Dirty Harry Problem ((From Police and Society: Touchstone Readings, P 329-346, 1995, Victor E. Kappeler, ed. - See NCJ- 151401)

• NCJ Number: 151418
• Author(s): C B Klockars
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: The Annals, 452 (November 1980): 33-47. Reprinted with permission of The American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Annotation

This article describes what the author terms the "Dirty Harry Problem" in policing, that is, to what extent does the morally good end warrant or justify an ethically, politically, or legally dangerous means to its achievement.

Abstract

In trying to examine this problem, the author translates some familiar police practices, including street stops, searches, and victim and witness interrogation, into Dirty Harry problems. To explain why social scientists have largely avoided or neglected the phenomenon, the author analyzes three failed police solutions. These he terms "snappy bureaucrats," "Bittner's peace," and "Skolnick's craftsmen." He concludes that punishing policemen who resort to dirty means to achieve some unquestionably good and morally justifiable end creates another type of Dirty Harry Problem for policy makers and for society at large. 13 notes