March 31, 2015

Lecture will focus on police use of force

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Alicia Hilton, a law professor, actress and former FBI special agent, will discuss police use of force later this week at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. 

Hilton will present “Preventing Police Misconduct: The Dirty Harry Syndrome,” at 2 p.m., Thursday, April 2, in the SIU School of Law Hiram H. Lesar Building courtroom. The event is free, and is open to the public. Lucian Dervan, associate professor of law, will provide follow-up commentary. There will also be a Q-and-A session after the presentation. 

The law school’s Federalist Society, a registered student organization, is sponsoring the event. John R. Christeson, a third-year law school student and organization president, anticipates Hilton will several address issues during her discussion -- including different types of police misconduct and the motivations behind those actions; how one incident can involve multiple types of misconduct, and case law relating to use of force. 

Hilton earned her law and master’s degree with a focus on creative writing and art history from the University of Chicago, and bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to taking time off to write a novel and work as an actress, Hilton was a visiting scholar at the Chicago-Kent College of Law and a visiting professor at the DePaul University College of Law. Her credits include working as a detective in the NBC series, “Chicago PD,” and as a police officer in the 2015 film, “Kill Game.”