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This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice.
Police brutality is one of the most pressing issues in the modern world. It demands immediate attention and effective action to ensure justice. Even with rising awareness and our justice system doing its best, police brutality cases often happen in many areas and seem to be left unchecked.
No matter how barbarous or unjust police brutality is, there is no reason for anyone to take the law into their hands. We highly recommend you explore lawful avenues to address any instance of police misconduct and conduct yourself professionally and politely.
The first step in the vast majority of cases is to talk with police brutality lawyers NYC. As they already have experience in handling cases like yours, they can tell you what to expect, how to proceed, and if there are any shortcomings in your argument or defense.
Let’s understand the legal ways to fight police brutality in more detail.
Understanding Police Brutality
First of all, we need to develop a comprehensive understanding of exactly what constitutes police brutality. The term police brutality refers to either excessive or unnecessary use of force by any law enforcement officer. The action might or might not lead to physical, emotional, or psychological harm to the victims.
The first step is often to recognize the signs and impact of police brutality. This is also important if you wish to advocate for change on any level and in any region.
Filing Complaints and Internal Investigations
The most powerful legal option that’s available to any victim of police brutality is to file complaints with the appropriate authorities. This includes the internal affairs divisions within police departments or civilian review boards.
These boards and departments are typically responsible for investigating any allegations of misconduct. And following these investigations, they will determine whether the officers violated department policies or the law, or not.
Civil Lawsuits
It’s not rare to see complaints not sticking. It’s also not rare for regular follow-ups to yield no results. And that’s when you have the option of a civil lawsuit. If you went through with a formal complaint and received no response or action that can justify things, the lawsuit will become even stronger.
Civil lawsuits are led by civil liberty lawyers but sometimes, victims opt to choose a more specialized professional. For example, if there was brutality from officers in jail, you might want the help of someone who specializes in such cases and not in civil cases.
There are jail injury lawyers for such cases and they can often yield better results or just get a faster resolution.
Regardless of the specialist you go for, the idea behind a civil lawsuit is to provide a victim of police brutality the opportunity to seek justice and compensation for their suffering. Victims can file lawsuits against the officers that were involved. In some cases, it might also be suggested to sue the law enforcement agency that was responsible for the actions.
Most commonly, police brutality lawsuits focus on claims of excessive force, wrongful arrest or death, violation of constitutional rights, or racism.
Qualified Immunity and Legal Challenges
Qualified immunity is a contentious legal doctrine. It shields law enforcement officers from being held personally liable for actions performed in their official capacity. This is the reason why a lot of police officers believe that they are untouchable even if they take a bad call.
Well, the doctrine is there for a good reason. For example, law enforcement officers often need to make split-second decisions or react quickly to fast-developing situations. We all like to see good cops improvise and not wait for their superiors or any orders in the movies. However, in the real world, the doctrine is used less for arresting criminals or chasing robbers and more to use unnecessary force against innocent people.
Some cases of police brutality defy all common sense. And qualified immunity in these cases seems like an unnecessary protection or something that makes it happen in the first place.
There has been a lot of debate surrounding the extent to which qualified immunity should protect officers from facing legal consequences. Hopefully, we will soon arrive at fundamental policy changes that will also be implemented quickly.
But until that happens, there will be significant hurdles in the delivery of justice. There are many calls for reform and they all seek to address this issue and hold officers accountable, personally, for any misconduct so the next time they think twice if the situation is not life or death.
Criminal Prosecution
Sometimes, the case of police brutality is so extreme and involves clear criminal behavior that criminal charges can be filed against the responsible officers. Criminal cases are different from civil ones and you need a different kind of lawyer for this.
Prosecutors play a pivotal role in seeking justice for victims by pursuing charges such as assault, manslaughter, or even murder, depending on the circumstances.
Wrapping Up
There’s a lot of work that needs to be done not just in legislation and policymaking. There has to be individual action and community involvement as well. Though more and more people are coming forward with such cases and more and more organizations are starting to raise these issues, we’re still a long way from completely eradicating this social evil.
Remember that change takes time, but every step forward brings us closer to a safer and fairer society for everyone.
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