NCJ Number
100359
Date Published
1985
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Arguments for and against capital punishment have implications for police policy on the use of deadly force.
Abstract
The extension of retentionist arguments for capital punishment to the police use of deadly force would imply a balancing test. Any deadly force policy would be grounded in compelling reasons for overriding individual rights to further a specified common good. The application of deadly force would be restricted to a few suspected offenders sufficiently dangerous to the public that their escape be stopped by means that extend to deadly force. In extending arguments against capital punishment to a deadly force policy, the policy would respect a citizen's fundamental rights and the sanctity of human life. Accordingly, police would be permitted to use deadly force only when the suspect is an immediate threat to another person's life, either an officer or a civilian, and cannot be incapacitated except by the use of deadly force. Under either policy, the common law rule which permits the use of deadly force to prevent any felony or to apprehend any fleeing felon is not justified; neither is the forcible felon rule, which permits deadly force to prevent a felony involving the use of force or to stop the escape of the perpetrator. 29 notes.