This chapter focuses on Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, and Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. The chapter describes how these two pieces of legislation operate and affect criminal justice agencies. The issue of police misconduct and prisoner abuse is clearly a matter of social policy and legislation requiring assessment. These laws have had a significant impact on the criminal justice system and represent a major federal government intervention into the operations of criminal justice agencies. Legislation affects policy, and administrators and officers should be aware of the mechanics of these two statutes and address changes in their agency's operations as appropriate.