other citizens in several high-profile protests in New
York City and Washington, D.C., against police bru-
tality. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani created a task force to
investigate the brutality allegations and promised to
review recommendations from an Amnesty Interna-
tional report in June, 1996, that highlighted accusa-
tions of police brutality and excessive force in the
NYPD. The resistance of police personnel to the in-
vestigation itself and the allegations of a cover-up
prompted many recommendations for reform in
NYPD procedures and supervisory structures. This
included a proposal by Richard Emery, a prominent
civil rights lawyer, that police station houses be
equipped with video cameras to record all proceed-
ings, including interrogations.
Further Reading
Alfieri, Alfred V. “Prosecuting Race.”Duke Law Jour-
nal48, no. 6 (1999): 1157-1264.
Kleinig, John. “Civil Rights and Civil Liberties: Vid-
eotaping the Police.”Criminal Justice Ethics17,
no. 1 (1998): 42-49.
Eric W. Metchik
See also Diallo shooting; Giuliani, Rudolph; Hate
crimes; King, Rodney; Police brutality.
Love, Courtney
Identification Rock musician, actor, and wife of
Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain
Born July 9, 1964; San Francisco, California
During the 1990’s, Love achieved notoriety as a rock musi-
cian. Much of her success as a musician, however, was over-
shadowed by her lifestyle and her status as the wife, and
later widow, of Cobain.
Courtney Love spent much of her childhood living
in communes with her mother. As a teenager, she de-
veloped an appreciation for punk rock music and, in
1989, formed the band Hole in Los Angeles. Shortly
after forming her band, Love met her future hus-
band, Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, at a club in
Portland, Oregon. The two began a courtship that
would last the next couple of years. During this time,
Hole’s first album,Pretty on the Inside, was released in
1991 to favorable reviews by many underground mu-
sic critics. Love and Cobain made their relationship
official with a wedding on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii, on
February 24, 1992. Less than six months later, on Au-
gust 18, Love gave birth to the couple’s daughter,
Frances Bean Cobain.
Prior to the birth of their daughter, Love and
Cobain already had reputations as partying, drug-
using rock stars, identities they did little to discour-
age. However, Love’s negative public image in-
creased as a result of a 1992 article inVanity Fairthat
revealed that Love had used heroin during her preg-
nancy. Over the next several years, Love and Cobain
struggled with parenthood, superstardom, and drug
addiction, all under the watchful and ever-present
eye of the mainstream media. As a result of his inabil-
ity to deal with many of his problems, Cobain com-
mitted suicide on April 5, 1994. Shortly after his
body was found, Love read Cobain’s suicide note to
fans at a memorial service in Seattle.
Love’s musical career would continue despite
Cobain’s death. Only four days after Cobain’s body
was discovered, Hole’s breakthrough second album,
Live Through This, was released. The album was such
a commercial and critical success thatRolling Stone532 Love, Courtney The Nineties in America
Courtney Love performs with her alternative rock band, Hole, at
the MTV Video Music Awards in September, 1998.(AP/Wide
World Photos)