In your assigned reading, you see the author as
In your assigned reading, you see the author ask the question, "[s]hould Congress abolish qualified immunity for police officers?" The issue in this question is qualified immunity, and there are two perspectives on this issue presented.
The specific section I am referring to can be seen in the attachment called: Pro Con Qualified Immunity.pdf
For your discussion board assignment, please address one of the following topics from your reading:
– Should local governments reduce police funding?
– Would bans on aggressive police tactics reduce the use of deadly force?
– Should Congress make it easier for police officers to be held accountable in court?
Present both sides of the question you choose. The reader should not be able to tell how you personally feel from reading the response.
Instead, the reader should see an unbiased look at both sides of the chosen issue.
Please use your assigned reading and at least two outside, additional resources. Your resources must be cited using APA standards.
Your response should be no less than 500 words. Please make sure that your grammar, punctuation, and spelling reflect a college-level submission.
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Police Under Scrutiny October 9, 2020 – Volume 30, Issue 36 Can law enforcement restore public trust? By Christina L. Lyons
Pro/Con
Should Congress abolish qualified immunity for police officers?
Pro Jay R. Schweikert Policy Analyst, Cato Institute. Written for CQ Researcher, October 2020
The substance of constitutional rights is meaningless if state actors can violate those rights with impunity. Accountability must therefore be a top priority for anyone interested in criminal justice reform.
But accountability for public officials — especially members of law enforcement — has been severely undermined by a judicial doctrine called “qualified immunity,” which shields state actors from liability for their misconduct, even when they break the law.
One of our primary federal civil rights statutes — generally called Section 1983 after its place in the U.S. Code — says that any state actor who violates someone's constitutional rights “shall be liable” to the party injured. But under the doctrine of qualified immunity, the Supreme Court has held that such defendants cannot be sued unless they violated “clearly established law.”
In practice, this is an incredibly demanding standard, as it generally requires civil rights plaintiffs to show not just a clear legal rule, but also a prior case with functionally identical facts. In other words, it is entirely possible — and quite common — for courts to hold that government agents did violate someone's rights, but that the victim has no legal remedy, simply because that precise sort of misconduct had not occurred in past cases.
Qualified immunity thus routinely permits egregious unconstitutional misconduct to go unaddressed. That obviously hurts the victims of police misconduct, but it also hurts the law enforcement community by depriving officers of the public trust and confidence that is necessary to do their jobs safely and effectively.
When the judiciary routinely permits police officers to get away with unconscionable constitutional violations, members of the public can hardly be expected to have much trust or respect for officers in their community. And that diminished trust and respect makes the job of
Con Chris Balch Local Government Attorney, Balch Law Group. Written for CQ Researcher, October 2020
The Supreme Court created qualified immunity to do two things: to ensure that local government officials and police officers know that what they are doing violates the law, and to provide a defense that would not unnecessarily detract from the important work that public officials do. The importance or frivolity of the second policy basis for qualified immunity can be debated. The first reason should not be subject to debate under our Constitution.
It is a fundamental aspect of due process of law (the protection from any government taking one's property or liberty), enshrined in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, that people ought to know what they can and cannot do before they are held accountable for their actions. This is true everywhere in the law. The law does not lock people up if a statute was unclear about what the bad conduct was, nor do we impose money damages on wrongdoers if their conduct was not proscribed by clear rules.
Qualified immunity established the requirement of fair notice in the common law of civil rights litigation because it does not exist in the statute's text. The statute merely provides that individuals can receive damages if their rights are violated. What are those? Do they change over time? They certainly have, because, for instance, in the 1920s you could be arrested and jailed for having protested World War I, but in the 2020s our republic has embraced the concept of the marketplace of ideas championed by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in a 1919 dissent.
Where then are local officials, including police, to understand what they can do and cannot do? Qualified immunity ensures that public officials understand that what they are doing in the circumstances violates the law. Officials then have the opportunity to make a different decision, or if they proceed, the court can be confident that the choice was intentional and liability appropriate. In the words of the Supreme Court, qualified immunity protects “all
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policing far more difficult and dangerous, even for officers who strive to act in a lawful, professional manner.
For all the many complex problems this doctrine creates, the solution is quite simple — abolish qualified immunity. Congress could easily pass legislation clarifying that Section 1983 means what it says — that when a state actor violates someone's constitutional rights, they “shall be liable to the party injured.”
Ensuring real accountability is an indispensable component of meaningful policing reform, and there is no greater barrier to police accountability than qualified immunity. The time has come for Congress to abolish this pernicious doctrine.
but the plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law.”
For Congress to repeal qualified immunity would fundamentally alter the constitutional notice afforded to local officials. Those officials ought to be allowed and encouraged to understand, when they act, they could face liability for that decision. If they do not know what is allowed or disallowed, they cannot know whether their choice will cost them. Qualified immunity, therefore, furthers the important due process rights of public officials that would be lost if it were eliminated by Congress.
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Document APA Citation Lyons, C. L. (2020, October 9). Police under scrutiny. CQ researcher, 30, 1-60. http:// library.cqpress.com/
Document ID: cqresrre2020100906 Document URL: http://library.cqpress.com.db12.linccweb.org/cqresearcher/cqresrre2020100906
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HOME BROWSE TOPICS BROWSE REPORTS USING CQR LIBRARIAN ACCOUNT WHAT WE DO
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Police Under Scrutiny October 9, 2020 – Volume 30, Issue 36 Can law enforcement restore public trust? By Christina L. Lyons
Introduction
Police officers fatally shoot an average of nearly 1,000 people annually in the United States, and Blacks, Hispanics, the mentally ill and the poor are more likely to be stopped by police than whites. Increasingly, violent encounters with minorities are being captured on camera and igniting racial justice protests across the country. Many police unions and defense lawyers caution those viral images distort reality and say that the vast majority of officers behave ethically. Lawmakers, criminal justice experts and civil rights leaders disagree on whether laws should restrict police use of force, or if some law enforcement funding should be diverted to other community resources that could better handle citizens' disagreements or emergencies. Many Americans want police officers to be held more accountable — particularly in court — when they injure or kill a suspect. But officers and legal experts say officers must assess threats quickly in order to protect themselves and others, and courts should give them the benefit of the doubt.
Police watch after tear gas is fired into a crowd of Black Lives Matter demonstrators on May 31 in Santa Monica, Calif. The nation experienced a summer of protests over the killings of Black Americans by police. (Getty Images/Mario Tama)
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Overview
In Minneapolis, police reforms seemingly came fast.
Beginning in 2016, the city revised officer training; promoted Assistant Chief Medaria Arradondo to be the city's first Black police chief; held community meetings; toughened department policy on the use of body cameras; and took other steps to address allegations that officers targeted minority groups and used excessive force when making arrests.
“They were held up as a model of reform,” says David Muhammed, executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, a research group based in Oakland, Calif.
ISSUE TRACKER for Related Reports
Law Enforcement Oct. 09, 2020 Police Under Scrutiny Apr. 21, 2017 High-Tech Policing Sep. 16, 2016 Jailing Debtors Jun. 07, 2016 Crime and Police
Conduct Dec. 12, 2014 Police Tactics Apr. 06, 2012 Police Misconduct Oct. 14, 2011 Eyewitness
Testimony May 06, 2011 Business Ethics Mar. 17, 2000 Policing the Police Nov. 24, 1995 Police Corruption Sep. 06, 1991 Police Brutality Apr. 19, 1974 Police Innovation Sep. 02, 1966 Police Reforms Jan. 12, 1954 Federal Police
Activity Apr. 01, 1932 Proposed
Expansions of Federal Police Activity
BROWSE RELATED TOPICS:
Civil Rights and Civil Liberty Issues Civil Rights Movement Civil Rights: African Americans Congress Actions Conservatism and Liberalism Crime and Law Enforcement Domestic Issues Freedom of Speech and Press General Social Trends Hate Groups Internet and Social Media Party Politics Protest Movements Race and Hate Crimes
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