AbstractsLaw & Legal Studies

The research was an exploratory qualitative study of community organizing around the issue of police misconduct with an emphasis on Know Your Rights workshops. The study focused on community organizers' perceptions of: 1) organizing goals; 2) program effectiveness; and 3) identification of successes and challenges. This study was based upon open-ended interviews with six key informants who were organizers of 'Know Your Rights' or related community-based strategies addressing police misconduct. Because police brutality affected populations from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and marginalized racial and ethnic communities, research into community response to police brutality was relevant to social work practice. Insight from this study may help social workers understand macro practice in the area of community education and organizing around issues of police misconduct. Goals ranged from the more immediate benefits of education about rights to the broader goal of building empowered, organized communities against police and state violence.