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There are high hurdles to convicting former Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin, writes Tanya Coke, director of Ford Foundation’s Gender, Racial and Ethnic Justice Program.
A long series of non-indictments in killings of Black men and women shows prosecutions of police are rare, and convictions rarer. To achieve justice, a transformation in how we think about public safety is needed, she says.
Jury selection is underway in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the White police officer whose knee launched a thousand protests. The trial presents a knot of legal and moral questions that go to the heart of whether a single prosecution can meet the public’s demand for a racial reckoning on policing.
From Tamir Rice to Michael Brown to Eric Garner, a long series of non-indictments in high-profile killings of Black men and women make plain that prosecutions of police officers are rare, and convictions rarer still.
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