of the young hippie movement, a growing number of young people who rejected authority and embraced the drug culture (History.com, 2010).
In response to police using physical force in a civil protest, the courts Fourth Amendment doctrine regulating police violence, including its recent decision in Scott v. Harris, is unprincipled and indeterminate. The common law of justification defenses, by contrast, gives a well-established legal structure for figuring out when a person may justly use force against another. I believe that police use of force can be constitutionally justified only if they are in pursuit of legitimate states interests. In particular, police use of force is justified only if they assist the mechanisms of criminal justice (e.g.,
In response to police using physical force in a civil protest, the courts Fourth Amendment doctrine regulating police violence, including its recent decision in Scott v. Harris, is unprincipled and indeterminate. The common law of justification defenses, by contrast, gives a well-established legal structure for figuring out when a person may justly use force against another. I believe that police use of force can be constitutionally justified only if they are in pursuit of legitimate states interests. In particular, police use of force is justified only if they assist the mechanisms of criminal justice (e.g.,