The police are relying on more aggressive tactics in their effort to fight crime. A common complaint regarding these tactics is that innocent persons are sometimes subjected to unlawful arrest. At common law, there was a right to resist an illegal arrest. The modern trend, however, has been to eliminate the right to resist. Abrogation of the common law right is based on several factors, including the development of modern criminal procedure, the ability to seek redress via other means, and the belief that violence should not be encouraged. This article examines the history and current status of the right to resist an unlawful arrest. The authors argue that attacks on the common law right are based on a misunderstanding of the original justifications for the right and that there remains a great need for the right particularly as new police tactics increase the probability of arbitrary assertions of authority.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Annotation. (1972). Modern status of rules as to right to resist illegal arrest.
2.
Bad Elk v. United States, 34 U.S. 529 (1900).
3.
Bast, C. M.
(1997). Driving while Black: Stopping motorists on a subterfuge. Criminal Law Bulletin, 33, 457-486.
4.
Bernstein, M. D.
(1996). `Intimate details': A troubling new Fourth Amendment standard for government surveillance techniques. Duke Law Journal, 46, 575-610.
5.
Boyle v. Landry, 401 U.S. 77 (1971).
6.
Brenner, E.
(1996, January 21). Patrol program credited with drop in crime. The New York Times, 13, p. 1.
7.
Casselman v. State, 472 N.E.2d 1310 (Indiana, 1985).
8.
Chambliss, W. J.
(1994). Policing the ghetto underclass: The politics of law and law enforcement. Social Problems, 41, 177-194.
9.
Chevigny, P.
(1969). The right to resist an unlawful arrest. Yale Law Journal, 78, 1128-1156.
10.
City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41 (1999).
11.
City of Columbus v. Fraley, 324 N.E.2d 735 (Ohio, 1975).
12.
Cole, D.
(1999). No equal justice. New York: New Press.
13.
del Carmen, R. V.
(1998). Criminal procedure: Law and practice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
14.
Feeley, M.
(1992). The process is the punishment. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
15.
Green, B. A.
(1992). `Power, not reason': Justice Marshal's valedictory and the Fourth Amendment in the Supreme Court's 1990 term. North Carolina Law Review, 70, 373-415.
16.
Harris, D.A.
(1994). Factors for reasonable suspicion: When Black and poor means stopped and frisked. Indiana Law Journal, 69, 659-688.
17.
Harris, D. A.
(1997). `Driving while Black' and all other traffic offenses: The Supreme Court and pretextual traffic stops, The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 87, 544-582.
18.
Harris, D. A.
(1998). Car wars: The Fourth Amendment's death on the highway. The George Washington Law Review, 66, 557-591.
19.
Hearne, T. J.
(1975). Self-defense and the right to resist an unlawful arrest. Missouri Law Review, 43, 744-777.
20.
Hochanadel, M.
, & Stege, H. W. (1966). The right to resist an unlawful arrest: An out-dated concept?Tulsa Law Journal, 3, 40-49.
21.
Hopkin Huggett's Case, 84 Eng. Reptr. 10082 (K. B., 1666).
22.
K. G. v. State, 338 So.2d 72 (Florida, 1976).
23.
Kahan, D.M.
, & Meares, T. L. (1998). The coming crisis of criminal procedure. The Georgetown Law Journal, 86, 1153-1184.
24.
Kavanagh, J.
(1997). The occurrence of resisting arrest in arrest encounters: A study of police-citizen violence. Criminal Justice Review, 22, 16-33.
25.
Kennedy, R.
(1997). Race, crime and the law. New York: Pantheon.
26.
The King v. Curvan, 2 Stark 205 (1826).
27.
The King v. Mead, 168 Eng. Rep. 1213 (K. B., 1817).
28.
The King v. Thompson, 168 Eng. Rep. 1193 (K. B., 1825)
29.
Kraska, P. B.
, & Kappeler, V. E. (1997). Militarizing American police: The rise and normalization of paramilitary units. Social Problems, 44, 1-18.
30.
LaFave, W .R.
(1996). A treatise on the Fourth Amendment. St. Paul, MN: West.
31.
Livingston, D.
(1998). Police, community caretaking, and the Fourth Amendment. The University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1998, 261-314.
32.
Maclin, T.
(1998). Race and the Fourth Amendment. Vanderbilt Law Review, 51, 333-393.
33.
Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961).
34.
Melancon v. Trahan, 645 So.2d 722 (Louisiana, 1994).
35.
Miller v. State, 462 P.2d 421 (Alaska, 1969).
36.
Miranda v. Arizona, 377 U.S. 201 (1966).
37.
Model Penal Code. (1962). New York: American Law Institute.
38.
Papachristou v. Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156 (1972).
39.
People v. Curtis, 450 P.2d 33 (California, 1969).
40.
The Queen v. Davis, 1 Leigh and Crave's C.C. Res. 64 (Camarthen Assizes, 1861).
41.
The Queen v. Tooley, 93 Eng. Reptr. 349 (K. B., 1710).
42.
Sampson, R.J.
, & Bartusch, D. J. (1998). Legal cynicism and (subcultural?) tolerance of deviance: The neighborhood context of racial differences. Law and Society Review, 32, 777-804.
43.
Sandersfield v. State, 568 P.2d 313 (Oklahoma, 1977).
44.
Sklansky, D. A.
(1998). Traffic stops, minority motorists, and the future of the Fourth Amendment. In D. J. Hutchinson, D. A. Strauss, & G. R. Stone (Eds.), The Supreme Court review 1997 (pp. 273-325). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
45.
Skolnick, J .H.
(1966). Justice without trial. New York: John Wiley.
46.
Skolnick, J. H.
(1998). Terry and community policing. St. John's Law Review, 72, 1265-1270.
47.
Smith, R. D.
(1967). The right to resist unlawful arrest. Natural Resources Journal, 7, 119-128.
48.
Smith v. Holeman, 441 S.E.2d 487 (Georgia, 1994).
49.
State v. Austin, 381 A.2d 652 (Maine, 1978).
50.
State v. Bradshaw, 541 P.2d 800 (Utah, 1975).
51.
State v. Doe, 583 P.2d 464 (New Mexico, 1978).
52.
State v. Gallagher, 465 A.2d 323 (Connecticut, 1983).
53.
State v. Hatton, 568 P.2d 1040 (Arizona, 1977).
54.
State v. Koonce, 214 A.2d 428 (New Jersey, 1965).
55.
State v. Ramsdell, 285 A.2d 399 (Rhode Island, 1971).
56.
State v. Thomas, 262 N.W.2d 697 (Iowa, 1978).
57.
State v. Valentine, 935 P.2d 1294 (Washington, 1997).
58.
State v. Wick, 331 N.W.2d 769 (Minnesota, 1983).
59.
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968).
60.
Uniform Arrest Act. (1941). New York: Interstate Commission on Crime.
61.
Uniform crime reports. (1998). Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
62.
United States v. Di Re, 332 U.S. 581 (1948).
63.
United States v. Heliczer, 373 F.2d 241 (2nd Cir., 1967).
64.
van Maanen, J.
(1978). The asshole. In J. van Maanen & P. K. Manning, Policing: A view from the streets (pp. 229-245). New York: Random House.
65.
Wainwright v. New Orleans, 392 U.S. 598 (1968).
66.
Walter, R. H.
(1951). Comment: Taking away right to resist illegal arrest. California Law Review, 39, 96-119.
67.
Warner, S. B.
(1942). The Uniform Arrest Act. Virginia Law Review, 28, 315-347.
68.
Westley, W.
(1970). Violence and the police. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press.
69.
Wisconsin v. Hobson, 577 N.W.2d 825 (Wisconsin, 1998).
