Race and Policing: Accountability and Civil Liability

This seminar will investigate ways in which policing has served as an instrument of racial subordination and violence in the United States. It will also explore how the primary remedial tool for addressing excesses in policing--42 U.S.C. § 1983, enacted in the Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871 and the third Enforcement statute passed after the Civil War--has functioned. Attention will be given to the criminalization of blackness (and other non-white groups), the pathologies of force, and the development of legal rules (e.g., immunity doctrines and standards concerning municipal liability) in Section 1983 litigation. Casework and litigation strategies will be set alongside readings, both theoretical and pragmatic, drawing from the fields of remedies; political philosophy; legal realism and critical race theory; and traditional doctrine. Students will write several brief reflection papers (roughly two pages) exploring how the assigned readings bear on the general themes of the course, and broader reactions to the readings. A longer paper (roughly 7-8 pages) about any topic related to race and policing is also required. Elements used in grading: Grading will be based on the papers and class participation.