Premium Essay

Civil Rights Case Study

Submitted By
Words 504
Pages 3
Police power and the capability of law enforcement to deprive individuals, particularly American citizens, of constitutional rights remains an issue of concern for civil rights advocates and lawmakers. Mechanisms and various statutes exist in order to redress this perception of imbalance; on the other side of the coin, the ability of law enforcement interests to initiate countersuits and take advantage of specific immunities afforded them change the playing field.
Of the tools available to citizens to seek redress against perceived violations of civil rights, Section 1983 is prominent. Section 1983, a federal statute, bolsters the power of citizens to sue police for grievances or violations of civil rights and "provides a remedy" for those …show more content…
One important case involving the alleged torture of American citizens in Iraq in 2003 raises even more questions regarding Bivens and the immunity of federal entities such as military police versus most types of prosecution (Carmichael, 2013). This raises important questions regarding the accountability and reach of Federal power against actions by citizens to challenge their authority, and, by extension, the authority of the governing bodies behind them. In the modern age of expanding police power in the United States and the increase of electronic surveillance, civil liberties and constitutional rights are becoming more important than ever. Section 1983 brought under a federal lens many actions which were previously only accountable through state tort law ("Limiting," 1969). Countersuits by the police are often initiated in order to create credible defenses or defend against perceived damages by what officers see as frivolous lawsuits against them and their departments, which are often perceived as being vicariously liable under tort law for the alleged actions of their employees. Defamation and humiliation are often persistent themes in these

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Case Studies for Conflict Resolution: a Key Element in Civil Rights Training

...Case Studies for Conflict Resolution: A key element in civil rights training Wisconsin WIC    CONFLICT RESOLUTION: CASE STUDIES  The following case studies match the scenarios in the online training. Review (watch or read) each scenario, and then answer the questions, below. Think about what you have learned and identify a conflict resolution technique that you would use in each situation. Case Study #1 Julia just finished a certification appointment for Maria, a participant who has cerebral palsy. Maria has some difficulty speaking and uses a wheelchair for mobility.As they head toward the door, Maria says something to Julia. Julia replies, “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand what you said.” Maria repeats her comment. Julia looks confused and says, “One more time please?” Maria repeats her comment in a louder voice. Looking a bit flustered, Julia says, “Okay, well, maybe we can talk about that next time.” Julia reaches for the door and says, “Let me get that for you.” Maria, at the same moment, angrily pushes the button for the automatic door and rolls away. Julia walks back to her office feeling embarrassed and that she is no good at working with disabled participants. Questions to consider: 1. What could Julia have done differently to avoid or minimize this conflict? What could Julia learn from this experience? (Hint – try using a Creative Response) 2. Write the dialogue for the next time Julia sees Maria at the clinic. Julia says “I’m sorry...

Words: 1075 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

At The Dark End Of The Street Analysis

...“A New History of the Civil Rights Movement:” The Unjust Treatment of African Americans Vincent Signorile U.S. History II Professor Parkin 6 April 2017 The Civil Rights Movement was one of the most important movements in the history of the United States. In Danielle McGuire’s At the Dark End of the Street, she makes a case for what she terms “A New History of the Civil Rights Movement.” McGuire uses great elements when describing her study, some of which are disheartening and tragic. These include topics of interracial sexuality, violence, rape, and segregation. The vital topics mentioned demonstrate the strenuous challenges that African Americans had to endure over the years, and even during the Civil...

Words: 1064 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Warren vs Rehnquist Courts

...criminal justice system is greatly shaped by the civil rights safeguarded under the Bill of Rights. The court jurisprudence with regard to national security and civil liberties largely revolves around the provisions of the Bill of Rights (Baker, 2003). This paper discusses Chief Justices Earl Warren and William Rehnquist’s significant decisions and the effects they had on the balance between social order maintenance and individual liberties. Warren versus Rehnquist Courts Earl Warren held the position of Chief Justice between 1953 and 1969. He led a liberal majority, who utilized the judicial authority to consternate their conservative opponents. The Warren Court promoted the federal power, judicial power, civil liberties, and civil rights in a dramatic fashion. The Rehnquist Court, on the other hand, took a conservative approach in criminal justice (Pollak, 1979). The most significant case that the Warren Court decided with regard to civil liberties was Brown v Board of Education of Copeka, Kansas (1954). The court unanimously ruled that there is no place for the doctrine of separate but equal doctrine in the sphere of public education. The Warren Court demonstrated its value for liberalism and activism. The view of the Warren Court was that states are a hindrance in the enhancement of a just nation. In the sphere of criminal procedure and law enforcement, Chief Justice Earl Warren’s Court was associated with four chief cases: Terry v Ohio (1968), Miranda v Arizona (1966)...

Words: 2153 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Book Review on Texas Mexican Americans and Postwar Civil Rights

...Maggie Rivas Rodriguez. Texas Mexican Americans and Postwar Civil Rights. University of Texas Press, 2015. The purpose of this book is to shed light on important advancements in post-war Mexican American civil rights efforts, specifically in Texas. Rodriguez highlights 3 milestones, two take place at the local level in West Texas and the third examines the creation of a national civil rights organization catering to the legal needs of the underrepresented Mexican American population of the United States. In highlighting these events, Rodriguez is aiming to educate not a specific racial or socioeconomic group, but rather to a general audience as well as to those who may already be educated in Chicano civil rights endeavors. Rodriguez succeeds in doing so in the easy to read and straight forward language of the book. It very much gives the feel of having a conversation with an elder of the community, in that it quotes many people directly and recollects certain pieces of the story from the protagonists themselves in present day. The interview transcriptions are left in Spanish as to “preserve and convey the flavor of the interview…”. The book focuses on three case studies and breaks them into two parts, Part 1: Claiming Rights on a Local Level and Part 2: Claiming Rights on a National Level. In the first chapter the reader learns of the efforts taken by Mexican American parents of Alpine, TX to integrate their children’s schools, and go as far as the capitol to do so. The...

Words: 578 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Law and Consumer Rights

...Introducing law and consumer rights In this task I will be investigating civil and criminal law and their courts of personnel. I will be determining which courts will deal with the cases and why, which legal personnel's will be involved with the case and why and also the role that each person will play in the proceedings and their responsibilities. Explain the role of civil law – concerned, deals with what Civil court the lowest court is civil structure county court County court deals with what Who is applicant, defendant The roles and responsibilities What track the case is on which track – fast, multi Alternative methods Case study 1: Sam buys a second hand car from a local garage for £5000. Within a month the brakes fail. He takes the car back to the garage 3 times for a repair but the brakes are still not fixed and the garage shop refuses to refund him. Sam wants his money back. The role of the Civil law helps and deals with disputes between 2 private parties of disputes which can cause harm to others. The lowest court of the Civil Court is the Civil Structure County Court. This case is one of many Civil Courts Cases and is left to the County Court for a solution. This Court will be the right one for dealing with this case as it is a widely used court which deals with civil. It is used for mainly tenant disputes, rent arrears, eviction disputes and consumer disputes such as faulty goods and services. This court deals and specializes with financial jurisdiction...

Words: 1611 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Influence of the Civil Rights Movement on Black/White Marriage

...Wanting Liang (Fanny) WSEM 196-002T Professor Mary Richardson 14th December 2012 Influence of The Civil Rights Movement On Black/White Marriage INTRODUCTION Nowadays, interracial marriage exists in almost the whole world and is more acceptable than it ever has been. In the United States, which now has its first biracial president-Barack Hussein Obama II. Absolute numbers tell us the fact that interracial marriage between black and white has increased -- the U.S. Census reported that there were 51,000 Black/White marital couples in 1960, which was legal in whatever many states. By 2002, it rose to 395,000 Black/White marriages (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2004). By 2010, it grew more to 540,000 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2012. However, before the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, this would have been unimaginable. It was illegal for people with different race to marry before the Civil Rights Movement, which we called “anti-miscegenation laws”. This paper will examine how the Civil Rights Movement helped make marriages between blacks and whites and mixed-race families acceptable to society and more common. In this paper, I am going to provide the background about the Civil Rights Movement. Such as ways this movement affected Black/White marriage, and the Loving vs. Virginia (the Supreme Court Case). Then, I will introduce some family stories in biracial families during 1960s and a number of findings about Black/White marriage. At last, I will present the difference...

Words: 2183 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Legal and Regulatory Safety

...system that have binding legal force that address legal rights and obligations affecting patients and protecting the individual rights of patients and health care employees. 50 state have statutes for medical practice acts which apply to precisely to the way that medicine is practiced in a particular state. Laws begin as act acts which define the meaning of “practice of medicine” and set the requirements and procedures for licensure. Medical practice acts also establish what can be considered as unprofessional conduct in particular states. Examples of unprofessional conduct include practicing medicine without a license, practicing healthcare or the inability to practice health care while under addiction or mental illness, felony convictions, insufficient record keeping, employing unlicensed persons to practice medicine, and prescribing drugs in excessive amounts. We currently live in a litigious society. Medical providers must balance providing quality and keeping abreast with current health care regulations to protect themselves from health care law suits (Fremgen, 2009). Laws are enforceable rules set by a government authority. An article related to a regulatory issue in health care will be analyzed to reflect how laws affect the regulatory process in health care. The Four Categories of Law Laws fall into different categories which include constitutional law, statutory land and regulatory law and common or case law. Constitutional law consists of U.S. Constitution...

Words: 1950 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Age Discrimination Case Study Gelato

...crew to have a high school diploma may be a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In addition, seventy-five percent of its employees are between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five, which may be a violation of the Age Discrimination in...

Words: 1101 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Ls311 – Business Law Unit 3 Case Study

...Running head: Double Jeopardy Unit 3: Case Study NAME LS311 – Business Law Prof. SNAME Case Armington, while robbing a drugstore, shot and seriously injured Jennings, a drugstore clerk. Armington was subsequently convicted in a criminal trial of armed robbery and assault and battery. Jennings later brought a civil tort suit against Armington for damages. Armington contended that he could not be tried again for the same crime, as that would constitute double jeopardy, which is prohibited by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Is he right or wrong? Armington is incorrect. Double Jeopardy is being tried for the same crime twice (Miller & Jentz, 2008). In this case Armington was tried and convicted of the crime, however the civil tort suit is something that is completely different then the armed robbery conviction, therefore this would not fall under double jeopardy. Regardless of the outcome of the criminal trial, the victim can bring a civil suit against Armington to recover any losses or damages. Armington can also be charged federally for civil rights violations for the same crime because assault and battery took place; he cannot claim double jeopardy for that either. Since Jennings was injured in the crime, he has the right to pursue a civil case for damages incurred from the injury. This can include medical bills, time off work, even mental or depression issues stemming from the incident. Armington’s rights have not been violated because these are two...

Words: 307 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Wgu Jdt2 Task 1

...interoffice memorandum to: | CEO | from: | Robby Hinson | subject: | Title vii | date: | June 10, 2014 | cc: | | | | A former employee recently filed a claim against our organization in reference to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I researched and reviewed multiple case studies related to this situation and have provided a recommendation based on this research. For starters, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that “It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, or to classify or refer for employment any individual on the basis of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” (FINDLAW) This act was passed to help promote equal employment opportunities for females and minorities. The former employee feels that his rights were violated because he was required to work on what was considered a holy day based on his religion, however, there is no indication that the employee made the company aware of this issue. As you are aware, we recently implemented a schedule that would require all non-office staff to work twelve hour shifts on a rotating 4 days on, 4 days off work period. This schedule was made with no reference to time off for religious holidays. The claim against the organization stems from a former employee who was displeased with the new scheduling...

Words: 1007 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Classroom Cameras On Civil Liberties Case Study

...Are classroom cameras an infringement on students’ civil liberties? In the case study, it mentions that the cameras are in violation of the adolescent civil liberties. In my opinion, I think having cameras in the classroom wouldn’t be bad. The high school I went to had cameras in the hallways for safety reasons and watching out for suspicious things happening, but never inside the classroom. In some of my classes, students would be disrespectful to the teachers and little argument would occur. Classroom cameras are not a distraction because if you’re doing you tasks and listening to want is instructed it won’t mess up your focus. Plus, in this generation a lot of younger kids are owners of phones, meaning that they prefer to use the phone...

Words: 269 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Judges in Northern Samar Philippines

...Chapter I INTRODUCTION Background of the Study Conflicts among inhabitants of a community is inevitable and the necessity of establishing a formal institution such as trial courts or courts of justice, to address conflict resolution is indispensible. The establishment of this formal institutions is based on the social contract theory wherein the government is duty bound to maintain order in a community and to protect and enforce the fundamental rights of its inhabitants in exchange for the surrender of some rights of the latter. All these, follow the course of administration of justice. Administration of Justice examines the structure, function, laws, procedures, and decision-making processes of agencies that deal with crime management. Courts of justice plays a very important role in the administration of justice. Almost all countries experience problems in the administration of justice. The degree of seriousness of these problems varies depending on several factors. The most common among these problems is the increasing number of court dockets and flaws in the laws being interpreted and implemented. In the Philippines, Courts, in the administration of justice, follows a hierarchy of courts. There are four (4) levels of courts in the Philippines, wherein it is the Supreme Court that is at the apex of this four-tiered hierarchy. At the lowest level of the hierarchy are the first-level courts, consisting of the Municipal Trial Courts (MTCs), Metropolitan Trial...

Words: 6843 - Pages: 28

Free Essay

Lake Dziengel

...1540-4056 online DOI: 10.1080/10538720903332578 Advocacy Coalitions and Punctuated Equilibrium in the Same-Sex Marriage Debate: Learning from Pro-LGBT Policy Changes in Minneapolis and Minnesota LAKE DZIENGEL St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud, Minnesota Policy change to actualize same-sex marriage requires planning and practices that can be most effective to advance marriage equality. This case study examines how building and maintaining strong coalitions aided in attainment and preservation of civil rights and protections for same-sex couples in Minnesota. As a historical policy analysis, it dissects collaborative strategies and events that led to a municipal domestic partner ordinance and state civil rights protections for sexual minorities in Minnesota during 1983–1995. Viewed through the lens of Advocacy Coalition Framework and Punctuated Equilibrium theory, findings support and highlight the importance of strategic planning of developing capable leaders, building strong coalitions, and capitalizing on events to garner public support and advance public policy toward civil rights protections and legal recognition for same-sex couples. KEYWORDS advocacy coalitions, punctuated equilibrium, policy, lesbian, gay, domestic partner benefits INTRODUCTION The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, a large urban community, passed a Domestic Partner Ordinance in 1991 as the result of intensive lobby efforts by community organizers and private citizens and liaison building with the city...

Words: 7472 - Pages: 30

Premium Essay

The Pros And Cons Of Civil Rights And Civil Liberties

...Susongsha 1 1 Susongsha Shrestha Sherry Sharifian Govt 2305 February 11, 2018 Civil Rights and Civil Liberties According to Benzine, civil liberties are limitations placed on the government. They prohibit the government from carrying out activities that infringe people's freedom. The First Amendment provides freedom of religion and hinders government interference. In contrast, civil rights are restrictions on the powers of the majority. They prevent people from making decisions that benefit them at the expense of others. They are assurances of equal conditions by the government. They protect minorities from discrimination by the majorities. An example is same-sex marriages. It seems like a civil liberty issue except not all individuals can...

Words: 1342 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Racism

...SMIT S PATEL Al-min, Nashid ENGLISH 096 4/24/16 If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favour freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” Frederick Douglas said this in 1857 because of the constant struggle blacks had to face to gain their civil rights. Like many sociological ideas, racism has a familiar use and countless everyday meanings. The sociological viewpoint gives race as basically a social category and examines race relations with reference to societal constructions and development. According to Philomena Eased in her book Understanding Everyday Racism, “The specific forms racism takes are determined by the economic, political, social, and organizational conditions of society.” Many people are unaware of racism; people may ask how racism is incorporated in our lives? Why do blacks even believe that individuals are racist towards them? These are constant questions that maybe aren’t asked but definitely questioned. The answer is control. Control is the factor to racism. The more you can bring a group down and make them feel belittled, the easier it is to control them.  Now let’s take a look at the history of slavery with blacks. It all started in Jamestown, Virginia which is where the first slave ships had entered in August of 1619. While blacks became upset because of being enslaved as an indentured servant they started to...

Words: 2142 - Pages: 9