The Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits Canadian police from using excessive force and conducting unreasonable searches. But research has found many cases of police violating the Charter.
A woman holds a sign during a demonstration calling for police accountability in Vancouver in May 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
There have been longstanding calls for police and governments to collect and share data about incidents where the use of force caused injury and death to civilians.
The fatal beating of Tyre Nichols started after he was pulled over by cops.
City of Memphis via AP
Derek Epp, The University of Texas at Austin and Megan Dias, The University of Texas at Austin
The case of Tyre Nichols highlights how traffic stops can turn deadly. Traffic stops are also prone to racial bias, can break down community trust in police and yield few results, research shows.
Members of Memphis’ SCORPION unit were behind the brutal beating of a suspect.
City of Memphis via AP
The death of a Black motorist after a beating by five Black Memphis police officers has triggered national outrage over police brutality and systemic racism with the U.S. criminal justice system.
Demonstrators stand off with officers July 3, 2022, in Akron, Ohio, as they protest the killing of Jayland Walker, shot by police.
Matthew Hatcher/AFP via Getty Images
New research on police departments across the country reveals a significant link between the use of fatal force and college education – the more educated are less likely to use it.
Another door closes on federal police reform.
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Months of bipartisan talks in Congress aimed at reaching consensus over policing reforms have ended with no agreement. Two policing scholars argue that federal efforts are better placed focusing on supporting local measures.
Indigenous women are insisting upon a broadening of policies that facilitate safety and justice for all women.
James Ross/AAP
A documentary series aimed to spark national conversation about criminalising coercive control. However, it highlighted power imbalances in conversations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women.
In Atlanta, Ga., one person’s sign reflects the actual verdicts that had just been delivered in the Derek Chauvin trial.
Megan Varner/Getty Images
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.
Police body camera video shows Adam Toledo’s hands were raised just before he was shot.
Chicago Police Department via AP
In the aftermath of Adam Toledo’s death, police and a prosecutor framed the incident as a confrontation with an armed male holding a gun. Should reporters have been so quick to accept that version?
A memorial to the Asian American women gunned down at Gold Spa, in Atlanta, Ga., on March 18, 2021.
Megan Varner/Getty Images
Bias-motivated attacks became a distinct crime in the 1980s. But police investigate only a fraction of the roughly 200,000 hate crimes reported each year – and even fewer ever make it to court.
New Jersey state troopers salute before an NFL football game.
AP Photo/Adam Hunger
The insurrection at the Capitol was unprecedented. So too was the coverage, according to a scholar who monitors how media reports on protests
An activist is arrested after his van was stopped by Kenosha police Aug. 27, days after police shot a Kenosha man, Jacob Blake, seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
New research on Wisconsin’s changing demographics suggests that racial integration and political polarization were a combustible combination in Kenosha, where violence erupted in August.
Black youth suffer the negative effects of programs that bring police and racial discrimination into schools.
(Unsplash/Wadi Lissa)
Waterloo Region District School Board’s suspension of the Student Resource Officer program is one step toward ending racism in schools but much more still needs to be done.
Opinions about demonstrations are formed in large part by what people read or see in the media. This gives journalists a lot of power when it comes to driving the narrative.
The thin blue line remains disproportionately white, despite diversity gains.
Timothy Fadek/Corbis via Getty Images