Qualified Immunity is a principle established by the courts through precedence to protect police officers from civil lawsuits, but it has become a way for police officers to not be held accountable for their violations of constitutional rights and excessive force.

We call on the Ohio Legislature and Mike Dewine to put an end to qualified immunity in Ohio!

The Law:

Every person, who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. 

Translation: If a government official violates your Constitutional rights, the law, or abuses their power, they can be held accountable and sued in a court of law. 

Qualified immunity:

It shall not be a defense or immunity to any action brought under this section that the defendant was acting in good faith, or that the defendant believed, reasonably or otherwise, that his or her conduct was lawful at the time it was committed. Nor shall it be a defense of immunity that the rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution or laws were not clearly established at the time of their deprivation by the defendant, or that the state of the law was otherwise such that the defendant could not reasonably be expected to know whether his or her conduct was lawful.

Translation: Government officials may not be legally held personally accountable for violation of the law or a person’s Constitutional rights in a civil lawsuit, if those rights were not clearly established, or if the officer believed they were following the law.

Even in cases that are proved to use too much force, police are still often granted immunity. In an independent investigation by Reuters, more than half of the 252 cases they studied from 2015 to 2019, the court granted immunity to the police. More than three dozen of these cases protected officers who had broken the law.

“Qualified immunity means that government officials can get away with violating your rights as long as they violated them in a way nobody thought of before, and that means that the most egregious abuses are frequently the ones for which no one can be held to account,” (Institute for Justice attorney Anya Bidwell). 

Practices like qualified immunity allow police officers more freedom to use excessive force which disproportionately harms the Black community. In Ohio, from 2013 to 2019, police killed 215 people and 80 of them were Black. That is 37% of killings, while Black Ohioans only make up 12.35% of the population according to the last census. 

 

Colorado- On Friday, June 19, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a comprehensive police reform bill that ended the practice of qualified immunity. Colorado is currently the only state to do so.

Congress- On Wednesday, June 17, Democrats on the House Judiciary committee advanced legislation regarding police reform that includes a dissolution of the principle of qualified immunity. This bill will likely make it to the rest of the house floor the following week for discussion and revision. Let your Ohio representatives know that you want them to vote for an end to qualified immunity! 

Steve Chabot: Republican from Cincinnati (513) 684-2723  (202) 225-2216

Brad Wenstrup: Republican from Cincinnati (513) 474-7777 (202) 225-3164

Joyce Beatty: Democrat from Columbus 614-220-0003 (202)-225-4324

Jim Jordan: Republican from Urbana (419) 663-1426  (202) 225-2676

Bob Latta: Republican from Bowling Green (419) 354-8700 (202) 225-6405 

Bill Johnson: Republican from Marietta (740) 376-0868 (202) 225-5705

Bob Gibbs: Republican from Washington Township (419) 207-0650  (202) 225-6265

Warren Davidson: Republican from Troy (937)-339-1524 (202) 225-6205

Marcy Kaptur: Democrat from Toledo (419) 259-7500 (202) 225-4146

Mike Turner: Republican from Dayton (937) 225-2843 (202) 225-6465

Marcia Fudge: Democrat from Warrensville Heights (216) 522-4900 (202) 225-7032

Troy Balderson: Republican from Zanesville (614) 523-2555 (202) 225-5355

Tim Ryan: Democrat from Niles (330) 630-7311 (202) 225-5261

Dave Joyce: Republican from Richmond Heights (440) 352-3939 (202) 225-5731

Steve Stivers: Republican from Upper Arlington (614) 771-4968 (202) 225-2015

Anthony Gonzalez: Republican from Rocky River (330) 599-7037 (202) 225-3876