Undue Process : Taking the Law Out of Law Enforcement

Undue Process: Taking the Law Out of Law Enforcement raises the reader's awareness of an important constitutional issue that has yet to receive significant attention despite its impact on contemporary life, law, and society. The book analyzes how the vast expansion of private security has undermined citizens’ constitutional rights to due process and equal protection. 

Most analyses of the expansion of private security have focused on the way this type of security encroaches on the right to privacy. Undue Process moves beyond this question to examine the way in which privatized law enforcement has begun to erode America's historic commitment to equality under the law. 

The opening chapters of the text explain the world of private security and examine how it has rapidly expanded due to budget-conscious limits on police capacity. Additional chapters explore the public-private hybrid form of law enforcement that has emerged in America as a result, along with specific constitutional issues raised by netlaw, private prisons, and the activities of bounty hunters. 

Undue Process is well-suited to political science and government courses and classes on criminal justice, constitutional law, and police procedures.

Michael Norris earned his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Nevada, Reno and now teaches college-level political science courses in Texas. In addition, Dr. Norris is an award-winning investigative journalist and editor. He has written numerous articles on wide-ranging topics, including the relationship between the media and the courts, and is the author of Reinventing the Administrative State from University Press of America.