Rethinking what we mean by police sustainability, how we measure it and how we hold the police accountable for outcomes, may create the opening for a more viable path to reform.
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The continued reliance on outdated indicators of police performance reinforce conventional ideas of police sustainability rather than align with the concerns of “defund the police” advocates.
It’s tempting to see the sentencing of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd as an American phenomenon. But that is to ignore past and present injustice much closer to home.
Protests against police brutality in New York following the killing of George Floyd in 2020.
Robert K. Chin/Alamy
Attempts to reform US police departments fail when they are unable to get community support. Perhaps it is time to take a different tack, argue two criminal justice scholars – one a former cop.
An image from a police body camera shows bystanders including Darnella Frazier, third from right, filming a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee on George Floyd’s neck.
Minneapolis Police Department via AP, File
A game theory expert explains why a witness to a troubling situation who is in a group may feel a lesser sense of personal responsibility than a single individual.
Darnella Frazier is third from right, recording the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020.
Minneapolis Police Department via AP
How does pretrial publicity affect jury verdicts? What kind of verdicts are made when the jury is racially diverse? An expert on juries answers questions raised in the wake of the Chauvin verdicts.
Scholars of policing, law, race and Minnesota history explain the landmark guilty verdicts handed down in the trial for the murder of George Floyd.
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is taken into custody at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, Minn., after being found guilty of murder in the 2020 death of George Floyd.
(Court TV via AP, Pool)
The trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd reveals a broken system of policing. The guilty verdicts should be a starting point for fundamental and meaningful change.
People cheer after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd.
(AP Photo/Morry Gash)
In the wake of the conviction of the police officer who killed George Floyd, recent court decisions against what’s known as “qualified immunity” are promising.
A demonstration outside the Hennepin County Government Center in Minneapolis on March 29, 2021, the day Derek Chauvin’s trial began on charges he murdered George Floyd.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
There’s a divergence in how a trial is conducted, what rules govern it – and the larger issue of racial justice. That divergence affects the legitimacy of any verdict.
Floyd’s nephew, Brandon Williams (center), with the Rev. Al Sharpton (left) outside the heavily guarded Hennepin County Government Center, in Minneapolis, Minn., before the murder trial of Officer Derek Chauvin began, March 29, 2021.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Many law enforcement agencies fail to adequately investigate misconduct allegations and rarely sustain citizen complaints. Disciplinary sanctions are few and reserved for the most egregious cases.