Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales

Common card · No. 210897

Castle Rock v. Gonzales, 545 U.S. 748 (2005), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled, 7–2, that a town and its police department could not be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for refusing to enforce a restraining order, even though the refusal led to the murders of a woman's three children by her estranged husband. This decision affirmed the controversial principle that state and local government officials have no affirmative duty to protect the public from harm it did not create; a similar ruling had been made in DeShaney v. Winnebago County (1989) which involved Child Protective Services failing to protect a child from a violent parent. The decision has since become infamous, has been condemned by several human rights groups and is frequently cited among the worst Supreme Court decisions in modern history.

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