Civil Rights
Do I have to show my ID to police?Posted in Civil Rights,Criminal Law,Privacy on November 25, 2014
Citizen-police encounters often begin with an officer asking for identification. People generally provide this information without questioning the legitimacy of the request. In circumstances where a citizen does question the officer, a typical response is generally, “because I’m a police officer,” or “because I said so.” But what if the officer is wrong? What if… read more…
[B]lack?Posted in Civil Rights,Discrimination on November 20, 2014
A new study was published regarding differences between use of the words “African-American” and “Black.” In the findings, researches discovered that participants in the study were more likely to associate negative words with the term “Black” than “African-American”: Perhaps, each term evoked different individuals. For example, if White Americans were told that an African-American man… read more…
How do police hack your phone without a warrant?Posted in Civil Rights,Privacy on November 18, 2014
As local police departments militarize their weapons, it was only a matter of time before they upgraded their surveillance systems as well. Thanks to a small portable device known as a “Stingray” – about the size of a box of doughnuts- police are able to vacuum up loads of cell phone data from regular citizens… read more…
Princeton Guilty of Violating Title IXPosted in Civil Rights on November 16, 2014
Princeton University has agreed to settle a Title IX investigation with the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. According to reports, “The government found that [Princeton] had failed to respond ‘promptly and equitably’ to complaints of sexual violence in violation of federal law.” Story here. A report issued by the Office of Civil Rights stated… read more…
Did police properly respond to suspected “suicide-by-cop”?Posted in Civil Rights,Excessive Force on November 6, 2014
How should police respond when a person has communicated a intent to provoke a deadly confrontation? According to reports by the Tulsa World, this scenario recently occurred in east Tulsa and resulted in an officer shooting a citizen armed with two BB guns. You can read the article here. According to reports, a suicide hotline… read more…
Does Apple’s TouchID protect data from police? You might be surprisedPosted in Civil Rights,Privacy on November 3, 2014
Apple’s new TouchID – which unlocks the iPhone using a fingerprint instead of a four digit password – is intended to ratchet up the security level of the data stored on your phone. While this new feature may frustrate hackers, it may be less effective at keeping out the police, and may actually give them… read more…
Is the county responsible for the acts of its deputies?Posted in Civil Rights,Excessive Force on October 29, 2014
Who is responsible when an on-duty sheriff’s deputy sexually assaults a citizen? The arrest of former Tulsa County Sheriff’s deputy Gerald Nuckolls will test that question. Nuckolls was arrested in September for allegedly assaulting two women while on duty, and the Tulsa World is now reporting that prosecutors have charged Nuckolls in connection with another… read more…
Court rules that qualified immunity does not apply to Bosh claimsPosted in Civil Rights,Excessive Force on July 22, 2014
Attocknie v. Smith, 2014 WL _________ (E.D.Okla. 2014) (citation pending), the court held that the doctrine of qualified immunity does not apply to Bosh claims arising under state law involving excessive force. Qualified immunity is a doctrine that applies to federal civil rights claims that says if the law was not clearly established at the… read more…
Federal court holds Bosh decision applies beyond jailsPosted in Civil Rights,Excessive Force,Uncategorized on June 28, 2014
In a recent decision from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, the court held that the Oklahoma state constitutional right recognized in Bosh v. Cherokee County Governmental Building Authority, 335 P.3d 904 (Okla. 2013) applies beyond the four walls of a county jail. In other words, Oklahoma’s state constitutional right… read more…
Bosh decision applies to arrests and seizures, says OK Appeals CourtPosted in Civil Rights,Excessive Force on June 24, 2014
On May 9, 2014, the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals held that application of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bosh v. Cherokee County Governmental Building Authority, 305 P.3d 994 (Okla. 2013) requires an arrest or seizure. See Jackson v. Oklahoma City School Public School, 2014 OK CIV APP 61. In Jackson, the parents of a… read more…