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Civil rights

2005

St. Mary's University

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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Ku Klux Klan Act And The Civil Rights Revolution: How Civil Rights Litigation Came To Regulate Police And Correctional Officer Misconduct., Alan W. Clarke Mar 2005

The Ku Klux Klan Act And The Civil Rights Revolution: How Civil Rights Litigation Came To Regulate Police And Correctional Officer Misconduct., Alan W. Clarke

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Modern civil rights litigation stems from the Ku Klux Klan Act, otherwise known as the Civil Rights Act of 1871. Congress codified this Act in the United States Code under Section 1983 of Title 42. No other law is more central to present day police and correctional officer accountability. The Civil Rights statute effectuates broad constitutional protections set in place in the aftermath of the Civil War. Congress designed this Act to change over time and intertwine with a continuing history of expanding rights. Section 1983 provides a remedy to any person who experienced another person, acting under the color …