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39 Mitchell Hamline L. J. Pub. Pol'y & Prac. 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/hplp39 and id is 1 raw text is: 
       Shah: Licensed to Kill? An Analysis of the Standard for Assessing Law E
                 MITCHELL HAMLINE
                   LAW JOURNAL OF

           PUBLIC POLICY AND PRACTICE

VOLUME 39                                         SPRING 2018
© 2018 by Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

                    LICENSED TO KILL?
             AN ANALYSIS OF THE STANDARD
    FOR ASSESSING LAW ENFORCEMENT'S CRIMINAL
          LIABILITY FOR USE OF DEADLY FORCE

                          Raoul Shah

I. INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................  1
II. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON POLICE USE OF FORCE LAWSUITS ......... 4
   A.  Tennessee v. Garner: The Beginning ...............................................  5
   B. Graham v. Connor: Elaborating Reasonableness ...................... 8
   C.  Jumping Forward: M ullenix  v. Luna  ............................................... 10
   D. Clarifying Qualified Immunity: Pauly v. White ............................... 13
III. DIFFERENTIATING CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS FROM CIVIL LAWSUITS
   AND DEFENSES TO CRIMINAL CHARGES ............................................. 16
   A.  Separating  Criminal and  Civil Law  .................................................. 16
   B. Justification Defenses in Criminal Prosecutions ............................. 18
       1. Self-D efense  .......................................................................... . .  19
       2. D efense  of  O thers ..................................................................... 21
       3. Public Authority  Justification  ................................................  22
IV. ANALYZING POLICE OFFICER'S CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR USE OF
   DEADLY  FORCE ......................................................................................... 26
V. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 29


                      I.  INTRODUCTION

   Criminal charges are rare, almost non-existent, for those who
are licensed to kill. Those cases that are charged rarely result in
convictions. At common law, police officers were essentially given
such a license; they were allowed the use of whatever force was
necessary to effect the arrest of a fleeing felon.' The United States
Supreme Court imposed some level of restriction on that license by
holding that deadly force may not be used unless it is necessary to


1. Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1, 12 (1985).


Published by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2018

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