Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate unveiled a police reform bill on Monday in response to widespread and prolonged racial justice protests and riots that erupted after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in late May.
Democrats in the U. S. House of Representatives and Senate unveiled a police reform bill on Monday in response to widespread and prolonged racial justice protests and riots that erupted after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in late May.
The Justice in Policing Act of 2020 is officially authored by Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N. Y.) as well as Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N. J.).
The proposal is being promoted by supporters in Congress as both “bold” and “unprecedented,” but advocates and organizations long-focused on reforming the institution of American policing say that such characterizations of the bill are a bit of an oversell. Others insist the bill may do more harm than good to African American communities.
“Tepid,”criminal defense attorney Scott Greenfieldsaid via Twitter. “How about requiring FBI to record interrogations, banning anal [and] vaginal digital searches, requiring overt act for [federal] drug conspiracies, ending stash house prosecutions, cutting sentencing guidelines, removing marijuana from Schedule 1, ending [qualified immunity], to name a few others?”
Other critics faulted the bill for ignoring one of the demands of the #BlackLivesMatter movement: the call for reductions to police budgets nationwide. Instead, tucked into various sections, the Justice in Policing Act authorizes nearly $1 billion additional dollars in law enforcement spending.
“We will reject any measure that calls for increases in police funding—it is anathema to our goal of keeping Black communities safe,” Center for Constitutional Rights staff attorney Angelo Guisado told Law&Crime. “Take that money and fund the community with jobs, education, debt cancellation, and direct payments instead.”
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued a similarly harsh assessment of the proposed increases to American police budgets.
“The bill introduced today takes significant steps to protect people and ensure accountability against police violence,” said the ACLU’s senior legislative counselKanya Bennett. “But the legislation also provides hundreds of millions more to law enforcement, and for the ACLU, that’s a nonstarter. While many of the reforms in this bill are laudable and vital, more must be done to change the role of police in our society fundamentally. There can be no more Band-Aid or temporary fixes when it comes to policing, which is why we are calling for divestment from law enforcement agencies and reinvestment into the Black and Brown communities that have been harmed by over policing and mass incarceration. The role of police has to be smaller, more circumscribed, and less funded with taxpayer dollars.
