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It is time for Congress to come together to address injustices in our criminal justice system and work together to improve the relationship between communities and law enforcement. That’s why I recently joined Senator Tim Scott in introducing the Just and Unifying Solutions to Invigorate Communities Everywhere (JUSTICE) Act.
The JUSTICE Act provides long-term solutions focused on police reform, accountability, and transparency, while also promoting efforts to find solutions to systemic issues affecting people of color such as education and health disparities. The vast majority of law enforcement officials in North Carolina and across the country are good people who were sickened by the murder of George Floyd, and they will be a critical part of the solution.
I want to thank Senator Scott for his leadership. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle commit to working with us to find consensus and advance this bill so we can make progress and help heal our nation.
The full text of the JUSTICE Act can be found here, a section by section analysis here, and a summary below.
Law Enforcement Reform
- The JUSTICE Act strengthens the training methods and tactics throughout law enforcement jurisdictions, especially regarding de-escalation of force and the duty to intervene, providing law enforcement with new funding to do so, and will also end the practice of utilizing chokeholds
- Additionally, the bill will reform hiring practices by providing more resources to ensure the makeup of police departments more closely matches the communities they serve
- The JUSTICE Act also ensures when a candidate is interviewed, the department looking to hire will have access to their prior disciplinary records
- Too often, after a tragic incident, we have learned the offending officer had a disciplinary past in another jurisdiction of which their current employer was unaware
Accountability
- Studies show that when body cameras are properly used violent encounters decrease significantly
- The JUSTICE Act will put more body cameras on the streets, and ensure that departments are both using the cameras and storing their data properly
- JUSTICE also requires a report establishing best practices for the hiring, firing, suspension, and discipline of law enforcement officers
Transparency
- Currently, only about 40 percent of police officers from jurisdictions nationwide report to the FBI after an incident where an officer has discharged his or her weapon or used force
- The bill will require full reporting in these two areas
- There is also very little data as to when, where and why no knock warrants are used, and the JUSTICE Act will require reporting in this area as well
Additional Steps
- The JUSTICE Act will finally make lynching a federal crime
- It also creates two commissions to study and offer solutions to a broader range of challenges facing black men and boys, and the criminal justice system as a whole.
I look forward to working to pass the JUSTICE Act and helping our state and nation heal and move forward together. Please contact my office if I can be of assistance.
All the best,
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