The Qualified Immunity Doctrine
Why police officers are protected from civil lawsuits
Qualified immunity is a judicially created legal doctrine that shields government officials performing discretionary duties from civil liability in cases involving the deprivation of statutory or constitutional rights. Government officials are entitled to qualified immunity so long as their actions do not violate “clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” The Supreme Court has observed that qualified immunity balances two important interests — “the need to hold public officials accountable …
