Applying Medicine’s “Never Events” Model to Law Enforcement’s Disparate Killings of Black Male Civilians

Abstract

Background: George Floyd's murder sparked nationwide and international shock, grief, and support, shedding long, overdue light on the need for dialogue and policy reform regarding how American black people are handled by police officers. Much of the outrage stems from the fact that officers have historically escaped any penalty for unjustly taking the lives of American black citizens. Purpose: Utilizing George Floyd's 2020 murder as a case study, this paper nests the perpetrator perspective within CRT's victim perspective to propose a model whose long-term goal is that continued practice of harshly penalizing reckless and murderous officers would aid in repairing some consequences associated with systemic racism within the criminal justice system. Research Method: The method described in this position paper is a model based on the medical system's "never events" policies called "Just N.O.". The proposed model is composed of four constructs and is tailored to law enforcement officers whose lives are not in danger when they kill civilians in their care.