ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 introduces the concept of the State’s right to use sanctioned violence against its citizens to preserve peace and maintain order. Without law enforcement, society’s laws and governance structure would be rendered meaningless. However, law enforcement agents do not have unfettered discretion; agents have a limited set of powers that are designed to balance the right of the State to protect its citizenry with the individual right to be free from unreasonable government intrusion. When a law enforcement agent uses force to ensure compliance with the State’s laws, the government activates an accountability mechanism to review the agent’s actions. Most people do not understand the legal apparatus and tend to impose their own views of justice and accountability. When an unarmed offender is killed by the police, there is an overriding social sense that the police officer acted in bad faith. This is often a misconception since unarmed does not mean defenseless, nonthreatening, or not dangerous, a fact that courts have consistently recognized. Publicly available data show that when an unarmed offender was killed by an officer, the officer or a third person was facing an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury in 88% of the situations.
