Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Discipline
- Publication
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
When Is Police Violence Justified?, Rachel A. Harmon
When Is Police Violence Justified?, Rachel A. Harmon
Rachel A. Harmon
The Supreme Court’s Fourth Amendment doctrine regulating police violence, including its recent decision in Scott v. Harris, is unprincipled and indeterminate. The common law of justification defenses, by contrast, pro-vides a well-established legal structure for determining when one person may justly use force against another. In this Article, I argue that this struc-ture should be imported and adapted to the constitutional doctrine govern-ing police uses of force. Following the structure of justification defenses, I contend first that police uses of force can be constitutionally justified only if they are in pursuit of legitimate state interests. In particular, police uses of …
Wrongly Accused Redux: How Race Contributes To Convicting The Innocent: The Informants Example, Andrew E. Taslitz
Wrongly Accused Redux: How Race Contributes To Convicting The Innocent: The Informants Example, Andrew E. Taslitz
Andrew E. Taslitz
This article analyzes five forces that may raise the risk of convicting the innocent based upon the suspect's race: the selection, ratchet, procedural justice, bystanders, and aggressive-suspicion effects. In other words, subconscious forces press police to focus more attention on racial minorites, the ratchet makes this focus every-increasing, the resulting sense by the community of unfair treatment raises its involvment in crime while lowering its willingness to aid the police in resisting crime, innocent persons suffer when their skin color becomes associated with criminality, and the police use more aggressive techniques on racial minorities in a way that raises the …