Brennan Center Statement on the House Justice in Policing Act

The House of Representatives has introduced H.R. 7120, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020.

Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, made the following statement in support of the bill:

"The Justice in Policing Act is a beginning. It must be the first of many actions Congress takes to fight the deep racism embedded in law enforcement and throughout the criminal justice system. As a nation and as a democracy, we must work as long as it takes to make government – from the justice system to our elections and beyond – break with its cruel history of treating Americans of color as less than white Americans. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others should be alive today. Their families should not be grieving. The world should not have been deprived of their presence.

“The Justice in Policing Act offers some critical opportunities for reform on chokeholds, racial profiling, and the Justice Department’s pattern-or-practice investigations of police departments. The bill should go farther in limiting the transfer of military equipment to police departments and police use of intrusive surveillance technology. The Brennan Center is committed to working with lawmakers on these changes and on the wider goal of making the government work equally for everyone, regardless of race.”