Civil Rights Violations

Protecting Against Civil Rights Violations

Civil rights violations can take several forms:

• Excessive force leading to major injury or wrongful death
• False arrest without probable cause
• Assaults on incarcerated persons, including sexual assaults of women prisoners

Police Misconduct Cases

It is important for victims of police misconduct to understand that the laws regarding police brutality are deferential to the police. Law enforcement officers are entitled to a defense known as "qualified immunity." This immunity gives law enforcement officers broad discretion in their conduct as they perform their duties, and protects them against claims for all but clearly illegal conduct.

Not every shove, a bump or curse is going to be the basis for successful legal action against the police.  A police misconduct case must have severe results — serious injury, death or wrongful conviction — to have a chance at success. The actions of the law enforcement officers must be truly outrageous. But everyone, including the police and federal law enforcement agents, must obey the law, including that most important rule of law, the Constitution. When government officials violate the Constitution the rule of law requires that they be held responsible for their actions.