Police Violence and Legitimacy

Abstract

Police institutions are uniquely authorized to use force for the containment of social violence and the maintenance of public order. However, when does police violence cease to be a legitimate exercise of force, and under what conditions does the institution itself lose its legitimacy if such force systematically exceeds the boundaries of what is socially and normatively justified?
This article examines police violence focusing on the concept of legitimacy and its entanglements with democratic norms across legal, political, cultural, and individual dimensions. By analysing how the legitimacy of police action is constructed, the aim is to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of a peculiar institution of modernity, whose role is increasingly central in contemporary societies.