Judicial Decisions and the Excessive Use of Force

• In Event: State Repression and Human Rights I

Abstract

How do police respond to judicial decisions? In this article, we investigate the effect of judicial decisions on the use of force by U.S. police officers. We focus on the extent to which restrictive and permissive court rulings regarding the use of electronic control devices (ECDs)—colloquially known as TASERs—make officers more hesitant to use excessive force. To test the implications of our theory, we take advantage of variance in United States Courts of Appeals rulings on the extent to which ECDs constitute excessive use-of-force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Authors

• Courtenay R. Conrad, University of California, Merced

• Kristine Eck, Uppsala University

• Sophia Hatz, Department of Peace and Conflict Research