Civil Rights Violations

As a United States citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident, you are entitled to certain freedoms and Constitutional rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to peacefully assemble, the right to procedural due process, the right to freedom from discrimination (for certain protected classes), and the right to petition the government. Civil rights violations occur when there is force or threat of force used against a victim who is a member of a protected class.

This could include any person discriminated against because of their race, disability, national origin, color, age, or gender. We usually think of civil rights violations being those that occur in the workplace—sexual harassment in the workplace, hostile work environment, or hiring, firing, promoting, or failing to promote a person based on his or her race, gender, or other protected class. More and more often, however, we are seeing civil rights violations by law enforcement.

Civil rights violations by law enforcement involve any abuse of power by law enforcement or any time law enforcement uses its power to deprive a person of his or her civil rights. Everyone in the United States has the right to be free from excessive force used by law enforcement as guaranteed by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Who Protects Your Civil Rights?

The FBI generally helps protect the civil rights of Americans, battling the Ku Klux Klan as early as 1918, and handling color of law cases involving police brutality. Today, the FBI continues to count as one of its top priorities, protecting the civil rights of those living in the United States. Any allegations of federal civil rights violations are investigated by the FBI, in conjunction with state and local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, community and minority groups, and non-governmental organizations. The FBI counts as its priorities:

Hate crimes have a devastating impact on communities, families, and individuals. The FBI investigates hundreds of hate crimes every year, working through public outreach, law enforcement training, and community groups to detect and prevent hate crimes.
Color of Law provides law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges with tremendous powers to enforce the law and ensure justice. The powers include detainment, arrests, searches and seizures, bringing criminal charges, making court rulings, and, in certain situations, using deadly force. Abuse of these powers is known as violations of Color of law, meaning a person is willfully deprived of his or her Constitutional protections. Color of law violations can include any of the following by law enforcement: the use of excessive force, sexual assault, false arrest, obstruction of justice, deprivation of medical care, and failure to keep from harm.
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act Violations (FACE) involves the escalation of acts of violence and harassment directed toward clinics and healthcare providers for women’s reproductive health. FACE has made it a federal crime to interfere in any way, intimidate, or injure those attempting to provide or obtain reproductive healthcare services. This includes making threatening phone calls, sending out threatening mailings, physically blockading a clinic, burglarizing a clinic, murder, and assault.

What are the Most Common Types of Civil Rights Violation by Law Enforcement?

The most common types of civil rights violations by law enforcement include:

Illegal Search and Seizure—In theory, the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution limits the authority of law enforcement to make invasive searches or seize items. Recent decisions, however, have potentially impacted how police may search your person and your property. In essence, you have the right to privacy in certain instances and the right against law enforcement invading that privacy. To determine whether your right to privacy (and your rights against unlawful searches and seizures) has been violated, a court will determine whether a reasonable person would believe there was an expectation of privacy under the same circumstances and whether this expectation of privacy is recognized by society.

If it is determined that your rights were violated, then any unlawfully seized evidence will not be allowed to be used against you during a criminal trial. This does not necessarily mean the charges will be dropped, particularly if the prosecutor has sufficient evidence to proceed without the excluded evidence. Law enforcement is not only prohibited from unlawful searches and seizures, but they are also prohibited from using any unlawfully seized evidence or information as probable cause for a further evidence search (“fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.”)

In most cases, law enforcement must have a properly executed search warrant to search your person or property, although there are certain exceptions. Even with a search warrant, there must be specific and sufficient probable cause for the search, and the search warrant must be supported by sworn affidavits or oaths of the officers, stating the probable cause, as well as including a specific place, individual, and items being searched. If an officer asks to enter your home, search your person, or search your vehicle, and you consent, you have likely given up your right to challenge the legality of any search or seizure.

Violations of Miranda Rights—A failure to properly Mirandize you following your arrest (read your rights to you), does not mean you are going to go scot-free, rather only that any information gleaned directly from you may not be used in your trial. Your Miranda rights give you the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. It is important to ask for an attorney as soon as you are arrested—then refuse to answer any questions from law enforcement until your attorney arrives. There are some exceptions to your Miranda rights, including:
You are being asked questions that are always asked in any standard booking procedure;
The current situation involves an emergency hostage or negotiation situation;
You were unaware you were speaking to a police officer—i.e., the officer was in plain clothes and did not identify himself or herself as law enforcement;
Preserving public safety is at issue, requiring police questioning, or
You voluntarily agreed to meet law enforcement and speak to them and your conversation is being secretly taped.

In any of the above situations, your Miranda rights could be diminished—or could not exist. As an example, if you are holding others hostage, threatening to harm them, then the police can question you even if you have asked for legal representation and the attorney has not yet shown up.

Police Brutality—When excessive or illegal force is used against civilians by law enforcement, it is classified under police brutality. The police are supposed to make us feel safe, yet more and more often we are reading about incidents of police brutality—particularly against minorities and other vulnerable groups. Police brutality is an unwarranted display of force and violates your most basic civil rights. While police brutality typically involves excessive or unnecessary force, intimidation, rape, threats of violence, assault, wrongful shootings, inmate abuse, inappropriate use of pepper spray, nightsticks, or tasers, wrongful death, or sexual assault, it can also involve intimidation tactics, verbal abuse, forced or coerced confessions, false arrest, illegal search and seizure, and falsified evidence. African Americans have been the primary—though not the only—target of police brutality in the United States. Those who have suffered violations of their civil rights in the form of police brutality should definitely speak to a civil rights attorney.

Police Misconduct—Police misconduct encompasses many things, including police brutality as well as dishonesty, fraud, coercion, abuse of authority, torture to force confessions, false testimony, falsifying evidence, or demanding sexual favors in exchange for leniency. All of these types of misconduct increase the likelihood of a wrongful conviction. According to the Cato Institute, at least one percent of all law enforcement officers commit misconduct during any given year. Many believe that the number is much higher. Further, it was determined that police misconduct is a factor in more than half of all wrongful convictions in the United States. Law enforcement officers have the job of making society safe, however, in some instances their zeal, and the power they wield over the average citizen leads them to make a case that otherwise would never make it to trial. This is an exceptional injustice, made worse by the fact that officers are reluctant to report misconduct among their fellow officers.

Unlawful Police Wiretaps—Law enforcement is required to obtain a warrant prior to wiretapping someone’s phone, however, this step is not always included by the police. You are protected from an unlawful police wiretap through your Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. The exact procedure for obtaining a wiretapping warrant varies from state to state.

Unlawful Arrests—An unlawful or “false” arrest occurs when the police wrongfully hold you against your will or take you into custody when you have committed no crime. While most unlawful arrests involve an arrest not supported by evidence, this is not the only standard that measures whether law enforcement has committed an unlawful arrest. To be guilty of unlawful arrest, the police must act without authority, or beyond the scope of their powers. The standard for false arrest lies in whether the police had a reasonable suspicion that the individual committed a criminal offense.