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8 Criminology & Pub. Pol'y 163 (2009)
The Elusive Nature of Reasonableness

handle is hein.journals/crpp8 and id is 165 raw text is: POLICY ESSAY The elusive nature of reasonableness* William Terrill Michigan State University Trying to Get a Handle on Reasonableness Twenty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court set the standard for deter- mining what constitutes appropriate police use-of-force behavior in Graham v. Connor (1989). More specifically, the court stated that the use of force by police officers must be judged under an objectively reasona- ble standard and went on to offer direction as to how this should be applied. Among other specifications, the court noted that force should be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight and in light of the facts and cir- cumstances confronting them, without regard to their underlying intent or motivation.' Although such a determination may have offered some degree of clarity from a legal viewpoint (see Alpert and Smith, 1994), the issue of what is, and what is not, an objectively reasonable action on the part of a police officer remains a tricky proposition. If we take a step back and consider the issue from a broader perspective, this should not come as a surprise. Determining reasonableness in any endeavor is at times simple and yet at other times tremendously difficult. Although the elements or parts can be numerous, one of the main ingredients is sound judgment. At one end of the spectrum, the simplicity of reasonableness is on display throughout our daily experiences. For instance, when the temperature drops below freezing, most people wear some type of outer garment to protect against the cold. Given the physiology of the human body to with- stand such conditions without some form of protection, it is certainly * Direct correspondence to William Terrill, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 532 Baker Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824 (e-mail: terrillw@msu.edu). 1. Somewhat curiously, the defense of life standard (Tennessee v. Garner, 1985) is absent from any discussion by Klinger and Brunson (2009, this issue). To demonstrate an objectively reasonable action within the confines of a lethal force encounter requires an imminent lethal threat (or the perception of such) to the life of the officer or the life of others, but with narrow exceptions made for threats that pose substantial risk to others should the police fail to seize a suspected offender. CRIMINOLOGY & Public Policy Volume 8 Issue 1 Copyright 2009 American Society of Criminology 163

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