Why Qualified Immunity Makes Police 'Untouchable'

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Qualified immunity, writes UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz, "has come to represent all that is wrong with police accountability." It’s the Supreme Court-created doctrine that protects police officers from civil liability for excessive force and other misconduct unless there is a prior court case where an officer violated another person’s rights in exactly the same way – a standard that she says is virtually impossible to meet. And, Schwartz explains, it’s just one of multiple barriers that the Court and states like California have erected to make justice through civil rights lawsuits “profoundly elusive.” We’ll talk to Schwartz about how qualified immunity plays out in California and hear about efforts to reform it. Schwartz’s new book is “Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable.” Guests: Joanna Schwartz, professor of law, University of California, Los Angeles - Her new book is "Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:43.1	From KQBD in San Francisco, this is Forum. I'm Mina Kim. We know it's hard for people who feel their rights have been violated by police to sue the officers and win in court. Well, UCLA law professor
1:13.4	Joanna Schwartz wants you to understand just how hard it really is and why. Qualified immunity
1:20.0	in combination with other rules that the Supreme Court and states like California have erected,
1:24.6	Schwartz says, make police accountability for abuses of power near impossible.
1:29.8	We'll look at her two decades of research into how our legal system handles cases of police
1:34.2	misconduct, told in her new book, Shielded, how the police became untouchable. Join us.
1:51.8	Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim.
2:00.4	UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz says qualified immunity has come to represent all that is wrong with police accountability.
2:09.0	It's the Supreme Court-created doctrine that protects police officers against civil liability for excessive force or other misconduct unless there's a prior court case where an officer violated a person's rights in virtually the same way.
2:16.6	And qualified immunity, Schwartz says, is just one of multiple
2:20.0	barriers that make justice profoundly elusive for victims of police abuses through civil rights
2:26.2	cases. A former civil rights attorney herself, Professor Joanna Schwartz joins me now. Welcome to Forum.
2:32.5	Thank you so much for having me. You're really glad to have you.
	...

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