William Harmening

The Deadly Force Script (eBook, ePUB)

How the Police in America Defend the use of Excessive Force

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

How many times have you read a news story about someone being shot by the police while reaching for their waistband? Or about an officer who testified at trial that the person he shot during a physical struggle had superhuman strength or a thousand-yard stare in his eyes? And how many times have you watched a police chief or sheriff during a press conference invoke the "21-foot rule" to justify their officer's killing of a mentally ill person with a knife?

These and a host of other verbal devices are what author William Harmening calls the "deadly force script." It is a strategy that has been employed with great success by the law enforcement community in the decades following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Tennessee v. Garner (1985), the case that for the first time placed significant restrictions on a police officer's use of deadly force. It is a strategy that has gone relatively unnoticed by the general public, the media, elected prosecutors, and the judges and juries who must rule on the reasonableness of an officer's actions.

Now, perhaps for the very first time, William Harmening pulls back the veil to expose the deadly force script for all to see. He does this in a unique and informative way by presenting actual case studies where the script was employed following a deadly police encounter, typically right under the unsuspecting noses of local media and the prosecutor tasked with deciding whether to criminally charge the officers involved. Anyone with an interest in the twin ideals of an equitable system of justice and a professional and bias-free police force will find this book both fascinating and enlightening.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: American Bar Association
• Seitenzahl: 253
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. November 2021
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781639050055
• Artikelnr.: 69107541

Autorenporträt

William Harmening is a retired Illinois law enforcement officer and former professor of forensic psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. He has authored numerous textbooks in the areas of criminal justice and forensic psychology and has consulted as an expert witness in over two-hundred police use-of-force cases in thirty-five states, including the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a 1994 graduate of the University of Illinois at Springfield (M.A. Psychology) and a 1982 graduate of the Illinois State Police Academy. He now lives near Nashville, TN.

Inhaltsangabe

Foreword by Carl E. Douglas ix
Chapter 1 A State of Mind 1
Chapter 2 The Case of Kajieme Powell: St. Louis, Missouri
An Accidental Expert: Leveling the Playing Field 13
Chapter 3 The Case of Cedrick Chatman: Chicago, Illinois
How the Police Justify Shooting an Unarmed
Suspect in the Back 25
Chapter 4 The Deadly Force Theater
Those Who Make the Wheels Turn and Those
Who Attempt to Apply the Brakes 35
Chapter 5 The Case of Dontre Hamilton: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Thousand-Yard Stare: How the Police Use a Misunderstood Phenomenon to
Create an Illusion
of Danger 51
Chapter 6 The Case of Michael Brown: Ferguson, Missouri
The Myth of the Superhuman Black Man: How the
Police Weaponize Negative Stereotypes 65
Chapter 7 The Case of John Deming Jr.: Pleasanton, California
The De-escalation Paradox: Who Responds When
It Is the Police Who Need to Be De-escalated? 85
Chapter 8 The Case of Anthony Soderberg: Los Angeles, California
Perceptual Distortion: How the Police Strategically See Things That Are Not
There and Fail to
See Things That Are 97
Chapter 9 The Case of Michael Dial: White County, Tennessee
The Vehicle Pursuit: Pavlov¿s Bell for a
Deadly Ending 113
Chapter 10 The Case of Nicholas Dyksma: Columbus, Georgia
Compressional Asphyxia: How the Police Conceal
and Defend a Deadly Tactic 127
Chapter 11 The Case of Isaiah Murrietta: Fresno, California
The Waistband Defense: When the Police Reach
for an Excuse 139
Chapter 12 The Case of Drew Edwards: Maquoketa, Iowa
Excited Delirium: A Popular Excuse with Deadly Consequences 151
Chapter 13 The Case of Jorge Ramirez: Bakersfield, California
Contagious Fire: When One Shoots, They All Shoot 165
Chapter 14 The Case of Tommy Le: Seattle, Washington
How the Police Can Turn Anything (Even an Ink Pen)
into a Deadly Weapon 181
Chapter 15 The Case of Bryan Carreño: Santa Barbara, California
Suicide by Cop: The Perfect Justification for a
Perfectly Unjustified Shooting 195
Chapter 16 The Case of John Cruz Jr.: Edgewater, Colorado
The Cost of Being Expendable 211
Chapter 17 The Case of George Floyd: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Lessons Learned and the Path Forward 227
Index 245