Opinion ID: 483327
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: CONSTITUTIONAL DEPRIVATION UNDER Sec. 1983

Text: 16 The second element of a Sec. 1983 action is that the defendant's conduct must deprive the plaintiff of rights secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States. 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983 (1982); see also Johnson v. Barker, 799 F.2d 1396, 1399 (9th Cir.1986). The prevailing rule in the circuits is that citizens have no constitutional right to be protected by the state from attack by private third parties, absent some special relationship between the state and the victim or the criminal and the victim that distinguishes the victim from the general public. See, e.g., Escamilla v. Santa Ana, 796 F.2d 266, 270 (9th Cir.1986); Estate of Gilmore v. Buckley, 787 F.2d 714, 719 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 270, 93 L.Ed.2d 247 (1986); Janan v. Trammell, 785 F.2d 557, 560 (6th Cir.1986); Jones v. Phyfer, 761 F.2d 642, 646 (11th Cir.1985); Jackson v. Byrne, 738 F.2d 1443, 1446 (7th Cir.1984); Fox v. Custis, 712 F.2d 84, 87-88 (4th Cir.1983); Humann v. Wilson, 696 F.2d 783, 784 (10th Cir.1983). In defining this special relationship, courts have considered whether there is a custodial relationship created or assumed by the state, whether the state is aware of a specific risk of harm to the plaintiff, see, e.g., Fox, 712 F.2d at 88, or whether the state has affirmatively placed the plaintiff in a position of danger, see, e.g., Estate of Gilmore, 787 F.2d at 722. The guiding principle that emerges from the cases following Martinez is that 17 generally, the due process clause of the Constitution does not protect a member of the public at large from the criminal acts of a third person, even if the state was remiss in allowing the third person to be in a position in which he might cause harm to a member of the public, at least in the absence of a special relationship between the victim and the criminal or between the victim and the state. 18 Wright v. City of Ozark, 715 F.2d 1513, 1515 (11th Cir.1983). The Seventh Circuit has further clarified the rationale behind the absence of a constitutional right to protection from criminals: 19 There is a constitutional right not to be murdered by a state officer, for the state violates the Fourteenth Amendment when its officer, acting under color of state law, deprives a person of life without due process of law. But there is no constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminals or madmen. It is monstrous if the state fails to protect its residents against such predators but it does not violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or, we suppose, any other provision of the Constitution. 20 Bowers v. DeVito, 686 F.2d 616, 618 (7th Cir.1982) (citations omitted). 21 Ketchum does not dispute that she was simply a member of the public at large. In the absence of a special relationship with the state or the criminal, she had no federal constitutional right to state protection from criminal attacks. She therefore failed to meet the threshold requirement under Sec. 1983 of establishing that the state deprived her of a constitutional right.