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Deadly Force : Police Use of Lethal Force in the United States
5. LAW GOVERNING THE USE OF LETHAL FORCE 5.1 INTERNATIONAL LAW International standards provide that law enforcement officers should only use force when there are no other means that are likely to achieve the legitimate objective and that the amount of force must be proportionate to the seriousness of the harm it is aiming to prevent, and designed to minimize damage and injury. Officers may use firearms only as a last resort when strictly necessary to protect themselves or others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury. The intentional lethal use of firearms is justified only when “strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”68 One of the state’s central obligations is to respect and protect the right to life and to ensure that no-one is arbitrarily deprived of their life. Article 6 of the ICCPR places an obligation on states to ensure that the right to life is protected by law. It must ensure that its own agents – notably police – respect this right, as well as protecting life when it is threatened by others. An essential step in securing the right to life is thus the establishment of an appropriate legal framework for the use of force by the police which sets out the conditions under which force may be used in the name of the state and ensures a system of responsibility where these limits are transgressed.69 It should be noted that the failure of the State to properly investigate cases of death following the use of force is a violation of the right to life itself.70 The UN Human Rights Committee is the expert body established under the ICCPR to monitor implementation of this core human rights treaty. The USA ratified the ICCPR in 1992. In its General Comment 6 on the right to life under the Covenant, the Committee stated that “The deprivation of life by the authorities of the State is a matter of the utmost gravity” and that states must take measures to prevent arbitrary killing by their own security forces. All states must ensure compliance with international law and standards including the United Nations Basic Principles on the use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, Principle 9 of which states: “Law enforcement officials shall not use firearms against persons except in self-defence or defence of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury, to prevent the perpetration of a particularly serious crime involving grave threat to life, to arrest a person presenting such a danger and resisting their authority, or to prevent his or her escape, and only when less extreme means are insufficient to achieve these objectives. In any event, intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life” (emphasis added). As such, in order to comply with international law, laws on the use of force must include the following elements: • Legal Basis - Laws: The police power to resort to lethal force and firearms must be regulated by law. For the use of lethal force not to be arbitrary there must be sufficient legal basis for it. This requirement is not met if “lethal force is used without the authority being provided for in domestic law, or if it is based on a domestic law that does not comply with international standards.”71 States are required to respect and to protect the right to life. This in the words of article 6 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, includes the duty to do so “by law”. The police in any society will at some point be confronted with a situation where they have to decide whether to use force and, if so, how much. Enacting an adequate domestic legal framework for such use of force by police officials is thus a State obligation, and States that do not do this are in violation of their international obligations.” UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Amnesty International - June 2015
