined 3,205 correctional liability cases filed against correctional officials under Section 1983. The claims for such cases were many and varied, but Ross identified sixteen categories indicating trends in the litigation claims. These categories include violation of free speech rights, cruel and unusual punishment, and failure to protect a claim.

The large sample evaluated increases the reliability of the study. In addition, by examining the trend over a long period of time and considering cases from all facilities in the United States District Court system, the validity of the findings from the study is increased. This validity is further strengthened by the credibility of the researcher, since Ross is a university Professor with the Criminal Justice Program. The study observed that majority of the cases were filed without legal counsel, and this could present a weakness in the findings, since some of them could have no legal basis.

Reflection of applicability to CJ professionalsAccording to Ross’ findings, the number of correctional liability claims filed under Section 1983 is directly related to the prisoner population, and would continue to increase with a proportional increase in the population of prisoners. CJ professionals would use this fact to vary the population of inmates in particular correctional facilities, thus reducing potential conflicts that could result in litigation claims against correctional officers.

Given that 92% of the claims are made without legal counsel, CJ professionals could commit to facilitate for provision of such counsel to the inmates, thus reducing the amount of claims possibly filed without a solid legal base. CJ professionals should also strive to enforce legislations aimed at discouraging frivolous liability claims, ensuring that the only claims filed under Section 1983 are genuine and deserving. References Ross, D. (1997). Emerging trends in correctional civil liability cases: a content analysis of federal court decisions of Title 42 United States Code Section 1983: 1970-1994.

Journal of Criminal Justice , 25 (6), 501-515.