Qualified immunity: unveiling police violence and misconduct in the United States

Police violence and misconduct have been evident throughout American history. The earliest forms of policing began in the 1700s in the Carolinas with “Slave Patrols”. It was established to terrorize and suppress enslaved Africans and to apprehend and return the runaway slaves to their owners.1 During the 1960s, direct causations of racial tension and riots was also a conjunction with President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Crime” initiative. This section documents the history of police violence and misconduct between the periods of 1960 through the early 2000s. The overlapping theme of qualified immunity highlights a prominent role in issues arising from civil rights and accountability.