Enhancing accountability for police use of lethal force: Global monitoring and comparative benchmarking

Abstract

Abstract Policing and law enforcement bodies and the public authorities that govern them should be accountable for all deaths connected with a use of force. Accountability is a requirement of international human rights law and related provisions on the use of force, and foundational to legitimate, constrained, and consensual policing in liberal democracies. However, divergence in normative compliance and types of state system means that accountability for lethal force is inconsistent around the world. This paper discusses how a global system for monitoring lethal force could enhance accountability by making effective use of comparative benchmarking.