When Should Force Directed Against a Police Officer Be Justified Under the Maine Criminal Code? - Toward a Coherent Theory of Law Enforcement Under the Code's Justification Provision

Authors

F. Todd Lowell, University of Maine School of Law

Abstract

In State v. Clisham, the Law Court unanimously found that section 104(1) of the Maine Criminal Code operated to justify the use of non-deadly force by a private citizen seeking to prevent an illegal search of his house by police officers. This Comment will focus on the justification provisions of the Maine Criminal Code as they relate to law enforcement practices and will examine how the Law Court's most recent decision interpreting one of the provisions affects that relationship. This Comment will argue that the policy underlying the justification provisions mandates that the justification defense be denied to persons responding violently to an assertion of police authority, and that the Law Court's interpretation of section 104 in Clisham represents a departure from this policy.

First Page

385

Recommended Citation

F. T. Lowell, When Should Force Directed Against a Police Officer Be Justified Under the Maine Criminal Code? - Toward a Coherent Theory of Law Enforcement Under the Code's Justification Provision, 45 Me. L. Rev. 385 (2018).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/mlr/vol45/iss2/6