Police Use of Force: Constitutional Law and the Criminal Justice System
The use of force is a critical subject in the United States. Law enforcement agencies have taken a severe blow to their reputation due to such encounters. Strict policies for such actions allow them to be applied only in cases where civilians’ or officers’ lives are immediately threatened by a criminal, and all other options for conflict mitigation are exhausted (National Institute of Justice, 2020). There are numerous prominent cases where the use of force is perceived as a critical problem. For example, Jacob Blake was shot by an officer who considered him non-compliant and armed with a knife, while Breonna Taylor was fatally shot after calling the police to investigate her house (Mullinix et al., 2020). These incidents reveal how the use of force causes the public to perceive law enforcement in a negative light and causes a disconnection between the government and its people.
In the U.S. justice system, there are two types of courts that review and judge cases based on the nature of a crime. Civil cases differ significantly from criminal ones in many aspects, such as the way of determining an offender’s guilt, the role and decision-making powers of a victim, and the possible outcomes (Harr et al., 2017). For example, civil liabilities regularly consist of damages, either physical or emotional, that are sought to be reimbursed by a victim, who must prove them and state the method of compensation. In turn, criminal liability involves punishment for law violation by the government itself and requires definite proof of wrongdoing (Harr et al., 2017). In conclusion, these two notions can be brought to court simultaneously, yet they are dealt with separately through different systems.
References
Harr, J. S., Hess, K. M., Orthmann, C. H., & Kingsbury, J. (2017). Constitutional law and the criminal justice system (7th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Mullinix, K. J., Bolsen, T., & Norris, R. J. (2020). The feedback effects of controversial police use of force. Political Behavior, 43(2), 881–898. Web.
National Institute of Justice. (2020). Overview of police use of force. Web.