Shooting to Kill: The Ethics of Police and Military Use of Lethal Force

313 Pages·2016·2.16 MB·English

by  Seumas Miller

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Shooting to Kill
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Shooting to Kill
The Ethics of Police and Military
Use of Lethal Force
SEUMAS MILLER
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Miller, Seumas, author.
Title: Shooting to kill : the ethics of police and military use of lethal
force / Seumas Miller.
Description: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, [2016] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016010572 | ISBN 9780190626143 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780190626136 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780190626174 (online)
Subjects: LCSH: Police ethics. | Military ethics. | Police shootings—Moral
and ethical aspects. | Combat—Moral and ethical aspects. | Public
safety—Moral and ethical aspects. | National security—Moral and ethical
aspects.
Classification: LCC HV7924 .M553 2016 | DDC 172/.2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016010572
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Paperback printed by WebCom, Inc., Canada
Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
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For Tony Coady, and all the good times
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction  1
1. Morally Permissible Use of Lethal Force: A Taxonomy  15
2. Killing in Self- Defense  44
3. P olice Officers, Regular Soldiers, and Normative
Institutional Analysis  78
4. Police Use of Lethal Force  108
5. Police Use of Lethal Force and Suicide Bombers  138
6. Military Use of Lethal Force  158
7. Civilian Immunity  185
8. Humanitarian Armed Intervention  212
9. Targeted Killing  237
10. Autonomous Weapons and Moral Responsibility  271
Conclusion  284
Index 287
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Acknowledgments
i wish to thank the editors of the following academic publica-
tions for use of some of the material of mine contained therein:
Ethical Issues in Policing (Keon, 1996); Police Ethics (with J. Blackler
and A. Alexandra) (Allen and Unwin, 1997); Ethical Issues in Policing
(with John Blackler) (Ashgate, 2005); Terrorism and Counter- terror-
ism (Blackwell Publishing, 2009); Investigative Ethics (with I. Gordon)
(Wiley- Blackwell, 2014); “Shootings by Police in Victoria” in Violence
and Police Culture (eds. T. Coady, S. James, S. Miller, and M. O’Keefe)
(Melbourne University Press, 2000): “Human Rights and the
Institution of the Police” in Human Rights and the Moral Responsibilities
of Corporate and Public Sector Organisations (eds. T. Campbell and S.
Miller) (Kluwer, 2004); “Collective Responsibility and Humanitarian
Armed Intervention” in Ethics of Humanitarian Interventions (ed.
G. Meggle) (Ontos Verlag, 2004); “Collective Responsibility and Armed
Humanitarian Intervention” in Righteous Violence (eds. T. Coady and
M. O’Keefe) (Melbourne University Press, 2005); “Civilian Immunity,
Forcing the Choice and Collective Responsibility” in Civilian Immunity
(ed. I. Primoratz) (Oxford University Press, 2007); “The Fatal Police
Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes: Is Anyone Responsible” (with Ian
Gordon) in Shooting to Kill: Socio- legal Perspectives on the Use of Lethal
Force (eds. S. Bronitt, M. Gani, and S. Hufnagel) (Hart Publishing,
2012); “Robopocalypse?: Autonomous Weapons, Military Necessity and
Collective Moral Responsibility” in Super Soldiers: The Ethical, Legal
and Social Implications (eds. J. Galliott and M. Lotze) (Ashgate, 2015);
“Just War Theory— The Case of South Africa,” Philosophical Papers,
vol. xix, no. 2 (1990); “On the Morality of Waging War Against the
State,” South African Journal of Philosophy, vol. 10, no. 1 (1991); “Joint
Action,” Philosophical Papers, vol. xxi, no. 3 (1992); “Self- defense and