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15 Berkeley J. Crim. L. 1 (2010)

handle is hein.journals/bjcl15 and id is 1 raw text is: Racializing Disability, Disabling Race:
Policing Race and Mental Status
Camille A. Nelsont
A police officer is privileged to use the amount of force that the
officer reasonably believes is necessary to overcome resistance to his
lawful authority, but no more. 
That school officials and/or police officers working with school
officials would use pepper-spray and handcuffs to restrain a thirteen
year old mentally disabled child is shocking. 
Faced with a rebellious prisoner, Officer Fowler ignored his training
and chose to adopt a method of control that is both barbaric and cruel,
particularly when applied to a mentally-retarded and inebriated
individual. 3
t Professor of Law, Hofstra Law School. The author wishes to thank the Dean and
Faculty of Law at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law for their dynamic
engagement with this project. I am particularly grateful to Professors Adrienne Davis, Barbara
Flagg and Karen Tokarz for their support and guidance. I also wish to thank Professors Daniel
Hulsebosch of New York University School of Law, Michael Stein of Harvard Law School
Project on Disability and William and Mary Law School, Angela Onwuachi-Willig of Iowa Law
School, Kim Forde-Mazrui of Virginia Law School, Tucker Culbertson of Syracuse Law School,
Natasha Martin of Seattle Law School, Jeremi Duru of Temple Law School, Catherine Smith of
Denver University, Sturm College of Law, and Ruqaiijah Yearby of SUNY Buffalo School of
Law for their feedback on various iterations of this project. The author also wishes to thank the
faculty and students at the University of Georgia, McGill Law School in Montreal, Quebec, and
the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law and community for their invitations to present
earlier versions of this Article. Finally I am thankful for the research assistance of law librarians
Anne Taylor, Hyla Bondareff and Dorie Bertram of Washington University in St. Louis School of
Law as well as Patricia Kasting of Hofstra Law School and for the enthusiastic research support of
faculty fellows Matt Knepper, Ashley Day and Stephanie Quick.
1. Ali v. City of Louisville, No. 3:05-cv-427, 2006 WL 2663018 at *8 (W.D. Ky. Sept. 15,
2006).
2. Banks v. Modesto City School Dist., No. CVFO46284RECSMS, 2005 WL 2233213 at
*10 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 9, 2005).
3. Culver v. Fowler, 862 F. Supp. 369, 371 (M.D. Ga. 1994).

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