Illegal Search and Seizure, Due Process, and the Rights of the Accused: The Voices of Power in the Rhetoric of Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker
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John Casey Gooch
Abstract
As a rhetorical analysis, this paper considers “voices of power” in the discourse of William H. (“Bill”) Parker, former police chief of Los Angeles from 1950 until 1966. Specifically, it tells the story of a conflict between powerful voices, with Chief Parker on one side of a debate over the rights of the accused and the United States Supreme Court on the other. Three case studies serve as the basis for illustrating the Chief’s rhetorical strategies. In 1954, Parker’s responded to the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in Irvine v. California in which he wrote a 1954 California Law Review piece titled “Surveillance by Wiretap or Dictograph, Threat or Protection?” and defended his police department against the Court’s criticisms that they had violated Patrick Irvine’s constitutional rights by using wiretapping technology for obtaining evidence. In addition, Parker’s arguments in “The Cahan Decision Made Life Easier for the Criminal” address the California State Supreme Court’s overturning of Charles Cahan’s conviction for illegal gambling on the grounds that police had indeed violated his constitutional rights. In his 1965 speech, “Crime and the Great Society,” Parker articulates his vision for a law-abiding society by characterizing the role of law enforcement and giving his perspective on the rights of the accused. The conclusion of the paper asks readers to consider the effects of these voices on society, especially when a powerful voice demands an audience embrace a particular outlook or vision.
©2015 by De Gruyter
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Focus
- Focus: Shakespeare and the Law
- Weak Kings and Perverted Symbolism. How Shakespeare Treats the Doctrine of the King’s Two Bodies
- Free Will and Folly in As You Like It
- Romeo and Juliet: The Importance of a Name
- Unreliable Sources for Law: Dying Declarations in Shakespeare’s King John, Othello & King Lear
- Disruptions and Negotiations of Identity in Act 1 of Shakespeare’s Othello
- Research
- Illegal Search and Seizure, Due Process, and the Rights of the Accused: The Voices of Power in the Rhetoric of Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker
- The Judge’s Voice: Literary and Legal Emblemata
- Power and the Trial: The Tension Between Voices and Silence
- Voice, Authority and the Law in Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang
- Silence, Power and Suicide in Michael Cunningham’s The Hours
- Celsus and Chatwin go Walkabout
- Representing the Unrepresentable: Making Law Anyway?
- Book Reviews
- Gary Watt: Dress, Law and Naked Truth. A Cultural Study of Fashion and Form
- José Calvo González: Direito curvo
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Focus
- Focus: Shakespeare and the Law
- Weak Kings and Perverted Symbolism. How Shakespeare Treats the Doctrine of the King’s Two Bodies
- Free Will and Folly in As You Like It
- Romeo and Juliet: The Importance of a Name
- Unreliable Sources for Law: Dying Declarations in Shakespeare’s King John, Othello & King Lear
- Disruptions and Negotiations of Identity in Act 1 of Shakespeare’s Othello
- Research
- Illegal Search and Seizure, Due Process, and the Rights of the Accused: The Voices of Power in the Rhetoric of Los Angeles Police Chief William H. Parker
- The Judge’s Voice: Literary and Legal Emblemata
- Power and the Trial: The Tension Between Voices and Silence
- Voice, Authority and the Law in Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang
- Silence, Power and Suicide in Michael Cunningham’s The Hours
- Celsus and Chatwin go Walkabout
- Representing the Unrepresentable: Making Law Anyway?
- Book Reviews
- Gary Watt: Dress, Law and Naked Truth. A Cultural Study of Fashion and Form
- José Calvo González: Direito curvo
