Police Brutality as Democide in the United States: The Supreme Court’s Acquiescence to Police-Civilian Violence

Authors

Jillian Fantuzzi, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Abstract

"Never again" is a power phrase used by survivors, observers, scholars, and descendants of survivors when reflecting on the mass casualties of innocent civilians resulting from government methods, like Nazism, ethnic cleansing, communism, and genocide, to exterminate groups deemed different or less than. Many blame dictatorial regimes for these mass atrocities, making democracy appear as a sound solution due to its attractive system ofchecks and balances. However, where the government agents responsible for mass killings of unarmed civilians remain unchecked by the judiciary, the product is not democracy but "democide." This unchecked power serves as a method of persecution of minorities, the least powerful members of society

Disciplines

Comparative and Foreign Law | Human Rights Law | International Law | Law

Recommended Citation

Jillian Fantuzzi, Police Brutality as Democide in the United States: The Supreme Court’s Acquiescence to Police-Civilian Violence, 8 Cardozo Int’l & Compar. L. Rev. 141 (2025).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/ciclr/vol8/iss1/5