Our guest for the episode: Are Recent Trials Achieving Justice, Glennon Threatt is a commentator on race and criminal justice in Birmingham, AL. You can hear him on the Ricky Smiley Morning Show. There are two episodes directly related to the show. One show is on the Rittenhouse verdict and the other on police shooting bias. As usual, we provide additional information for each podcast episode. Check out these Resources for Justice or Accountability.
No law enforcement agency collects data police killings. Secondly, no law enforcement agency collects data on what happens to police officers after they kill. As a result of the lack of information some non-profit groups and journalists decided to help close the informational gap. Vox Media created a video timeline of over 1.900 deaths. The Guardian newspaper keeps track of police killings. In addition, Mapping Police Violence tracks police killings. A few researchers who used to be law enforcement, are also tracking police crimes, including shootings.
Do prosecutions make policing more dangerous? Police advocates say they do. However, recent news stories tell a different story. For example, a FiveThirtyEight blog post provides data on how few police are convicted of murder for killing people. Another article examines twenty-one cases where black people were killed without police accountability. Police killings of black people in the US even attracted international attention. A commission found that the killings were a crime against humanity. The report is length, we’ll link the article that cites it. You can download the full report.
Prosecutors are also reluctant to charge the police
The relationship between prosecutors and the police is a significant factor in failing to prosecute the police. The ACLU published an article examining relationships between the police and prosecutors. The relationships impact police prosecutions. One jurisdiction mentioned in the article is Chicago. You can find the results of the study in Crook County! Public action can force prosecutors to bring charges. However, sometimes public pressure is not enough as we saw in Breonna Taylor’s case.
How does Vigilantism fit into the equation?
Ahmaud Arbery died at the hands of vigilantes, not at the hand of the police. Nonetheless, prosecutors initially treated the killers like they treat the police. For example, prosecutor Jackie Johnson sent the McMichaels and William Bryan home, telling them to wash their clothes after they killed Ahmaud Arbery. White vigilantes have strong historical connections with the police. Vigilantism is intimately connected to lynching. And, we know lynching is as common as apple pie. The NAACP and Equal Justice Initiative do a great job of documenting the history of lynching and racial terrorism in America. Similarly, vigilantes also lynched Mexicans in the South and out West. This one of many instances where our communities shared the experience of racial terrorism.
Until the government gets serious about tracking police killings and prosecutions, we hope these resources for justice or accountability are helpful for you..