Balancing the Scales of Justice

When Walter Scott was murdered by a police officer in my hometown of North Charleston in 2015, I immediately stepped forward to begin offering solutions. I introduced the Walter Scott Notification Act, to require police departments report every time an officer’s weapon was discharged. I also authored the Safer Officers and Safer Citizens Act to ensure widespread use of body cameras by jurisdictions across the country.

Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, I led the charge to build a comprehensive package in the United States Senate that focused on police reform, transparency and accountability. The JUSTICE Act would accomplish the following:

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

While Senate Democrats have so far blocked any effort to pass reforms in the Senate, I will continue fighting.

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