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DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS UNDER COLOR OF LAW
Summary:
Title 42 USC Section 1983 makes it a civil penalty for a person acting under color of any
law to willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the
Constitution or laws of the United States.
For the purpose of
Title 42 USC Section 1983, acts under "color of law" include acts not only by federal,
state, or local officials within the their lawful authority, but prosecutions done
beyond the bounds of that official's lawful authority, if the acts are done
while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of
his/her official duties. Persons acting under color of law within Title 42 USC Section
1983 include police officers, prisons guards and other law enforcement
officials, as well as judges, care providers in public health facilities, and
others who are acting as public officials. It is not necessary that the crime be
motivated by animus toward the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial
status or national origin of the victim.
Lawsuits are primarily
used against the municipal governments that failed to properly supervise their
employees.
TITLE 42, U.S.C., SECTION 1983
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TITLE 42, U.S.C., SECTION 1983 - Civil action for deprivation of rights
Every person who, under color of any
statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State
or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to
be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person
within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any
rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution
and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at
law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress,
except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for
an act or omission taken in such officer's judicial capacity,
injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory
decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For
the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable
exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to
be a statute of the District of Columbia |
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