The role of criminal law is to identify, discourage, and, when necessary, punish behavior that harms other people or otherwise threatens the very fabric of civil society. In order to be legitimate, a criminal justice system must accomplish those tasks in a way that is substantively and procedurally fair while ensuring accountability from government officials who abuse their authority. Cato’s research focuses on unconstitutional overcriminalization, self‐defeating policing, coercive plea bargaining, and challenging our policy of near‐zero accountability for law enforcement.
Criminal Justice
Featured Content
The Supreme Court Won’t Save Us from Qualified Immunity
Reform is gaining steam among legislators more than courts.
Is the Supreme Court Beginning to Curtail Qualified Immunity?
The Supreme Court created and has long supported a tortured reading of federal law that helps public officials escape accountability for violating your rights. That may be changing in a small way. Still, Clark Neily and Jay Schweikert argue that qualified immunity will continue to protect malicious public officials until lawmakers step in to fix it.
Criminal Justice and The Vanishing Trial
Why do so few defendants get their day in court? Kevin Ring of FAMM discusses The Vanishing Trial. You may also host a screening of the film.
Ben and Jerry and the Campaign to End Qualified Immunity
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are the icons better known for Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Now they’re focusing their notoriety on ending qualified immunity. Ben, Jerry, and Cato’s Jay Schweikert comment on the campaign to end the powerful, court‐invented doctrine that shields public officials from accountability.
Qualified Immunity: A Legal, Practical, and Moral Failure
Qualified immunity is a judicial doctrine that protects public officials from liability, even when they break the law. The doctrine has no valid legal basis, it regularly denies justice to victims whose rights have been violated, and it severely undermines official accountability, especially for members of law enforcement.
Featured Project
End Qualified Immunity
Qualified immunity is a judicial doctrine that shields public officials, like police officers, from liability when they break the law. Cato’s Project on Criminal Justice chose to make the elimination of qualified immunity one of its top priorities nearly three years ago for the simple reason that civil society is impossible without a well‐functioning criminal justice system.