Legal Tips & Guides

The responsibility of a police officer is to enforce the laws that govern our country and society. Their job is to watch for crimes and to act if they see a crime being committed. They arrest those who break the law to bring them to justice. And police officers swear to protect the citizens of their community from harm. 

Excessive force is a form of police conduct where a police officer engages in physical violence in order to detain a suspect. It is a violation of the California penal code and also the United States Constitution, including Fourth Amendment violations. An arrest where excessive force is used could render an arrest unreasonable, which could put the entire charge and arrest into question. The use of excessive force is a crime.

In 2020, over 25,000 juvenile arrests were made in California. The juvenile court system in California is very different from the adult court systems. When a juvenile commits a crime, a majority of the time it is treated with probation or counseling. In California, special laws have been put in place to keep juveniles out of the adult courts.

The State of California considers murder a violent crime. There are different levels of murder and first-degree murder is the highest level of murder with the harshest penalties. 

A young woman and her boyfriend are attending a crowded street fair in Los Angeles County in the evening. As they stroll hand-in-hand, they suddenly hear a gunshot followed by a few more. People begin to scream and run to take cover. The young woman suddenly realizes she's in pain in her stomach -- looking down, she notices there's blood on the front of her dress.