Related Guides
Find Films
- Academic Video Online This link opens in a new window Academic Video Online delivers more than 67,000 titles spanning a range of subject areas including anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and more. It includes documentaries, films, demonstrations, and other content types. Films in the Boston University Libraries catalog are licensed to Boston University for educational and research use only, for BU students, faculty, and staff.
- BU Libraries Search (BULS) This link opens in a new window BU Libraries Search provides a single place to search for a wide variety of academic material provided by the library. The material covered by the search includes books, journals, scores, video and audio recordings, and other physical items held by the library. The search also covers ebooks and ejournals owned by the library, as well as online material provided by the library from a variety of sources.
- Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy Video Library Welcome to the CEBCP Video Library, which houses all of our videos throughout our website in one convenient location. This free video library, most of which is also available on our You Tube Channel serves our community as a free information and training resource
Featured Films
- Life Under Suspicion (streaming, Academic Video Online) The NYPD stopped and frisked nearly 700,000 peple from 2011 in an effort to remove guns from the street. Critics point to the policy's fundamental failure since a gun was recovered in less than 1 percent of the cases. But a generation of black and Hispanic males -- who constitute 90 percent of those stopped -- is being criminalized and dehumanized as a result.
- Computers V. Crime (streaming, Academic Video Online)In police departments and courts across the country, artificial intelligence is being used to help decide who is policed, who gets bail, how offenders should be sentenced, and who gets parole. But is it actually making our law enforcement and court systems fairer and more just? This timely investigation digs into the hidden biases, privacy risks, and design flaws of this controversial technology.
- Police on Trial (streaming, Academic Video Online) Investigating the Minneapolis police in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. With Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters from the Star Tribune--from the killing and protests to the trial of Derek Chauvin to the struggle for accountability.
- Independent lens. Charm City (streaming, Academic Video Online) CHARM CITY delivers a candid portrait of citizens, police, community advocates, and government officials on the frontlines during three years of unparalleled, escalating violence in Baltimore. The film highlights the positive actions undertaken by groups and individuals, who come together to rebuild, heal, and forge a better way forward.
- PBS NewsHour. Two views on the future of American policing (streaming, Academic Video Online) As we have seen in Minneapolis, whose city council says it will defund the police, the move to reform law enforcement is gaining steam. Some activists want to abolish police departments entirely, while others aim to reallocate some of their funding to other services. Judy Woodruff talks to Charlene Carruthers of the Movement for Black Lives and Chuck Wexler of the Police Executive Research Forum.
- Do Not Resist (streaming, Academic Video Online) DO NOT RESIST is an urgent and powerful exploration of the rapid militarization of the police in the United States.
- The Talk : Race in America (streaming, Academic Video Online) The Talk - Race in America is a two-hour film about "the talk" that parents have with their children of color (primarily boys) to teach them how to act around the police in order to remain safe.
- Seized By The Law (streaming, Academic Video Online) See how new drug seizure laws are being indiscriminately applied by unscrupulous police. Can a police officer stop your car without suspicion, confiscate your possessions, and sell them? He can if he's implementing new drug seizure laws. See how highway cops are turning a profit by abusing a law that was meant to protect ordinary citizens from the illegal drug trade.
- America after Ferguson (streaming, Academic Video Online) his PBS town hall meeting, moderated by PBS NEWSHOUR co-anchor and managing editor Gwen Ifill, explores events following Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri. The program, recorded before an audience on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, will include national leaders and prominent thinkers in the areas of law enforcement, race and civil rights, as well as government officials, faith leaders and youth.
- In Search of Justice (streaming, Academic Video Online) In Westchester County, New York three unarmed black men were shot and killed by the police between 2008 and 2012. This is the story of one of those killings, and of the fight for justice for all the victims who came before and all who have come after.
- Ken Burns: The Central Park Five (streaming via Kanopy) Tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park in 1989. This Peabody Award winning film chronicles the Central Park Jogger case, for the first time from the perspective of the five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice.
- A Death in St. Augustine (streaming, Academic Video Online) What can happen when the police face the possibility of domestic violence in their own ranks? On the night she broke up with her Florida deputy sheriff boyfriend, Michelle O'Connell was found dead from a gunshot in the mouth. Next to her was her boyfriend's semi-automatic service pistol. The sheriff's office called it suicide, but was it?
- P.S. I Can't Breathe (streaming, Kanopy) On December 13th 2014, tens of thousands of New Yorkers took to the streets to call attention to the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of the police and to urge lawmakers to take action. P.S. I Can't Breathe Documentary is a raw, uncensored glimpse into the Millions March NYC AFTER a NYC grand jury deliberated to not indict the officer who killed Eric Garner by placing him in a choke hold.
- Peace officer (streaming, Academic Video Online) SF State M.F.A. Alums Scott Christpherson (Co-Director) and Reny McCauley (Editor) visit the School of Cinema and share their film Peace Officer with a public screening. Co-Director, Brad Barber retired LAPD Station Commander John Mutz and Activist Barbara Attard joined them for a discussion led by School of Cinema Chair Britta Sjogren. The hour long discussion explored issues of police tactics in a modern age, and the consequences police militarization.
- Frontline: Law & Disorder (dvd) A story of law enforcement in crisis, even out of control, Law & Disorder investigates charges that New Orleans Police Department officers inappropriately used lethal force against citizens and then tried to cover up their actions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. FRONTLINE takes a fresh look at how the NOPD performed when the rules of civilized society collapsed.
Featured Podcasts
- The Air We Breathe: Implicit Bias And Police Shootings (Hidden Brain) Nearly three weeks have passed since George Floyd, a black man, was killed by police in Minneapolis. Since then, people across the United States, and the world, have taken to the streets to protest and mourn his death. These protests have accelerated a global conversation on the issue of racism and police brutality — especially in communities of color.
- NPR Throughline: American Police This week, the origins of American policing and how those origins put violent control of Black Americans at the heart of the system.
- Chokehold: Policing Black Men (Enoch Pratt Free Library) Cops, politicians, and ordinary people are afraid of black men. The result is the Chokehold: laws and practicees that treat every African American man like a thug. In his new book, former federal prosecutor Paul Butler shows that the system is working exactly the way it's supposed to. Black men are always under watch, and police violence is widespread -- all with the support of judges and politicians.
- Racial Differences in Arrests (Enoch Pratt Free Library) Join us for a conversation with two leading experts on race and community-police partnerships. Baltimore's own Lieutenant Colonel Melvin Russell and national scholar Dr. Phillip Goff will address some provocative issues: What are the underlying causes of racial differences in arrests?
- The Arch & Anth Podcast: How can we problematize white supremacy, mass incarceration and police violence? In this episode, Dr. Orisanmi Burton (American University) calls in from Washington, D.C. to share his view on the Black Lives Matter movement this week, speaking as a social anthropologist who examines state repression, grassroots organization and the Black radical demands generated within U.S. prisons that imagine alternative futures.
- The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America's Law Enforcement (Enoch Pratt Free Library) Using gut-wrenching reportage, on-the-ground research, and personal accounts garnered from interviews with over 100 police and government officials around the country, Horace presents an insider's examination of police tactics, which he concludes is an "archaic system" built on a "toxic brotherhood" in The Black and the Blue: A Cop Reveals the Crimes, Racism, and Injustice in America's Law Enforcement.
- They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement (Enoch Pratt Free Library) From the moment he was arrested for trespassing at a McDonald's in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 13, 2014, Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery found himself in a unique position from which to cover police brutality in America and the burgeoning Black Lives Matter movement. In They Can't Kill Us All, Lowery goes behind the barricades of #blacklivesmatter -- telling the story of the young men and women who are calling for a new America.
- Brooklyn Borough President On Fighting Police Brutality From The Inside At 15, Eric Adams was beaten by police. He later joined the force and worked to reform NYC policing by co-founding 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. He retired from the force after 22 years.
- The Appeal: Justice in America Justice In America is hosted by Josie Duffy Rice, president of The Appeal, along with guest hosts Darnell Moore, Donovan X. Ramsey, Derecka Purnell, and Zak Cheney Rice. Each episode explains a new criminal justice issue and features conversations with experts and advocates.
- The Frontline Dispatch: Race, Police & the Pandemic (podcast) As streets across America erupt into clashes over racism during the coronavirus pandemic, Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker examines a connection between George Floyd’s death and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 deaths among African Americans: “the thing that ties them together is empirical evidence of a phenomenon that had been dismissed otherwise.”
- Over policed and under protected: Policing in America (Rear Vision, ABC Radio National) The recent killings of two African American men at the hands of white police has raised questions about policing across the United States. Were these the actions of a few rogue officers or something more sinister? The story of slavery, race and policing in the United States of America
- The Past, Present, and Future of Policing (Criminal InJustice) ince the murder of George Floyd, hundreds of protests against police misconduct have occurred across the country. People are demanding real change, right now. But let’s step back, and take the long view: has American policing improved? Even if the answer is yes, what more must police do to give all Americans the policing they deserve, equally, fairly, and free or racial bias?
- How Cities Pay for Police Brutality (Criminal InJustice) With incidents of serious injuries and deaths at the hands of police, cities face the costs of settlements and jury verdicts. Some of these cases mean millions of dollars paid. How do cities pay for this? What does it mean to city budgets? And how is it that someone is making money off of this?
- Dig In the first season of Dig, a new podcast from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, we bring you the results of a yearlong look at how rape cases are investigated in Louisville. What we've learned: here, the police defer to prosecutors on rape cases — and prosecutors reject the vast majority of cases presented to them. Due to this unusual relationship, most people accused of rape here will never face consequences. Most won't be arrested or convicted.
- Headlong: Running from COPS Dan Taberski and the team behind Missing Richard Simmons investigate COPS — the longest running reality show in TV history — and its cultural impact on policing in America.
- Reducing Crime A monthly podcast featuring interviews with influential thinkers in the police service and leading crime and policing researchers working to advance public safety. Host: Professor Jerry Ratcliffe.
- Broken Doors (Washington Post) With a typical search warrant, police are supposed to knock and announce themselves. But with no-knock warrants, police can force their way into people’s homes without warning. This six-part investigative podcast from The Washington Post sheds light on how easy it is to plan, obtain and execute no-knock warrants — one of the most intrusive and dangerous police tactics. We explore the consequences when these warrants become the rule, rather than the
