Demand accountability for police officers

By Bridget Killian

Tandem Mission, 2021

Qualified immunity is a doctrine that keeps police officers from being held liable for violating someone's civil rights

Qualified immunity is a judicial doctrine which protects state officials, including police officers, from being held liable for violating someone’s civil rights, unless they violate “clearly established law.”

In effect, qualified immunity typically means that officers are not held liable unless a previous officer was help liable for the same offense. This creates an endless cycle of impunity for officers.

Because of qualified immunity, officers are often not held responsible for violations and victims may never receive any justice. For example, in the case of the murder of Breonna Taylor, qualified immunity has protected the officers involved due to the claims that they were acting in self-defense. The larger issue here is Breonna was asleep and not involved in the altercation whatsoever.

Qualified immunity is often used as a way to shield officers from any and all accountability even when it involves the murder of innocent people...continue reading