End the Court Doctrine That Enables Police Brutality
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
When a Minneapolis jury last month convicted the former police officer Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd on May 25, 2020, many Americans celebrated. At last, a moment of accountability, if not quite justice, in the face of persistent police brutality.
But for all the justified relief at the verdict, a troubling reality lurks: Had Mr. Chauvin not been criminally prosecuted — as the vast majority of police who kill in the line of duty are not — he may well have faced no consequences at all.
How is that possible? The whole world saw the video, saw Mr. Chauvin kneel calmly on Mr. Floyd’s neck for nine minutes even as he gasped for air, begged for his mother and, finally, went limp.
No reasonable officer could make the case that Mr. Floyd’s killing was justified. Yet thanks to a half-century-old judge-made doctrine, they don’t have to. The doctrine, known as qualified immunity, has developed over the years into an impenetrable barrier to relief for many victims of police brutality — or, as in the case of Mr. Floyd, for victims’ families.
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