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Section 1983 excessive-force jail claims

The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects a pretrial detainee from the use of excessive force that amounts to punishment. A pretrial detainee has not yet been convicted of a crime, so incarceration while awaiting trial should not be punitive. To prove that a custodial officer’s use of force was objectively unreasonable, the detainee must provide objective evidence that the use of force was not rationally related to a legitimate governmental objective or that it was excessive in relation to that purpose.