Police civil liability for inappropriate response to domestic assault victims
✍ Scribed by Brenda Sims Blackwell; Michael S Vaughn
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2003
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 404 KB
- Volume
- 31
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0047-2352
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Over the last several years, the criminal justice system has encouraged survivors of domestic abuse to report their victimization to law enforcement authorities. While some pieces of evidence suggest that police are more sensitive to the plight of domestic survivors, law enforcement response remains incomplete and problematic. This article explores this issue, focusing on police civil liability for inappropriate response to domestic violence. It discusses a specific legal remedy-the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment-highlighting the circumstances under which police are held liable when they fail to prevent victims' injuries because of their inappropriate response to domestic violence. The article concludes that police need more training and education on family abuse so they can become more responsive to victims of domestic violence.