Zachary D. Kaufman (Washington University in St. Louis - School of Law, University of Houston Law Center, Boston University - School of Law, Yale University - Law School, Stanford Law School, Harvard University - Harvard Kennedy School (HKS)) has published "Police Policing Police" on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Police killings of George Floyd and at least 1,930 other Black Americans since 2015 amplified a racial reckoning and intensified demands for meaningful, overdue police reform. This Article is the first legal scholarship to argue that Congress and state legislatures across the United States should enact criminal laws creating a law enforcement officer duty to intervene in their colleagues’ misuse of force. These federal and state statutes should be bolstered by law enforcement agencies’ internal policies mandating the same obligation. Introducing criminal liability for inaction could prod officers to stop their peers’ serious misconduct and would promote accountability for those officers who remain bystanders. This Article presents a model statute for this officer duty to intervene and rebuts counterarguments, drawing on a case study of Derek Chauvin murdering Floyd for illustrations.
Comments