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14: Police Use of Force

  • Page ID
    16208
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    • 14.1: Graham v. Conner
      This page discusses the Supreme Court case Dethorne Graham v. M.S. Connor, which establishes that excessive force claims against police should be judged by the Fourth Amendment's "objective reasonableness" standard. The ruling clarifies that individuals like Graham, who suffered an injury during a police stop without having committed a crime, do not need to prove malicious intent by the police to support their claims of excessive force.
    • 14.2: Tennessee v. Garner
      This page examines the Supreme Court case Tennessee v. Garner, which evaluated the constitutionality of a law allowing police to use deadly force against fleeing suspected felons under the Fourth Amendment. The court ruled 6-3 that such force is only justified if the suspect poses a significant threat, declaring the Tennessee law unconstitutional for permitting lethal action against unarmed individuals.


    This page titled 14: Police Use of Force was last modified on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 06:34:52 GMT and is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Larry Alvarez via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.