Today, attorneys from Loevy & Loevy submitted an amicus curiae brief to the United States Supreme Court on behalf of former corrections administrators and experts in the case of Kingsley v. Hendrickson, et al. The case calls on the Supreme Court to decide whether allegations of excessive force by pretrial detainees (individuals who are held in jails while their criminal cases are pending) should be decided based on an objective standard–what a reasonable officer in the situation would have done–or whether the detainees must also prove that the officers had some culpable subjective intent.  (Check out our earlier post to learn more about the case).
Amici argued to the Court that the overwhelming majority of jails in the United States already train, supervise, and discipline corrections staff regarding their use of force based on a purely objective standard.  Amici further explained that experts in the corrections profession overwhelmingly agree that an objective standard is important and necessary to curb abuses by corrections staff. Finally, amici warned that if the Court were to implement a subjective standard, jails would face significant problems in accountability and supervision of corrections staff regarding their uses of force.
