Popular Reviews of Unaccountable

A deeply affecting examination of the undemocratic and nonlegal policy of Qualified Immunity, the purpose of which is to shield bad cops from being held responsible for violating the rights of people they are sworn to protect.I did not know this going in and it made me especially upset but, despite the fact that citizens cannot claim ignorance of the law as a defense in court, officers of the law who are sworn to uphold the law can and do escape the legal consequences for breaking the law by claiming THEY DIDN’T KNOW IT WAS AGAINST THE LAW. Qualified Immunity was never legislated. It was created by the Supreme Court in the 1960s to shield racist cops from being held accountable for committing civil rights abuses. Absolutely astonishing that our leaders today want to maintain Qualified Immunity because getting rid of it will mean no one will sign up to be a police officer anymore. Good cops who swear the oath in good faith don't need Qualified Immunity because good cops don't ignore their training and kill unarmed people or use excessive force or coerce murder confessions from an innocent child or lie to families and lie to courts about their outrageous and egregious abuses of power. Qualified Immunity must be eradicated from legal precedent for the police to begin the work of rebuilding trust. Officers who knowingly and willingly abuse the civil rights of others abuse the public's trust and hurt the good people on both sides. Those officers must be held accountable for their actions for us to move forward and that will never happen so long as Qualified Immunity is permitted to be used as a defense in court.