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Supreme Court Systems Ashford University CRJ 501: Criminal Justice Criminal Law & the Constitution Supreme Court Systems There are many Supreme Court decisions that have had and continue to have system wide effects in the field of criminal justice. There has been numerous amounts of change throughout history regarding how the law functions, the principles and procedures. There are three components within the criminal justice system that are in sync with one another and those components safeguard the rights of our citizens, so they are not infringed upon and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty in the court of law. The three components of the criminal justice system are law enforcement, adjudication and corrections. The decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Tennessee v. Garner looked at the regulation and policies on deadly force and the “fleeing felon” rule. It was found that both deadly force and the “fleeing felon” violated one’s Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. After the killing of Edward Garner there was much controversy surrounding the use of deadly force and whether it is a necessary tool when making an arrest of a fleeing felon? There are factors that have been put into place to determine if a suspect is classified as a fleeing felon. The fleeing felon rule was an effect of Tennessee v. Garner (1985), which states “Under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, a police officer may use deadly force to prevent the escape of a fleeing suspect only if the officer has a good-faith belief that the suspect poses a significant threat of death or serious physical injury to the officer or others” (Justia). This Supreme Court case has directly changed and impacted the way that law enforcement determine when the use of deadly force is appropriate when it comes to a fleeing felon. This paper will look at the case of Tennessee v. Garner (1985), the specific component of the criminal justice system that was mostly affected, an analysis of any police
changes due to the legal decision, the systemic effects of a single court ruling and lastly, I will identify and trace system wide transformations that were caused by a particular court ruling. Tennessee v. Garner (1985) Tennessee v. Garner (1985) was a case that went to the Supreme Court. On October 3 of 1974, two officers (Hymon & Wright) responded to a call that was received from a woman who heard noises at her neighbor’s home and a possible burglary. Officer Hymon went to the side of the home to take a look at the scene of the suspected burglary. When he got to the backyard he saw someone running from the back of the house. He turned on his flashlight and seen someone hunkered at the fence where there was some thirty to forty feet between the two. Officer Hymon then pronounced himself as the police and ordered the young man to stop, but instead the young man attempted to jump the fence and get away. As the young man was attempting to get over the fence, Officer Hymon fired his pistol striking the young man in the head. That young man later passed away at the hospital during the operation. That young man was fifteen year old Edward Garner. Edward Garner’s father wanted justice for the unlawful death of his son, as any father would. Mr. Garner knew that the death of his son was a violation of his constitutional rights on the behalf of Officer Hymon and the Memphis Police Department. Did Officer Hymon act in a nature that was lawful and necessary when making an attempt to apprehend Mr. Garner’s fifteen year unarmed son? “Mr. Garner made a judgement to file a civil action in 1974 against Officer Hymon, the Memphis Police Department, the city, the mayor and the Director of the Police (Blume, 1984).” The other parties outside of Officer Hymon were being sued on the basis that they failed to “exercise due care in the hiring, training, and the supervision of Hymon made them equally responsible for Garner’s death (Blume, 1984). It wasn’t until 1976 that the civil lawsuit was heard and was ruled in the favor of Officer Hymon and the rest of the parties that were being sued. “The courts also felt that Garner assumed the risk of being shot by recklessly attempting to escape (oyez).” Even after the decision came back in the favor of Officer Hymon, Mr. Garner
factors have to be present in the situation. The first factor is self-defense. Self-defense is when you need to protect yourself from harm at the hands of others. The officers must feel that their lives are in danger and that the suspect is a threat to them. Next, serious offenses against persons. Then there is nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices, which means that the suspect visibly has an explosive device. Special nuclear material is the fourth factor and that is “prevent the theft, sabotage, or unauthorized control of special nuclear material from an area of a fixed site or from a shipment where Category II or greater quantities are known or reasonably believed to be present (cornell.edu).” Lastly, apprehension is justified when 1 or more of the previously states factors has been identified or if the suspect escapes by use of a deadly weapon and they pose a threat to the officers and persons nearby. After the ruling there were many states that adopted the change. Operational Policy, Hiring, or Training Policy that was, or Would Be Required to Change Due to the Legal Decision One of the prevalent and most noticeable changes is that the police must have probable cause in order to use deadly force on a suspect. The suspect must be a threat to the police and the community. In order to know that one is a threat to you, one must be able to assess the situation at hand in in a timely matter. Risk assessment is now a part of the training policy. Being able to effectively complete a risk assessment prior to engaging in things such as deadly force will help minimize the amount of police shootings that occur. The decision by the Supreme Court “validates that decisions can have a strong effect on police behavior (Rainville, G. (2001).” In order to make sure that the departments are complying with the changes there has to be a system put into place on inspections and things of that nature. With the amount of police killings in the past years it only makes you wonder if these officers are receiving the proper training and if the departments are complying with the laws that came from the decision of the Supreme Court. Systemic Effect the Supreme Court’s Decision Had, or Has, For the Remaining Components of the Justice System
The two lasting components of the justice system are courts and corrections. The systemic effect that the Supreme Court’s decision had on these two components was that they looked more into what is justified and what is not justified when it comes to deadly force and to reexamine the common law rule as it effect the law today (Welling, C. F., 2016). Yet many states did modify their policies after Tennessee v Garner; such as Missouri. The Missouri police department now abides by the Garner rule in their training and jury directives for law enforcements use of force. The Missouri Statue still upheld the common law rule. In 2015 of Bills were proposed to the General Assembly to make the law in Missouri closer to the Garner standard, however; none of them made it to a full vote (St. Lewis University of Law, (2017). Detail How a Single Court Ruling Can Have a Systemic Effect There is one instance of how a single court ruling can have systemic effects and can be seen in the Garner vs. Tennessee case. There were eleven states after Garner that have altered their constitutional laws to go by the Garner standard. The modification of the guidelines has reduced volatile bodily control. There now needs to be a sensible explanation that shines light that the absconding offender has committed a wrongdoing or that the action being carried out is aggressive to a degree. The Garner vs. Tennessee case has also created a trace system-wide transformation caused by the ruling that there must be “reasonable cause” that the offender in search is threatening towards the officer or others. Tennenbaum mentions, “the Garner decision seems to have reduced police homicides directly (by reducing police shooting at fleeing felons), and indirectly (by influencing police departments to reduce and modify their guidelines beyond Garner to appear just and sensitive to the public). As a result, all police shooting unrelated to protecting life seems to be declining (Tennenbaum, 1994).” Tennessee v. Garner has also made others want to become amenable with the rules and protocols as well as look at the Fourth Amendment in an altered way. In the Garner v. Tennessee case the court replied to a case that the use of lethal supremacy to detain a suspect who runs doesn’t have all the dynamics of being equipped and marginalized the respondents rights, in spite of the form of what may be
Jonathan M. Smith, Closing the Gap Between What is Lawful and What is Right in Police Use of Force Jurisprudence by Making Police Departments More Democratic Institutions, 21 MICH.J. RACE& L. 315 (2016). Tennessee v. Garner, 471 U.S. 1 (1985). (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2020, from https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/471/1/ Tennessee v. Garner. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved December 5, 2020, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1984/83- Tennenbaum, A. N. (1994). The Influence of the Garner Decision on Police Use of Deadly Force, 85 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 241(1994-1995) The Use of Deadly Force. Retrieved December 5, 2020, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/10/1047. St. Lewis University of Law, (2017). Police use of Deadly Force: State Statues 30 years after Garner, https://www.slu.edu/colleges/law/journal/police-use-of-deadly-force-state-statues-30- years-after-garner/ Welling. C.F. (2016). Police Use of Deadly Force: State Statues 30 years after Garner, Retrieved August 18, 2016, from http://www.slu.edu/colleges/law/journal/police-use-of-deadly-force-state- statues-30-years-after-garmer/
