Policing Practices and HIV Risk Among People Who Inject Drugs - A Systematic Literature Review

Constitutional rights pivot on problems of proof. But traditional academic distinctions between “procedural” rules of evidence and “substantive” questions of constitutional law impede our understanding of how law works. In particular, how law works to identify, constrain, and remedy police abuse of constitutional rights. Treating rights and remedies as abstract concepts ignores the fact that the exclusionary rule functions as a rule of evidence. In theory, remedies are the life force of rights. In practice, constitutional violations are currently remediable only if a defendant can prove that he suffered intentional police abuse or prove that a police officer knew but ignored constitutional constraints. The problem of proving that police officers act with demonstrably culpable intent is also at the core of the Black Lives Matter cases. The growing number of acquittals and grand jury non-indictments following the police-custody and police-seizure deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, and other victims of police violence reveals that judges and juries refuse to believe that police officers are culpable lawbreakers. Preventing and resolving these cases may be further complicated by a “Ferguson Effect,” causing public distrust of police and police fear and disinterest especially in minority urban communities. The long-term implications of these new developments on national and local strategies for policing the police are manifold and uncertain. The short-term lessons are clear and should be obvious. Over the past decade, the Roberts Court has expanded police authority and reduced Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable police abuse by repeatedly refusing to recognize police aggression as remediable. In each new case, most recently in Utah v. Strieff, the defendant seeking to suppress even obviously illegally-seized evidence faces the insurmountable burden of proving the police officers acted intentionally, recklessly, or with gross negligence under the Roberts Court’s increasingly stringent “flagrant police abuse standard.” The flagrant police abuse suppression standard hypothesizes the possibility that the average criminal defendant could gather proof sufficient to convince a judge that a police officer acted: (1) illegally and (2) with the necessary mentally culpability. But each new Fourth Amendment decision from the Court ignores the reality repeatedly uncovered in the Black Lives Matter cases. If, as the Black Lives Matter cases prove, prosecutors’ offices with their resources, access, and institutional police connections cannot prove that officers break the law, what hope is there for the average criminal defendant? The exclusionary rule celebrated its centenary just three years ago. But Strieff is the latest example of the Court’s dangerous new Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that incentivizes aggressive policing (including suspicion-less police seizures), ignores obvious obstacles to defense proof of police wrongdoing, and invites prosecutors to feast on the illegal fruit of police abuse of fundamental rights.

Police legitimacy is crucial to the maintenance of law and order in any society. In communities marred by high instances of societal manifestations of dysfunction, tenuous legislative frameworks, poradic implementation, and dismantling of crime fighting strategies, there is greater emphasis placed on quick-fix crime fighting solutions and policing initiatives. The focus is placed primarily on what police officers are mandated to do as opposed to practical applications underscored by systematic hindrances to professional practice. Examining interview data from a pilot study on police fear of crime in Trinidad and Tobago, this study is intended to explore connections between police perceptions about personal powerlessness and the exercise of state power. Here we examine the discourses of N = 12 senior police officers with an average of 22.83 years of service to attain a preliminary understanding of instances presenting a conflict between professional practice and perceptions of self-preservation. The findings suggest a need for officers’ constant consideration of the repercussions of professional competence and the need for continued navigation of blurred constructions of police legitimacy and subjective determinants of criminality against a backdrop of acknowledged personal powerlessness.

Examining Fear: A Comparison of Blacks’ Fear of Police in the U.S. Compared to Fear of Police Abroad James R. Jones, Ph.D. Abstract In the United States, citizens of African Descent are more likely to have deadly force used against them by police than other ethnicities. As a result of the aforementioned, as well as perceived unfair policing practices towards Black citizens, previous research suggests that Blacks in the United States are not receptive to the police. The purpose of this research was to examine the comparison of the feeling of safety of people of African Descent when encountering police in the United States, compared to when encountering police in other countries. The research consisted of 414 participants. A closed ended survey was provided to answer the research question ―Do you feel safer when coming in contact with law enforcement in the United States or law enforcement in other countries‖. A multinomial logistic regression was conducted to determine the extent to which fear was related to the outcome measured. For brevity purposes, the terms Black, people of African Descent, andpeople who are of the African Diaspora will be used to identify and refer to all Black people residing in the United States and other countries. The term African American will be used to identify blacks with citizenship in the United States. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jlcj.v5n2a5

Aims: To understand how perceived law enforcement policies and practices contribute to the low rates of utilisation of opioid agonist therapies (OAT) like methadone and buprenorphine among people who inject drugs (PWIDs) in Ukraine. Methods: Qualitative data from 25 focus groups (FGs) with 199 opioid-dependent PWIDs in Ukraine examined domains related to lived or learned experiences with OAT, police, arrest, incarceration and criminal activity and were analysed using grounded theory principles. Findings: Most participants were male (66%), in their late 30s, and previously incarcerated (85%), mainly for drug-related activities. When imprisoned, PWIDs perceived themselves as being “addiction-free”. After prison-release, the confluence of police surveillance and societal stress contributed to participants’ drug use relapse, perpetuating a cycle of searching for money and drugs, followed by re-arrest and re-incarceration. Fear of police and arrest both facilitated OAT entry and simultaneously contributed to avoiding OAT since system-level requirements identified OAT clients as targets for police harassment. OAT represents an evidence-based option to “break the cycle”; however, law enforcement practices still thwart OAT capacity to improve individual and public health. Conclusion: In the absence of structural changes in law enforcement policies and practices in Ukraine, PWIDs will continue to avoid OAT and perpetuate the addiction cycle with high imprisonment rates.

ABSTRACTUsing data from a survey of 2004 Latinos in four urban counties in the USA, this paper considers a question that has not been systematically investigated: how has increasing police involvement in immigration enforcement impacted the perceptions of the police that are held by immigrant and non-immigrant Latinos? Survey results indicate that many Latinos report fear of police, contributing to their social isolation and exacerbating their mistrust of law enforcement authorities. A substantial portion of Latino respondents report that they would be less likely to voluntarily contact the police if they are the victim of a crime, or to provide information about a crime, because they fear that police would use this contact as an opportunity to investigate their immigration status or that of their friends and family members. We use regression analysis to further analyse the determinants of these responses. Our findings suggest that negative encounters with police involving questions of immigration status and perceived unfair treatment, as well as vulnerabilities due to immigration and documentation status, contribute to social isolation and hesitancy to report crimes to police. These findings have implications for cooperation between police and Latino communities, particularly since local authorities have been enrolled in immigration enforcement.

This study examines the high levels of public unwillingness to assist police in criminal investigations in Russia. Variables of public trust of police, fear of crime, victimization, and prior contact with police are used to explain this phenomenon. Also included in the study are variables of police fear and avoidance of police. The findings suggest that higher levels of distrust in, as well as fear and avoidance of police are strong predictors of citizens’ unwillingness to assist police in Russia. The paper discusses potential implications of these findings for the 2011 police reform in Russia.

Negotiating access: Social barriers to purchasing syringes at pharmacies in Tijuana, Mexico

Background:Undocumented migrants may find themselves to be extraordinary vulnerable to health problems because of political, economic and social marginalization, language barriers and cultural constraints, fear of police and migration authorities, lack of psychological and social support, losses and discrimination. However our knowledge both nationally and internationally is limited.Aim:The purpose is to gather insight in undocumented migrants' state of health, their need of health care and significant gaps in existing knowledge.Method:A systematic literature review in the databases Cinahl, Medline, PubMed and SveMed.Results:There is a huge protection gap between undocumented migrants' need of health care and access to health care. Restricted access may also be one major factor to the existing gaps in knowledge. Public health, reproductive health and their living difficulties as undocumented migrants have to some extent been studied so far. Less is known of mental health, chronic illness and state of health to the children as well as to elderly people.Conclusion:There is a need to strengthen the efforts to make the ordinary system of health care work to including undocumented migrants, to protect charity — based health — centres, and to increase research and development to contribute to undocumented migrants' access to adequate health care.

Ukraine has one of the most severe HIV/AIDS epidemics in Europe, with an estimated 1.63% of the population living with HIV/AIDS in 2007. Injection drug use (IDU) remains the predominant mode of transmission in Kiev – the capital and largest city. Prior reports suggest that the HIV infection rate among IDUs in Kiev reaches 33%, and many have poor and inequitable access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Among those with access to HAART, little is understood about barriers and facilitators to HAART medication adherence. In May 2009, two semi-structured focus groups were conducted with HIV-infected IDUs seeking treatment at the City AIDS Center, Kiev. The goal was to use this information to adapt and tailor, to Ukrainian culture, an evidence-based intervention for improving adherence to HAART. All 16 participants attributed HIV infection to IDU. Their average age was 31.6 (SD=7.0), average time with HIV 5.7 years (SD=4.0), average time on HAART 2.5 years (SD=1.7), average time as IDU 14.6 years (SD=6.8), and 88% were on opioid substitution therapy. The most salient themes related to adherence barriers included: (1) harassment and discrimination by police; (2) opioid dependence; (3) complexity of drug regimen; (4) side effects; (5) forgetting; (6) co-occurring mental health problems; and (7) HIV stigma. Facilitators of adherence included: (1) cues for pill taking; (2) support and reminders from family, significant other, and friends; (3) opioid substitution therapy; and (4) wanting improved health. Additional factors explored included: (1) knowledge about HAART; (2) storage of medications; and (3) IDU and sexual risk behaviors. Findings highlighted structural and individual barriers to adherence. At the structural level, police discrimination and harassment was reported to be a major barrier to adherence to opioid substitution therapy and HAART. Privacy and stigma were barriers at the individual level. Recommendations for adherence interventions included education, training, and identification cards to show police that medication was for treatment of HIV, not for abuse; and involving family members and other systems of support for HIV treatment.

Despite increased emphasis on improving equity in health among all populations, there is growing consensus in the literature that cross‐border migrants often fail to use health services in host countries. Cross‐border migrants are a sub‐group whose health status and risks have not been widely researched, and who are systematically marginalised in the health care system in any country. This study used purposive sampling and snowballing to gather data from 137 cross‐border migrants from Zimbabwe. The biggest barriers to health care for cross‐border migrants were cost, negative attitudes of medical staff, fear of police or immigration, language and wanting a different doctor. The study has serious implications for public health, in terms of access to health care by non‐citizens, help‐seeking behaviours, cost of care and multicultural practice. Prevention/treatment and care intervention and education programmes in Botswana could also target migrants by acknowledging that they have a right to health.

Detection of ingested cocaine-filled packets—Diagnostic value of unenhanced CT

Angry protests in Busan, South Korea during an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference there in November have alarmed Hong Kong police preparing for a mid-December World Trade Organization ministerial conference. Hong Kong police fear that the some of the groups who showed up to protest APEC may also bring strident street protests to Hong Kong. This article examines some of the trajectories of protest apparent at the APEC events by looking more closely at the national and international dynamics of Korean activism, revealing growing coordination between workers, farmers and anti-war activists, and the implications for the Hong Kong meeting.

‘Risk’ is central to recent sociological studies of health and related behaviour, particularly in discourses about HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C (HCV). While epidemiological survey predominates over qualitative investigation in HCV risk reduction, it is necessary to move beyond individual‐level characteristics to gain a fuller understanding of the social context of risk. This paper investigates the context of HCV‐related risk behaviour among injecting drug users (IDUs) and discusses the behavioural and social determinants of risk practices. Data from 336 IDUs completing a self‐administered questionnaire were analysed. The data show that needle‐sharing practices are often integral to long‐standing relationships, particularly sexual ones. The level of drug dependency, trust relationships between partners and misconceptions about HCV transmission have been demonstrated to be associated with risk behaviour. Logistic factors, such as poor access to injecting equipment, limited hours of operation, and fear of police were given as barriers to safer injecting. Given the progression of the HCV epidemic, prevention campaigns should aim at risk reduction rather than risk elimination.

Assessment of young injectors' exposure and response to others' heroin-related overdose. Cross-sectional survey. San Francisco, CA, United States. Nine hundred and seventy-three street-recruited current injectors under 30 years old. Self-reported experiences of witnessing heroin-related overdoses from structured interviews. Seven hundred and nine of 973 (73%) had ever witnessed at least one heroin-related overdose, and 491 of 973 (50%) had witnessed an overdose in the last 12 months. Fourteen per cent of those who had witnessed an overdose in the past year reported that the outcome of the overdose was death. Emergency services were called to 52% of most recent witnessed overdoses. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or expired air resuscitation (EAR or 'rescue breathing') was performed in 61% of cases. Inappropriate strategies such as injection with stimulants or application of ice were rare. In 67% of cases in which emergency services were not called the witness said this was because the victim regained consciousness. In the remaining 33%, 56% stated emergency services were not called due to fear of the police. Respondents were willing to act at overdoses at which they were present, but frequently did not do so in the most efficacious manner. Fear of police was identified as the most significant barrier to the ideal first response of calling emergency services.

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the recent historical conjuncture of two regimes of violence in the lives of Korowai of West Papua: the endogenous violence of witches and witch execution, and the exogenous violence of Indonesian police. I argue that Korowai speakers' witchcraft beliefs and former practices of witch execution followed a culturally distinctive logic of shock and redemptive transaction, according to which violence could be generative of more positive qualities of relationship. By contrast, Indonesian police appear to Korowai as a qualitatively new kind of violent agent, with whom it is impossible to transact in any direct, potentially redemptive manner. In this situation, fear of police is the main reason Korowai say they have stopped executing witches. I also argue, however, that police violence appears to have had an additive local life beyond the scope of direct police involvement in local affairs. Reports, threats, figurative evocations, and emulative enactments of police violence are all now actively taken up by Korowai in their own projects of making a social world. Korowai reception of police violence has been profoundly mediated and shaped by local sociocultural principles. In this respect, the current intercultural dialogue of and about violence is one in which local and state agency have been complexly co‐constitutive.