ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses supervisory liability actions and critical managerial responsibility. Criminal justice administrators can be held liable if inadequate or improper training causes injury or the violation of an individual's constitutional rights. Ongoing training is critical for avoiding civil litigation and in structuring a defense to legal assertions. Following Monell v. New York City Department of Social Services, numerous § 1983 lawsuits have been filed against criminal justice departments on the basis that the incident involved misconduct that was motivated by the agency adopting a policy or custom of inadequate training or supervision of officers. Deliberate indifference can mean a callous disregard of known risks and failing to take steps to abate them, or a conscious choice from among several alternatives. Deliberate indifference is a higher standard for a plaintiff to prove in court. Thomas v. Sheahan found that failure to train prosecutors in their Brady obligations did not fall within the narrow range of Canton's hypothesized single-incident liability.
