The qualified immunity doctrine is a concept that suggests that federal officials and law enforcement are to be granted immunity from legal consequences due to their jobs unless they have violated a “clearly established constitutional right.” Ironically, this doctrine violates a clearly established constitutional principle– the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. This clause is meant to ensure that all citizens are protected equally under the law, which the concept of qualified immunity undermines by suggesting that police and federal workers have special immunity reserved to them. By providing legal advantages to some officials that other citizens are denied, the premise of equality in the legal system is contradicted.

Not only is qualified immunity both unequal and unjust, but it also opens the door for an increase in corruption amongst police officers and government officials. According to the NAACP  Legal Defense Fund, law enforcement officers have avoided prosecution for stealing, shooting children, attempting to harm family pets and countless other deplorable activities that no regular citizen could escape repercussions from. This encourages harmful activity from law enforcement officers because the precedent has made it clear that to some degree they are above the law, which no person in the United States should be.

Unfortunately, there is no straightforward solution to this problem. The best option for stopping this issue is through encouraging legislation to be made surrounding the issue and bringing attention to court cases related to the issue.