Accountability & Reform

"Illinois could soon become the first state to bar police from lying to minors during interrogations a tactic advocates say significantly increases the risk of false confessions."

"Illinois lawmakers on Wednesday used the final hours of the general assembly's lame duck session to pass a sweeping and controversial criminal justice reform bill that would eliminate cash bail make it easier to ban officers from working at police departments across the state and allow for anonymous complaints against cops."

"The Florida Senate gave final approval Thursday to law enforcement reform legislation born in the wake of George Floyd's death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer nearly one year ago."

" grand jury in Texas on Tuesday cleared eight former officers of any criminal wrongdoing in the death of a 26-year-old Black man in custody."

"Oregon is the second state to pass a bill banning police from using deceptive interrogation tactics following Illinois."

"Congress was at a standstill on police reform on Wednesday after Senate Democrats successfully blocked a Republican bill criticized as a toothless response to police brutality. The vote was 55-45 failing to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to advance. Two Democrats the Alabama senator Doug Jones and the West Virginia senator Joe Manchin along with Angus King of Maine an independent who caucuses with Democrats voted with Republicans to open the debate."

"Colorado passed a sweeping police reform bill on Friday that among other reforms bans chokeholds and makes officers personally liable if they are found guilty of violating a person's civil rights. Colorado is one of the first states that will allow police officers to be financially liable for civil misconduct suits according to the state's ACLU. "

"Colorado's attorney general on Friday convened a grand jury probe into the death of Elijah McClain a young unarmed Black man placed in a chokehold and injected with the powerful sedative ketamine while under arrest."

"Louisville's city government has announced plans to review the handling by the mayor's administration of the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor. The Louisville Metro Council's government oversight committee which has subpoena powers announced its intentions Monday news outlets reported. The council's next meeting is scheduled for July 23."

"The House Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Committee approved the bill as amended on a party-line 10-7 vote Friday and sent it to the House Floor. There is no Senate companion"

"The state Senate early Wednesday voted to approve a comprehensive police accountability bill that was drafted in the wake of protests spurred by the police killings of Black Americans including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville."

"Colorado passed a sweeping police reform bill [...] among other reforms bans chokeholds and makes officers personally liable if they are found guilty of violating a person's civil rights." Li Cohen CBS News

"SB 2 creates a system to investigate and revoke or suspend peace officer certification for serious misconduct SB 16 increases transparency over peace officer misconduct records The Governor also signed legislation strengthening policing responsibility and accountability guidelines raising eligibility standards and banning harmful techniques"

"Recent reporting suggests that lawmakers across the country are ending a long-standing legal protection for police officers but that isn't quite true."

"In May and June 2020 protests erupted nationwide after the publication of video footage of a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee into the neck of George Floyd leading to his death. That incident and its aftermath have sparked heightened interest in Congress' ability to implement reforms of state and local law enforcement."

"Police officers are given wide latitude to stop and detain suspects since they're entrusted with the enforcement power of the law. When an officer orders you to "freeze" or submit to a search it's generally in your best interests to do so. But this doesn't mean they're above the law as police misconduct -- whether it's blatant racial profiling or the use of excessive force -- is strictly illegal. If an Arizona officer has violated your civil rights you may want to pursue a claim in civil court. Police misconduct runs the gamut from unlawful search and seizure (in violation of the Fourth Amendment) to planting false evidence on a suspect. And while police are protected by "qualified immunity" as long as their actions don't violate specific individual rights you have legal options in the event they do in fact violate your rights."

"In a unanimous vote the Louisville Metro Council has banned the use of 'No-Knock'warrants after passing Breonn's Law an ordinance which also sets guidelines for the execution of all search warrants by Louisville Metro Police officers and requires active body camera whenever a warrant is served."

Filed in federal court primarily in regards to the excessive force and use of tear gas in the midst of a global pandemic.

"This week a federal judge reluctantly concluded the officer should benefit from qualified immunity a legal doctrine that shields law enforcement from many claims of wrongdoing on the job." Carrie Johnson NPR

"Nationwide protests in response to the publication of video footage of a Minneapolis police officer pressing his knee into the neck of George Floyd leading to his death have generated renewed interest in the issue of reforming the policing practices of state and local officials. As discussed in more detail in this companion sidebar several existing federal laws seek to prevent and redress constitutional violations by state and local law enforcement officials. However because the Constitution generally grants states the authority to regulate issues of local concern—which includes policing and criminal law—Congress is limited in its ability to legislate on matters related to state and local law enforcement—limits that may inform any new laws Congress seeks to enact on this evolving issue. This Sidebar begins with an overview of Congress’s authority to enact legislation and the limits on those powers. It then discusses in more detail two of the enumerated powers—congressional powers that are found within the Constitution—that may be most relevant when Congress legislates on matters relating to state and local law enforcement."

"To hold law enforcement accountable for misconduct in court improve transparency through data collection and reform police training and policies."

"A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Thursday started talks on a police reform bill the day after Democratic President Joe Biden urged senators and representatives to act before the May 25 anniversary of George Floyd's murder by a Minneapolis policeman."

"Lawmakers are unclear precisely what the intelligence community currently considers legal given the classified nature of the operations."

"On Sunday Rep. Justin Amash announced plans to introduce the Ending Qualified Immunity Act. Qualified immunity shields police officers from civil liability for violating a civilian's constitutional rights in most circumstances. Reforming it is an important step toward holding law enforcement accountable for abuse of power. But Congress must also act to address the less-well-known but equally pernicious rules governing municipal liability. It's time to hold local governments accountable for police violence."

"We are rising up against all the ways that the criminal-legal system has harmed and failed to protect Black communities. The current moment requires a solution that fundamentally shifts how we envision community-care and invest in our society. History is clear that we cannot achieve genuine safety and liberation until we abandon police prisons and all punishment paradigms."

"Against a backdrop of increasing national attention to police violence the Supreme Court on Thursday issued an opinion in a closely watched criminal-procedure case that clarifies the meaning of the term seizure."

"U.S. Supreme Court justices returned to the contentious issue of police powers on Wednesday as they grappled with whether to make it easier for officers to enter a home without a warrant for reasons of health or public safety in a case involving the confiscation of a Rhode Island man's guns."

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday expanded the ability of people to sue police for excessive force ruling in favor of a New Mexico woman who filed a civil rights lawsuit after being shot by officers she had mistaken for carjackers."

"Justice Sonia Sotomayor in a blistering dissent Thursday hammered a 6-3 decision penned by Justice Brett Kavanaugh that rejected certain limits on juvenile life sentences."

"The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear eight separate cases that had presented opportunities to reconsider its doctrine of qualified immunity. That doctrine created by the Supreme Court in 1982 holds that government officials can be held accountable for violating the Constitution only if they violate a clearly established constitutional rule. In practice that means that government officials can only be held liable if a federal court of appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court has already held that someone violated the Constitution by engaging in precisely the same conduct under precisely the same circumstances."