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1 1 (February 23, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govekrm0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con gressionaI AResearch Servic Regulating Federal Law Enforcement: Considerations for Congress Updated February 23, 2023 Incidents involving the use of force by law enforcement, such as the 2020 death of George Floyd and the 2023 death of Tyre Nichols, have raised questions regarding Congress's authority to regulate law enforcement officers. While federalism principles limit the extent to which Congress may pass laws directly affecting state and local police officers, Congress has broader authority to regulatefederal law enforcement officers and agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), or Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This Sidebar explores the existing criminal, administrative, and civil remedies that impose liability on federal law enforcement officers for claims of excessive use of force, including those brought under the Bivens doctrine and the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). It then concludes by discussing considerations for Congress regarding further regulation of federal law enforcement officers. Current Law Regulating Federal Law Enforcement Existing federal laws provide a number of criminal, administrative, and civil remedies to hold law enforcement officers and agencies accountable for misconduct. Federal Criminal Law One way to regulate the behavior of federal law enforcement officers is through criminal law. The chief criminal law regulating federal, state, and local law enforcement officers is 18 U.S.C. @ 242 (Section 242)-described in more depth in this Sidebar. In relevant part, that statute makes it a crime for a person acting under the color of law to deprive someone of their constitutionally protected rights. According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under the color of law means that an individual is acting using power given to him or her by a governmental agency, and it is irrelevant whether the actor is exceeding his or her rightful power. The Supreme Court has explained that to successfully prosecute an alleged offender-such as a police officer-under Section 242, DOJ must show that the defendant had a specific intent to deprive a person of a federal right made definite by decision or other rule of law. According to DOJ, which enforces Section 242, examples of misconduct prosecuted under the statute include excessive force, sexual assault, intentional false arrests, theft, or the intentional fabrication of evidence resulting in a loss of liberty to another. Section 242 has been used in recent years to investigate Border Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10500 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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