The former police officer who killed Atatiana Jefferson while she was babysitting her then-8-year-old nephew has been sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison for the fatal shooting in Fort Worth, Texas. Aaron Dean, who is white, was convicted of manslaughter for the October 2019 shooting, which followed a non-emergency call from a concerned neighbor […]
Policing
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Police Keep Failing to Report How Often They Use Force Against Citizens
For generations, Black families have passed down cautionary tales about harmful encounters with police — stories of racial profiling, planted evidence and excessive force that goes unchecked. The warnings are largely rooted in the anecdotes and life experience of elders. But solid data on American law enforcement’s racial biases has remained elusive. The Federal Bureau […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Do Police Really Treat White Mass Shooters With Kid Gloves?
The memes show up on social media whenever a white mass shooter is taken into custody. On one side of the image is the face of a Black person who was gunned down by police after being stopped on suspicion of a minor crime. On the other side is the face of a young white […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Whose Second Amendment Rights? Black Gun Owners Respond to No Charges in Amir Locke’s Killing
After Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office landed convictions of police officers in the deaths of George Floyd and Daunte Wright, advocates hoped his office’s investigation into Amir Locke’s death would lead to similar results. Instead, Ellison and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced this week that Mark Hanneman, the police officer who fatally shot […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
Biden Wants to Add $32 Billion to Police Funding — Is Federal Police Reform Dead?
Members of Congress have offered no shortage of ideas in recent years for reforming policing in America. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., proposed the Eric Garner Excessive Use of Force Prevention Act in 2019 to make constricting a person’s airway a civil rights offense. The same year, Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., promoted the use of de-escalation […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
‘We Are Not Sub-Citizens’: Black Gun Owners Assert Their Rights after Amir Locke’s Killing
MINNEAPOLIS – In a scene that has become all too familiar to Black residents in this region, mourners gathered in a church sanctuary Feb. 17 to grieve the early death of a Black man and denounce the actions of the police who killed him. Relatives and friends of Amir Locke, who was shot by police […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
“The Blood Is on All of Your Hands:” No-knock Warrants Persist Despite Promises of Reform
The parents of Amir Locke, the young Black man killed by Minneapolis police last week, have called for no-knock warrants to be abolished, as protesters demand the resignations of local officials who failed to prevent the latest in a string of high-profile fatal shootings by officers. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who led the city through […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
‘The Blood Is on All of Your Hands:’ No-knock Warrants Persist Despite Promises of Reform
The parents of Amir Locke, the young Black man killed by Minneapolis police last week, have called for no-knock warrants to be abolished, as protesters demand the resignations of local officials who failed to prevent the latest in a string of high-profile fatal shootings by officers. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who led the city through […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
The Reading List: Black Lives Matter and Policing in America
Ten years ago, in February 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman while walking home in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal sparked outrage, protests, and catalyzed the Black Lives Matter movement. BLM was founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, who describe the organization and its work as “an ideological and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
The False Promise of the Black Police Chief
New York City Mayor Eric Adams made history last month when he publicly confirmed his appointment of Keechant Sewell as the city’s police commissioner. She is the first woman and the third Black person to hold the position in the department’s 176-year history. With Sewell’s appointment, New York City joined the growing number of police […]