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25 Cornell J. L. & Pub. Pol'y 557 (2015-2016)
Vilifying the Vigilante: A Narrowed Scope of Citizen's Arrest

handle is hein.journals/cjlpp25 and id is 575 raw text is: ARTICLES VILIFYING THE VIGILANTE: A NARROWED SCOPE OF CITIZEN'S ARREST Ira P. Robbins* The doctrine of citizen's arrest in the United States has been ig- nored for far too long. In every jurisdiction in the United States, a pri- vate person may lawfully detain another and often may even use physical force to do so. Placing such power in the hands of ordinary, untrained individuals creates the possibility that citizens will misuse or abuse the privilege, sometimes with serious consequences for both the arrestor and the arrestee. This risk is compounded by the disparate treatment of the citizen's arrest doctrine in different jurisdictions and the ambiguities in- herent in many of the doctrine's key features-such as whether one may arrest another only on suspicion of a felony, or also for a misdemeanor or breach of the peace; the level of probable cause required to make an arrest; the length of detention that is legally permitted; and the appropri- ate amount of force used to effectuate the arrest. Citizen's arrest arose in medieval times as a direct result of the lack of an organized police force and practical modes of transportation to get to the scene of a crime expeditiously. Citizens had a positive duty to assist the King in seeking out suspected offenders and detaining them. However, citizen's arrest is a doctrine whose time should have passed many decades-or centuries-ago. As official police forces became the norm, the need for citizen's arrest dissipated. Yet these arrests are still authorized throughout the United States today, whether by common law or by statute. With the core principles of citizen's arrest in flux, it is exceedingly difficult for private individuals to understand the doctrine's subtleties and to effectuate arrests lawfully, safely, and without fear of reprisal. Implementation is ripe for abuse. Moreover, citizen's arrests performed by private persons acting collectively as volunteer watch groups, such as * Barnard T. Welsh Scholar and Professor of Law and Justice, American University, Washington College of Law. A.B., University of Pennsylvania; J.D., Harvard University. I am more than ordinarily grateful to my superb and indispensable research assistants-Jon Bressler, Leigh Colihan, Daniel C6t6, Cory Hutchens, Allie Kepkay, and John Zipp-whom I consider to be not only my students, but also my colleagues and good friends, and to the American University Law School Research Fund for providing summer financial support. Copyright @ 2016 by Ira P. Robbins. All rights reserved. 557

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