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21 Berkeley J. Afr.-Am. L. & Pol'y 1 (2020-2021)

handle is hein.journals/afamlpol21 and id is 1 raw text is: It Should Never Be Justified: A Critical Examination of the Binary Paradigm Used to Categorize Police Shootings Allen Slater* IN T R O D U C T IO N ....................................................................................................2 I.THE STORIES BEHIND THE BULLET ................................................................ 5 II.WE ARE NOT BOUND TO THE BINARY PARADIGM ....................................... 7 A. Tennessee v. Garner: The Origin of the Binary Paradigm........... 8 B. Scott v. Harris: Police Discretion Widens.................................. 10 C. Plumhoff v. Rickard: Reinforcing the Scott Standard................ 11 D. The Real-World Consequences of the Case Law........................ 12 III.WHY HAS THE BINARY PARADIGM PERSISTED? ....................................... 15 A. Dehumanization and the Perpetration of Violence ........................16 1. Police Militarization and Dehumanization........................... 18 2. Dehumanization and Marginalized Groups in America........... 20 a. A frican-A m ericans ........................................................ 21 b. N ative A m ericans .......................................................... 22 c. L atinx People................................................................. 23 d. People with M ental Illness ........................................... 23 3. Why Dehumanization Matters ............................................. 24 B. They Deserved It-Dehumanizing Police Victims with the Language of Justification .......................................................... 25 IV.USING A SPECTRUM APPROACH TO BREAK OUT OF THE BINARY ................ 27 A. The Law of Negligence in Torts as a Blueprint ......................... 29 B. Applying a Spectrum Approach to Police Shootings................. 30 C O N C L U SIO N ................................................................................................... 3 5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15779/Z388P5V97M *. Allen J. Slater is a former law enforcement officer of nearly five years; he served as a corrections officer, a rural sheriff's deputy, and a municipal police officer. S.B., Middle Tennessee State University (2009), M.S., Eastern Kentucky University (2014), J.D. expected 2021, University of Alabama. Thanks to Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic for inspiration, support, and incisive comments and suggestions, and to the excellent BJALP editorial staff. Finally, thanks to my wife Julie, for her boundless patience and encouragement. 1