A City Divided: Race, Fear and the Law in Police Confrontations

When a high school honors student emerges from a police confrontation outside his home bruised and beaten, and facing serious criminal charges, an American city erupts in protests. A long quest for justice begins. "A City Divided" uncovers what happened and examines if race, fear and police conduct answer key questions that have become all too familiar. What goes wrong in these police confrontations and why? Can the courts find justice? And how can we prevent these tragedies in the future?

A City Divided tells the story of the case involving 18-year-old Jordan Miles and three Pittsburgh police officers. David Harris, a resident of Pittsburgh and the Sally Ann Semenko Chair at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, describes what happened, explaining how a case that began with a young black man walking around the block in his own neighborhood turned Pittsburgh inside out, resulted in two investigations of the police officers and two federal trials. Harris, who has written, published and conducted research at the intersection of race, criminal justice and the law for almost thirty years, explains not just what happened but why, what the stakes are and, most importantly, what we must do differently to avoid these public safety catastrophes.