Civil Rights Movements & the Law

"Recent events have brought to the fore longstanding concerns about the nature of policing in the United States and how it undermines racial equity. As an institution policing needs significant reconsideration. It is time to rethink the structure and governance of policing. It is also time to engage in a deeper conversation about the meaning of public safety. In the meantime however the following is a list of urgently-needed reforms compiled by a small group of law school faculty each of whom runs or is associated with an academic center devoted to policing and the criminal justice system. The reforms are not intended as an entire agenda for what ought to happen around policing or what American policing should look like. Rather they offer immediate concrete steps federal state and local governments can take to address enduring problems in policing. The authors are scholars who are also deeply involved in the daily practice of policing and included among them are the Reporters for the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law: Policing which works with advisers from across the ideological spectrum in drafting high-level principles to govern policing though the recommendations here go beyond the scope of the ALI project."

"A lawyer's cultural competence goes beyond avoiding bias. To serve diverse clients lawyers should have special communication and interpersonal skills. Those skills can be taught and learned."

"American jurisprudence and law have profoundly shaped defined and constrained the lives of Black people for over 400 years. Racial inequality has extremely deep roots in American society and our Constitution statutes court cases and regulations not only bear witness to this but are often the source of it. This timeline provides an overview of some of these laws beginning with the first known case marking the legal difference between Africans and Europeans in 1640 in Virginia and continuing with laws recently introduced in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans. While not exhaustive the timeline focuses on a number of key legal events and actions that have structured and systematized racism in America."

"Over the past two decades there has been an outpouring of scholarship that explores the problem of implicit bias. Through this work commentators have taken pains to define the phenomenon and to describe the ways in which it contributes to misunderstanding discrimination inequality and more."

"Prompted by several recent high-visibility killings by police officers the U.S. civil rights enforcement regime is the subject of focused attention at the national state and local levels."

"Chief justices identify ways to implement reforms as part of modernization efforts"

"The New York State Bar Association is launching a task force focused on examining and addressing structural racism and other types of prejudice as part of its latest effort to resolve broader national social problems."

"Colorado's attorney general said Wednesday that a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain a Black man who was put in a chokehold and injected with a powerful sedative two years ago in suburban Denver."

"NEW YORK (Reuters) - Civil rights group Muslim Advocates sued Facebook Inc and its top executives on Thursday alleging they misled the U.S. Congress and others by falsely claiming the company removes content that violates its policies."

"A New York man previously convicted of murdering his mother has been arrested and charged with assaulting a 65-year-old Asian woman in a hate crime an attack captured on a video that went viral amid a rise in anti-Asian incidents in the United States."

"The family of the late Henrietta Lacks who unwittingly spurred a research bonanza when her cancer cells were taken without her knowledge in 1951 has hired a prominent civil rights lawyer to seek compensation from pharmaceutical companies."

"A new alliance will connect victims of anti-Asian hate with pro bono legal services and work to prevent further acts of violence. The effort shows the importance of clear goals and strong networking in addressing social problems."

"A new survey released by the ABA on Thursday found stark divisions based on age and race when it comes to believing that there are racial biases built into the rules procedures and practices of the justice system."

"America was founded on the principle that all men are created equal. Throughout our history we have not always lived up to that self-evident truth. This has been especially true in our criminal justice system."

"A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's arrest and death accusing them of willfully violating the Black man's constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air."

"A recent American Bar Association study found that the legal profession in America has remained overwhelmingly white and male over the last decade and that racial diversity among lawyers has actually regressed in some respects"

"An unusual coalition is banding together in a petition to release an 84-year-old former Black Panther convicted for his role in the killing of a police officer."

"State judge overturns earlier ruling orders police force to give Cariol Horne her backpay and pension."

"The Justice Department will launch an investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department to determine if there is a pattern of discrimination or excessive force within its ranks Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Monday."

"U.S. Census Bureau Delivers Data for States to Begin Redistricting Efforts"

"For the first time in four years the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation increased when compared with the previous year's statistics according to FBI figures released today."

"Three Georgia men were indicted today by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Georgia and charged with hate crimes and the attempted kidnapping of Ahmaud Arbery. The indictment also charges two of the men with separate counts of using firearms during that crime of violence."

"Today the FBI released Hate Crime Statistics 2020 the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program's latest compilation about bias-motivated incidents throughout the nation. The 2020 data submitted by 15136 law enforcement agencies provide information about the offenses victims offenders and locations of hate crimes."

"New Policy Limits Circumstances in Which Federal Law Enforcement Can Use Chokeholds and 'No-Knock' Entries"

"To help reduce this massive prison population and to promote human dignity and growth over punishment and retribution WITNESS is supporting advocates lawyers and incarcerated individuals in using video for sentencing mitigation and to advocate for decarceration through clemency and parole."

"25 years ago in the shadows of Apartheid in South Africa the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed to properly address generations of racial injustice that had been all but ignored. It's time for the United States to do the same. In spite of all of our movements for change the thing we call the justice system in the United States has never been a reliable competent compassionate professional respectful tool for justice for tens of millions of Americans. Instead it has often been a cruel and oppressive force of injustice for African Americans Native Americans Latinos immigrants members of the LGBTQIA community and all marginalized communities. Consequently when marginalized people have needed to finally rely on this system for justice it has routinely failed them in the worst ways imaginable. This isn't a bug in the system but a feature. It's operating exactly the way it was designed and built to function. That's why we're imagining and building something new. Today in partnership with the District Attorneys of San Francisco Philadelphia and Boston we are announcing the formation of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission to actually process and address the injustices of the past that simply were not given the time attention and dignity that they deserved."

"A service to Washington's legal community"

"The ABA Legal Education Police Practices Consortium aims to contribute to the national effort examining and addressing legal issues in policing and public safety including conduct oversight and the evolving nature of police work. The Consortium will leverage the ABA's expertise and that of participating ABA accredited law schools to collaborate on projects to develop and implement better police practices throughout the United States. "

"Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative a human rights organization in Montgomery Alabama. Under his leadership EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing exonerating innocent death row prisoners confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill and aiding children prosecuted as adults."