New York University professor Jerome H. Skolnick, considered one of America's foremost experts on police misconduct, was born in Brooklyn in 1931. Skolnick became a professor of criminology at the Berkeley campus of the University of California system in 1970. In 1972, he was made chair of the Center for the Study of Law and Society at the university. His books include Politics of Protest (1969), Police in America (1975), and House of Cards: Legalization and Control of Casino Gambling. He served as president of the American Society of Criminology and taught a seminar at New York University on the special challenges of police in a democratic society.

Skolnick wrote extensively on the close-knit police culture and what was known as "the blue wall of silence." Since law enforcement is such a dangerous profession, its personnel must rely heavily on one another in situations of extreme tension; such insular relationships foster a camaraderie...