The current laws in place limit how the police use their guns to quell violent scenarios or riots in prisons. They do not allow a police officer to shoot to kill any inmate involved in the physical beating of another or anyone trying to start a riot at first sight (Liebelson, 2013) . The law demands that an officer should only shoot to protect his own life in case of any danger or to protect the life of another inmate. The intentions of the shots fired should not be to kill an inmate but rather to make them incapable of continuing with the act of violence.
Allowing the police to shoot to kill at first sight in the situations stated above would not be deterrent but would only make the situation worse. To begin with, it is not possible to determine who the actual victim is during a physical beating at first sight. It may be that the one beating the other inmate is only doing so as an act of self-defense. Shooting this inmate to death would be killing an innocent person that was protecting himself.
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Secondly, inmates may start a riot because of genuine reasons such as extremely poor conditions in the prisons. Their intentions may be to hold peaceful demonstrations against poor treatment by officers. Just like other citizens, inmates have the right to demand better conditions. Shooting at such inmates would mean stripping of the inmates these rights.
Lastly, police officers may use the law to shoot to kill at first sight to their advantage by neutralizing inmates that may not relate well with the police. To limit such behavior, the law must stand as it currently is. In a nutshell, allowing police officers to shoot inmates at first sight of a riot or physical beating would not be deterrent but would add more salt to the wound.
Reference
Liebelson, D. (2013). When Correctional Officers Carry Shotguns, The Result is Death And Mayhem. Retrieved from https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/the-shooting-gallery/
