[peterpeppers]

Great point.

Many citizens don't know that "qualified immunity" is a thing that protects police officers from being held accountable.

QUOTE: "Tragically, thousands have died at the hands of law enforcement over the years, and the death toll continues to rise," said Judge Carlton Reeves, of the US District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. "Qualified immunity has served as a shield for these officers, protecting them from accountability."

SOURCES: - https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/05/ask-the-author-reuters-on...

- https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/qualified_immunity

- https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/politics/qualified-immunity-f...

- https://www.npr.org/2020/06/12/876212065/an-immune-system

[muststopmyths]

Qualified immunity only applies to civil lawsuits.

The real problem is the prosecutors are tight with the cops and will never bring criminal charges against them.

Take that one cop who shot the woman in Minneapolis by accident. He was sent to jail. There was something different about that case I can't quite put my finger on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/us/minneapolis-police-sen...

(Edit: typo)

[peterpeppers]

The threat of being bankrupt for life would be a deterrent.

Prosecutors and mayors wouldn't be so tight with cops if not for 1) the role of police unions and 2) optimizing for conviction rates.

Change the incentives, change the outcomes.

SOURCE:

- https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/08/03/how-police-uni...

- https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21290981/police-unio...

- https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/poli...

- https://thelensnola.org/2019/04/11/misconduct-by-prosecutors...

[Ice_cream_suit]

"Mohamed Noor Somali-American Police Officer Sentenced "

Of course, the conservatives will say that the unusually severe sentence was surely not due to to his name, religion or ethnic origin.

Police, prosecutors and judges are never, ever, ever prejudiced in the fantasy America that they live in.

[aqme28]

The craziest thing to me about qualified immunity is that no law was ever passed to create it. It was invented out of whole cloth by 20 years of supreme court decisions.

[forbiddenvoid]

Yeah. That's literally the foundation of the entire American legal system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_law

[rtkwe]

The big problem with QI in the US is the phrase "clearly established" which has been interpreted extremely strictly to mean there needs to be a case already ruled on with essentially exactly the same circumstances sometimes tiny differences mean a cop gets away with clearly egregious conduct.

On top of that they get a chance to have the case thrown out immediately for QI reasons and if that's denied they can immediately appeal that ruling. Also the Supreme Court essentially only takes cases that grant immunity rather than stripping it meaning it's constantly getting tougher and tougher.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/national/crime-and-courts/for-...

[nickff]

Many, less controversial doctrines and holdings come to pass the same way, from the 'laws' against insider trading, to the current incorporation of the bill of rights.[1][2]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insider_trading#United_States

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_of_the_Bill_of_R...