Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Lacy Clay, Senator Kamala Harris and Congressional Black Caucus Introduce Justice in Policing Act of 2020
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Lacy Clay, Senator Kamala Harris and Congressional Black Caucus Introduce Justice in Policing Act of 2020
Sweeping Police Reform Act Includes Key Clay Legislation to Make Use of Deadly Force a Last Resort, Require an Independent Prosecutor For All Police Killings,
Transform Training Standards for All Local Law Enforcement
WASHINGTON, DC - Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) California, Congressman Lacy Clay (D) Missouri, Senator Kamala Harris (D) California; Senator Cory Booker (D) New Jersey and Judiciary Committee Chairman Congressman Jerry Nadler (D) New York joined Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Congresswoman Karen Bass (D) California and members of the CBC to introduce the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 this morning at the U.S. Capitol.
“This remarkable legislative proposal advances a long and arduous process that I have been pursuing since the Ferguson uprising to make a course correction in our democracy to finally address centuries of oppression and unequal treatment of African Americans by law enforcement,” said Mr. Clay. “I’m very proud that three of my top police reform priorities are included in this landmark bill, including: Making the use of deadly force the last resort for law enforcement; mandating an independent prosecutor in all instances of police killings; and requiring all new and existing police officers to undergo transformative training to address racial bias, cultural awareness, deescalation tactics, and the pervasive use of excessive force with non-white subjects. It may take generations to achieve all of this, but our bill is a powerful, bold step forward to move American society to a new normal for both race relations and policing.”
Highlights of the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 include:
- Holding police officers accountable in the courts by reforming qualified immunity.
- Improving transparency of local law enforcement by collecting more accurate and timely data of police use of force and misconduct.
- Improving police training and practices by ending racial and religious profiling;
- Mandating training on racial bias and the duty to intervene;
- Banning no-knock warrants in drug cases;
- Banning chokeholds and carotid holds;
- Changing the standard to evaluate whether law enforcement use of force was justified from whether the force was reasonable to whether the force was necessary;
- Limiting the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement;
- Requiring federal uniformed police officers to wear body cameras; and
- Requiring state and local law enforcement to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras.
- Makes lynching a federal crime.