Deputization and Privileged White Violence.

Authors

Ekow N. Yankah, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-2025

Abstract

A number of high-profile and racially charged killings, such as Trayvon Martin’s, Kenneth Herring’s, Ahmaud Arbery’s, and Jordan Neely’s, have been at the hands of civilians declaring themselves the law. These deaths stemmed from a phenomenon best described as “deputization.” Deputization describes a latent legal power that has empowered White people throughout American history to claim authority to enforce the law, as they see it, upon racial minorities generally and Black people in particular. This power turned the ancient common law duty to police all felons in England into a specific American common law duty to police Blacks. From the founding clauses of the Constitution to the Fugitive Slave Acts, to the birth of racist citizen’s arrest laws, there has always been an implicit understanding that part of Whiteness in America is a privilege to use private force to police Black people.

Comments

Copyright 2025 The Stanford Law Review. All Rights Reserved.

Recommended Citation

Yankah, Ekow N. "Deputization and Privileged White Violence." Stanford Law Review 77, no. 3 (2025): 703-777.