Topic
Excessive force
192 published works
MS Litigation Review & Commentary
Cops: Too Many Tackleberrys, Not Enough Hightowers
It seems like every few weeks there is a report of another ridiculous cop shooting. Last week the news was Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke killing seventeen year old…
ImmigrationProf Blog
DOJ: No Charges in Border Patrol Tasing Resulting in Death
The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Department of Justice will not bring criminal charges in the death of a man from Mexico who was shocked by U.S. border authorities…
Education Law Prof Blog
Alabama Court Finds Police Officers’ Failure to Adequately Decontaminate Students from Pepper Spray Effects and Use of Spray on Nonviolent Students Unconstitutional
The Northern District of Alabama ruled yesterday that Birmingham police officers (acting as school resource officers) used excessive force when they pepper-sprayed students who were not posing a danger and when…
Education Law Prof Blog
Kentucky Elementary School Cuffs Special Needs Student’s Arms Behind Back, ACLU Sues
By Derek Black
The handcuffing and isolated restraint of a third grade special needs students in Covington, Kentucky, was caught on video. The video is particularly disturbing, as the child cries and pleads.…
Supreme Court Update
Horne v. Dep’t of Agriculture (14-275), Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment (13-720), Patel v. City of Los Angeles (13-1175) and Kingsley v. Hendrickson (14-6368)
Greetings, Court Fans! Raisins, radioactive wrists, Red Roof registries, and reformatory roughhousing were all on the Court's radar Monday (it's a very broad radar horizon), as it issued decisions in…
Sentencing Law and Policy
SCOTUS rules 5-4 against government in two criminal procedure cases
Main June 22, 2015SCOTUS rules 5-4 against government in two criminal procedure casesThe Supreme Court, back in action this morning, issued two notable split decisions in favor of individuals asserting…
Constitutional Law Prof Blog
Court Sets Objective Standard for Pretrial Detainee Civil Rights Action
Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law SchoolThe Supreme Court ruled today in Kingsley v. Hendrickson that a pretrial detainee need only show that an officer's use of force was objectively…
Civil Rights Law & Policy Blog
Officer’s use of force allegedly causes woman’s miscarriage
In a recently filed complaint in federal court, a Georgia woman claims an officer with her local PD assaulted her while she waited for the release of her recently arrested…
Human Rights at Home Blog
Police, Excessive Force and US CERD and CAT Reviews
Guest Editor, Prof. Jamil Dakwar, teaches a course entitled "Terror and Human Rights" in the Certificate Program on Terrorism in the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He writes:International bodies tasked with monitoring…
The Right Coast
Hands Up, Don’t Choke: Eric Garner Was Killed By Police For No Reason
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was choked to death by a New York City policeman. On December 3, 2014, a grand jury chose not to indict the officer who…