What Next - How Immunity for Cops Ends
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Slate
3.9 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 21 October 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Summary
Once an obscure legal doctrine, the practice of qualified immunity for police has drawn widespread public scrutiny in the past year. But as mainstream support for ending qualified immunity grows, police unions are amping up their opposition.
Guest: Kimberly Kindy, national investigative reporter for The Washington Post.
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Transcript
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| 1:13.4 | Today's show is about the origin of these buzzwords. |
| 1:18.2 | When did you first hear the words qualified immunity? |
| 1:22.9 | Oh my gosh. |
| 1:24.2 | I first heard the words qualified immunity way back and during the Ferguson protests. |
| 1:31.4 | Washington Post reporter Kimberly Kindy is going to be our guide here. |
| 1:35.1 | But it really, it was when you would call a legal scholar or a police use of force expert. |
| 1:42.1 | And it was, you know, these academics that were saying, |
| 1:45.3 | we really have to do something about qualified immunity. |
| 1:48.1 | That is one of the things that is really standing in the way of truly reforming police. |
| 1:56.6 | Qualified immunity, it isn't a law. |
| 1:59.8 | It's an understanding, an interpretation of who's right and who's wrong. |
| 2:05.8 | And you have probably heard a lot about it over the last few years. Qualified immunity says that government workers doing their jobs, most of the time, they cannot be held financially accountable when something goes wrong. |
| 2:19.9 | The result is that when regular people try to sue cops who hurt them, |
... |
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