Ch. 11 Other Remedies for Constitutional Violations (Q2) Flashcards
What are the 3 actions that can be taken against officers?
1) Criminal law
2) Civil law
3) Internal departmental review
What is the difference between the criminal law, civil law, and internal departmental review remedies?
1) Criminal - prosecute officer
2) Civil - Sue officer, department, government, etc.
3) Internal review - discipline officer outside judicial system
What is the main reason that it is so hard to prove police officers guilty of police misconduct?
It’s hard to prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt when officers honestly believe their actions are lawful
What do most plaintiffs who sue officers and governments want in return for injuries caused by police misconduct?
Compensation (monetary)
Where can civil action take place?
In state or federal courts
Lawsuits against individual federal LEOs.
What are constitutional tort actions?
Another name for constitutional tort actions.
What are Bivens actions?
Lawsuits against the federal government for their officers’ constitutional torts.
What are Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) actions?
Bivens v. Six Unnamed FBI Agents (1971) established that people have the private right to sue individual federal officers for constitutional rights violations. What 2 elements must the plaintiff prove?
1) Officer acted with apparent legal authority
2) Officer’s actions deprived plaintiff of constitutional rights
What test must individual officer actions meet for officers not to be held personally liable according to the defense of qualified immunity?
Shield of immunity test
Who does the shield of immunity not protect?
The plainly incompetent or those who knowingly violate the law
The shield of immunity is an { } test.
Objective
What are the 2 elements from Saucier v. Katz (2001) that a government official must meet to be entitled to qualified immunity (i.e., what must the court look at)?
1) Whether facts indicate a constitutional right violation
2) Whether that right was clearly established at the time of alleged conduct
This doctrine states that individuals can’t sue governments w/o the government’s consent.
What is the Doctrine of Sovereign Immunity?
If the plaintiff pursues Federal Tort Claims Act actions against the U.S. government, then sovereign immunity is…
Waived
The exclusive money damages remedy for negligent acts or omissions of federal government employees acting within the scope of employment.
What is FTCA?
This defense states that officers are only liable for “willful or deliberate wrong” in state tort actions.
What is the Defense of Official Immunity?
This piece of legislation states that all LEOs who deprive citizens or persons within their jurisdiction of rights are liable to legal action.
What is Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871?
Can you bring up legal action against judicial officers according to Section 1983?
No
Section 1983 action elements are the same as { } elements.
Bivens
Is liability to legal action available for the negligent or accidental acts committed by officers in Title 42, Section 1983?
No, only deliberate acts
This doctrine states that state and local governments and their agencies are liable for the torts of their employees.
What is the Doctrine of Respondeat Superior?
How far does liability extend under the doctrine of respondeat superior?
Only to torts committed by employees acting within the scope of their employment
States without the doctrine of respondeat superior use…
The defense of vicarious official immunity
This rule states that law enforcement has no constitutional duty to protect individuals from each other.
What is the no-affirmative-duty-to-protect rule?
This exception to the “no affirmative duty to protect” rule holds that people in custody have a constitutional right to protection.
What is the special-relationship exception?
What is the “special relationship” in question regarding the special-relationship exception (i.e., what is the special condition for this exception to apply)?
This applies to people in state custody
This 1989 case was the first duty-to-protect case emphasizing that social services did not have a constitutional duty to intervene in harm caused by private actors (NOT caused by the state).
What is DeShaney v. Winnebago County Dept. of Social Services?
This exception to the “no duty to protect” rule applies when the state contributes to creating a danger that the victim faces or making the victim more vulnerable to that danger.
What is the state-created danger exception?
What 3 elements do courts demand in order to impose civil liability on government officers according to the state-created danger exception?
1) Violence (state-sanctioned)
2) Affirmative action (LEO played active role in creating danger)
3) State of mind (deliberate indifference)
This 2004 case held that a 911 dispatcher’s negligence toward private violence does not amount to deliberate indifference; thus, there is no constitutional duty to intervene.
What is Beltran v. City of El Paso?
Which officials have absolute immunity from civil suits?
Judges
Are judges liable to civil suits even if they act maliciously and in bad faith?
No
This type of immunity depends on the function of the officer at the time of the act.
What is functional immunity?
Which officials have functional immunity?
Prosecutors
Why do prosecutors have functional immunity?
Because they have absolute liability as advocates for the state in criminal prosecutions but have limited liability as administrators/investigators
What are the 2 types of administrative review?
Internal and external
What are the 4 stages of internal review (HINT: IIDD)?
1) Intake
2) Investigation
3) Deliberation
4) Disposition
What are the 4 dispositions of internal review?
1) Unfounded
2) Exonerated
3) Not sustained
4) Sustained
What is the difference between internal and external review in terms of who is conducting/leading the review?
Internal - conducted by special officers/administrators in the department
External - citizens participate in various roles of review
