End qualified immunity in Florida

Case Studies

Bills and Legislation

Failed

Despite the bill dying in committee, Sen. Shevrin Jones who introduced the bill stated, “We believe starting the conversation to put an end to the doctrine of qualified immunity is something that we in the state of Florida should start to look at."

Legislation details Graded rubric

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(1/4legislation passed)

  • ✗
    Ends Qualified Immunity for all law enforcement officers

    No. The proposed legislation contains a "good faith" carve-out that does not end qualified immunity as a defense. The propsed legislation states, "It is an affirmative defense to liability under this section if a jury determines that the officer, employee, or agent was acting in good faith and believed his or her conduct was lawful."

  • ✗
    Ends Qualified Immunity for all public employees

    No. The proposed legislation contains a "good faith" carve-out that does not end qualified immunity as a defense. The proposed legislation states, "It is an affirmative defense to liability under this section if a jury determines that the officer, employee, or agent was acting in good faith and believed his or her conduct was lawful."

  • ✓
    Ends Qualified Immunity for all state constitutional violations

    Yes. The proposed legislation states, "any individual within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the United States Constitution or the State Constitution is liable to the party injured for legal and equitable relief or any other proper redress."

  • ✗
    Ends monetary caps on all public liability amounts

    No. There are existing caps in state law.

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(2/5legislation passed)

  • ✗
    Implements a failure-to-intervene clause

    No. The proposed legislation has no mention of peace officers being civilly liable for failing to intervene.

  • ✗
    Guarantees that victims are compensated the full amount awarded

    No. The proposed legislation does not guarantee that victims are compensated the full amount awarded due to a carve-out that states, "payments for the full amount of the judgment may be made unless the officer, employee, or agent has been determined in the final judgment to have caused the harm intentionally."

  • ✓
    Starts attorney fees

    Yes. The proposed legislation awards attorney fees to a prevailing plaintiff.

  • ✗
    Starts holding individual employees accountable

    No. The proposed legislation does not include a consequence for officers who engage in wrongdoing.

  • ✓
    Starts disclosing public records

    Yes. Florida's sunshine laws ensure that police misconduct records are publically available.

Case studies in Florida

Qualified immunity impacts everyone. Officers in your state are violating community members’ rights without consequence.

Explore the map below to discover examples and stories where you live.

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