George Floyd's heritage: police officers can deprive qualified immunity. And this is only the beginning

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So, one of the most high-profile trials of recent times ended: the jury found the ex-police Derek Chuvin guilty of all three points of accusation of the murder of black-haired George Floyd. The judicial sentence will be announced in a few weeks, but now many experts are trying to answer the question of how this decision will affect the level of police violence in the country and how legislators can prevent the repetition of such incidents. What is the legacy of George Floyd in general?

The professor of jurisprudence from the University of Toronto Kent Rouch recalls the doctrine of qualified (conditional) immunity , which, in fact, protects civil servants (including law enforcement officers) from personal responsibility for violation of constitutional rights of other persons. This doctrine, writes The Washington Post, has already raised the questions and criticism of the American legal community, including judges of the US Supreme Court for quite some time.

So, Judge Sonya Sotomayor believes that today Case Law (precedent practice) on the issue of providing qualified immunity has gone far beyond its original understanding. She encourages the officer “to shoot first and then think”, this is “an absolute shield for law enforcement officers”.

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