Paying people off for police misconduct doesn't really work because the real damage is the state trashing the victim's reputation.
April 2, 2026
Original Paper
Apologies in Blue
SSRN · 6501659
The Takeaway
This paper argues that state institutions use their authority to 'gaslight' the public about victims, creating a 'narrative injury' that cash cannot repair. It suggests that courts should instead mandate public apologies to restore the victim’s standing as a credible person.
From the abstract
<p>When police use excessive force, the physical encounter is only the beginning of the injury. What typically follows is a systematic assault on the victim’s character and reputation, driven by an institutional ecosystem—including law enforcement, the courts, and media—that produces exculpatory narratives to favor the state. By shifting blame onto the injured to justify state lethality, these institutions inflict a profound epistemic harm, which is a form of institutional gaslighting that destr