Several Vermont lawmakers are planning to introduce a bill in January that would eliminate certain legal protections for police officers accused of civil rights violations, otherwise known as qualified immunity.
If passed, Vermont would follow a number of other states — including Colorado and New Mexico — that have either limited or eliminated qualified immunity as police reform advocates say the legal defense has often blocked officer accountability and justice for victims of police misconduct or excessive force, according to a news release from the American Civil Liberties Union in Vermont.
"Qualified immunity is incompatible with civil rights, and ending qualified immunity is a racial justice imperative," said NAACP leaders for Rutland and Windham counties Mia Schultz and Steffen Gillom in a joint statement.
"As with so much of our legal system, police misconduct impacts Black people in Vermont disproportionately, and qualified immunity is yet another systemic barrier standing between people of color and their ability to secure their rights."
More: Vermont wants to ban qualified immunity. Success in other New England states is lacking.
Qualified immunity is a legal defense that protects government officials, like police officers, from lawsuits alleging they violated a person's rights while carrying out the duties of their job, according to Cornell Law. The defense only applies in civil cases, not in criminal cases.
In police cases, for example, this defense is often used when officers are accused of excessive force.
The law was meant to balance situations in which government officials were performing their duties reasonably versus when government officials act irresponsibly and violate a "clearly established" constitutional right, Cornell Law's definition states.
Police reform advocates have argued that the bar is too high to overcome qualified immunity in a civil case, according to USA TODAY.
Four co-sponsors of the bill — Democrats Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Sen. Becca Balint, Sen. Phil Baruth and Sen. Dick Sears — plan to introduce the legislation at the start of the next session. The bill has the support of advocacy organizations, including the ACLU-Vermont, the NAACP in Rutland and Windham counties, the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, and the Campaign to End Qualified immunity, the news release stated.
Recent polling by the ACLU in Vermont also showed that three out of every four Vermonters across the state favored ending qualified immunity for police officers. Most people polled also said they thought the state needed to do more to ensure police are only using force when absolutely necessary.
"Support for ending qualified immunity extends to every part of the state, from 62 percent among Northeast Kingdom residents to 78 percent in central Vermont," the ACLU-Vermont's news release stated.
Contact Elizabeth Murray at 802-310-8585 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizMurrayBFP.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont lawmakers want to end qualified immunity for police officers
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