Why Police Should Protect Complainant Autonomy
Abstract
This Article describes a simple way to limit the high cost of police misconduct, which is informed by background principles from U.S. civil procedure. It does so by calling for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) to better protect the complainant autonomy of injured citizens under the scaled-down process that is used to resolve certain legal claims against officers. Complainant autonomy is an injured citizen’s right to control how its claims are drafted and framed, even over the objection of a nominal plaintiff, regardless of whether such a right to do so is clearly established or not.
This paper has been withdrawn.