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28 B.U. Pub. Int. L.J. 87 (2019)
The Terry Dilemma: A Game Theoretic Analysis of Qualified Immunity for Police Officers

handle is hein.journals/bupi28 and id is 93 raw text is: 












   THE TERRY DILEMMA: A GAME THEORETIC
     ANALYSIS OF QUALIFIED IMMUNITY FOR
                    POLICE OFFICERS

                         SUZANNE  BARTH*

I. INTRODUCTION................................................. 87
II. LEGAL BACKGROUND.....................................       88
      A. The Birth of the Terry Stop................... 88
      B. The Civil Action for Damages.................... 90
      C. Qualified Immunity                    ............................... 91
      D. Thomas v. Dillard...........................           96
III. ECONOMIC BACKGROUND......................................  99
IV. MODEL  1: THE TERRYDILEMMA    .................................... 101
      A. The Suspect's Considerations: Criminal Liability, Physical
          Safety, and the Fourth Amendment  ........................ 102
      B. The Police Officer's Considerations: Physical Safety,
          Dominance, and Liability.. ..................    ....... 105
      C. The Terry Dilemma's Nash Equilibrium and Social Optimum. 108
          1. The Fourth Amendment as a Public Good .....   ...... 108
          2. Qualified Immunity and Police Officer Incentives........... 110
V. CONCLUSION          ................................................ 112
VI. APPENDIX        ............................................ ...... 114


                         I. INTRODUCTION
  The  2014 shooting of Michael Brown,  an unarmed  black teenager,
ignited a dialogue about police violence against people of color in the
United States and helped launch the Black Lives Matter movement.' The
resultant movement against police violence raised questions about how to
better hold officers accountable for offenses committed against innocent


J.D. Candidate, Boston University School of Law, 2019; B.A., Economics and Sociology,
cum laude, Wellesley College, 2016. Thanks to Jill Kingsbury, Professor Keith Hylton, and
the Public Interest Law Journal staff for their insight and assistance.
   1 Wesley Lowery, Black Lives Matter: Birth of a Movement, THE GUARDIAN (Jan. 17,
2017),  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/17/black-lives-matter-birth-of-a-
movement.


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