The intention of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 was to give individuals the right to sue government officials, including law enforcement, when their Constitutional rights are violated.
However, this statute institutes qualified immunity, a doctrine that allows officers to escape civil liability unless the following can be established after the court considers the totality of the circumstances:
The officer violated an individual’s constitutional rights.
The right that was violated is “clearly established.”
A series of court rulings have set the bar too high for victims of excessive force to sue by allowing the courts to define “clearly established” to mean that an identical case has been previously ruled upon. Since every case is unique, police are granted qualified immunity too often.