TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 8, 2020

Congressional Democrats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate introduced legislation today designed to combat racial disparities in the criminal justice system, The Hill reports. Crafted by leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus, the “Justice in Policing Act” would establish a federal ban on chokeholds, eliminate the legal shield protecting police from lawsuits, mandate the use of body cameras nationwide, limit federal transfers of military-style weapons to local police, ban military-style weapons for police, and create a national database disclosing the names of officers with patterns of abuse. It also includes a bill passed by the House earlier this year that would make lynching a federal hate crime. The proposals come in response to the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man killed in the custody of the Minneapolis police two weeks ago.