Extrajudicial Killing

Written By Jonathan Milner

Extrajudicial killing (also known as state killing) is the deliberate killing of a person by a government agent or with state consent, without a previous judgment from a fair and unbiased court, Extrajudicial killing is illegal and is a severe violation of the right to life, a fundamental human right. As of October 24, 2025, the Trump administration acknowledged 10 strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats from South America, which have killed 43 people. The Trump administration asserts the attacks are lawful, not murder, because President Trump has "determined" that cartel drug trafficking constitutes an armed attack on the U.S., creating a state of armed conflict where boat crews are "combatants." However, no public or congressional legal theory explains how drug trafficking becomes an armed attack or how crewing a boat makes one a lawful combatant. Experts from UN's human rights office OHCHR say the "use of lethal force in international waters without proper legal basis violates the International Law of the Sea and amounts to extrajudicial executions." Domestic law also outlaws extrajudicial killings, which are illegal under the Fourteenth Amendment which states that no person may be "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”, and various federal criminal statutes which state that killings committed by federal agents that violate constitutional rights can be prosecuted under a variety of criminal statutes, including federal murder statutes.

Example

 
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Questions

  1. What is extrajudicial killing?

  2. As of October 24, how many people had the Trump Administration killed in South America?

  3. Why were these people killed?

  4. Were those killings legal?

  5. What laws ban extrajudicial killing?

Remember!

Now, let’s commit this term to our long-term memory. On a scrap piece of paper, take 10 or 20 seconds to draw extrajudicial killing. Draw with symbols or stick figures if you wish. Nothing fancy. Don’t expect a masterpiece. No one else will see this but you. Look at your drawing. That’s all - now it’s downloaded into your memory. Destroy the piece of paper in a most delightful way.

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Jonathan Milner

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