Kingsley V. Hendrickson Case Study

High profile police incidents obtain an enormous amount of attention in today’s world. This attention is greatly presented to society through means of the media. Whether the media portrays police incidents strictly on a local level or broadly through national media, the media often portrays the case to the audience in a biased way. The bias of the media greatly impacts not only how the community views the case, but also how juries and judges evaluate the case. Frequently, these cases end with case law and policy change, particularly when they are appealed to the Supreme Court. Although the Kingsley v. Hendrickson case did not gain much media attention, it did result in policy change as it was brought to the Supreme Court, in which the decision was made a precedent for all future cases.

Michael Kingsley was being held as a pretrial detainee in Monroe County Jail in Wisconsin in May of 2010. He was commanded by Sergeant Stan Hendrickson to remove a paper covering

Whether these interpretations of police incident are accurate or not, the media has been the main source of projecting their side of the event. As Kingsley v. Hendrickson was being presented to the various levels of courts, the media found it difficult to predict the outcome. The little percentage of media that portrayed the case, argued against the officers, in which the officers did use unnecessary police force. They supported Kingsley, refusing to give into police misconduct. The public, outraged, reasoned that the officers must be held to an objective standard when determining if police force is reasonable or unreasonable. Kingsley v. Hendrickson gained the most attention after the case had been decided because the public was overjoyed with the outcome. As presented, the Court ruled in favor of Kingsley, ruling that police intended to use excessive force