Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Denver Law Review
Publication Date
Fall 2021
ISSN
2469-6463
Page Number
37
Keywords
police violence, fatal shootings, damages, reforms
Disciplines
Law | Law Enforcement and Corrections
Abstract
George Floyd and Breonna Taylor's violent deaths sparked global protests condemning police violence. Many agree that reforms to policing are necessary and while some changes have occurred, the structure, cul- ture, and budgeting of policing are largely unchanged. This Article first introduces the term "fatal policing" to denote incidents in which police actions, such as shootings, result in victims' deaths. This Article next re- views data on fatal policing to corroborate findings that Black people are disproportionate victims of fatal policing, calls for a complete census of fatal policing from independent governmental sources, and analyzes re- gional differences in fatal policing. This Article then considers financial incentives to deter fatal policing and advocates for three damages-related proposals: raising damages amounts after fatal policing, ending qualified immunity to increase access to these damages, and tying financial penal- ties more closely to police department budgets. To understand the nature and extent of the problem of fatal policing, it is essential to have a reliable, complete database that tracks the numbers, locations, trends, and circumstances of fatal policing. No governmental database accurately provides this critical information, leaving the task to independent researchers.
Recommended Citation
W. Kip Viscusi and Scott Jeffrey,
The Locale and Damages of Fatal Policing, 99 Denver Law Review. 37
(2021)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/1689