Title: Describe appropriate use of force in criminal justice.
Course: Criminal Justice I (15051-I) > Section: Exploring Policing

Description should include

- the use-of-force continuum (the six escalating levels of response available to the police officer, beginning with officer presence and continuing through verbal commands, control restraint, chemical agents, temporary incapacitation, and deadly force)
- the citizen actions that precipitate the escalating levels of police response, to include cooperative, passive resistance, active resistance, active assaultive, and deadly threat
- threat perception
- the legal meaning of self-defense
- the legal relationship between the fear of bodily harm and the use of deadly force (See the Code of Virginia for specifics about the use of deadly force)
- the tests under the law that justify the use of deadly force to defend another person
- the conditions under which an officer may use less-than-lethal force to control a situation or effect an arrest
- the conditions under which an officer may use deadly force to prevent a serious felony
- a comparison of the right of police and other protective services officers to use deadly force with a citizen’s right to defend himself or herself
- a discussion of administrative review of all use-of-force incidents
- a review of Graham v. Connor.

Process/Skill Questions:

- What are the legal ramifications involved in the use of any force?
- What are the personal ramifications for the officer who uses any force?
- What is the difference between a citizen review board and an administrative review board?
- What are considered deadly weapons?
- Why is handcuffing considered use of force?