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Georgia Criminal Law Review

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Courts typically evaluate correctional uses of force by zooming in on the last seconds before impact, asking what an officer reasonably perceived at the “moment of threat.” That frame obscures a basic feature of jail and prison operations: officers’ pre-force tactical choices often create or sharply heighten the risks that force is later used to manage. Building on Barnes v. Felix’s rejection of a rigid moment-of-threat rule and the broader state-created-danger line, this Article argues that officer-created jeopardy should be treated as a central component of constitutional and institutional review in corrections. It shows how Barnes, read alongside DeShaney, Kingsley, Whitley, and Hudson, permits courts to consider pre-force tactics as part of the “total-ity of the circumstances” in Fourteenth and Eighth Amendment cases, and explains why the structural realities of confinement—tight control over time and space, ready access to team-based tactics, and confined physical environments—make those tactics especially foreseeable and avoidable.

Drawing on national practice frameworks, including PERF’s ICAT for Jails, NIC guidance, BOP Program Statement 5566.07, and state use-of-force regulations, the Article then applies officer-created-jeopardy analysis to three recur-ring scenarios: chemical-agent deployments into sealed cells, close-quarters electronic-weapon use, and rushed extractions labeled “immediate” force despite the availability of calculated options. For each, it offers concrete guidance for judges, litigators, and correctional agencies on how to treat pre-force decisions as part of constitutional reasonableness and institutional accountability—shifting focus from split-second reactions to the tactical choices that made those reactions necessary. In doing so, the Article aims to align doctrine with correctional practice, reduce preventable injuries, and clarify how governance design, training, and after-action review can both improve safety and shape qualified-immunity and § 1983 exposure.

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