DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services (1988)
- Docket
- 87-154
- Decided
- 1988-01-01
Summary
Question: Does a state's failure to protect an individual against private violence constitute a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment? Conclusion: No. The Due Process Clause does not impose a special duty on the State to provide services to the public for protection against private actors if the State did not create those harms. "The Clause is phrased as a limitation on the State's power to act, not as a guarantee of certain minimal levels of safety and security; while it forbids the State itself to deprive individuals of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, its language cannot fairly be read to impose an affirmative obligation on the State to ensure that those interests do not come to harm through other means."