Despite numerous protests and calls for reform since 2015, policing-related deaths continue to rise each year and are disproportionately Black or Brown. Is the reform movement thus a failure? More than 1,600 bills were filed in state legislatures since George Floyd’s death, but few passed. What are the actual prospects for legislative action? These questions will be explored in this critical examination of the intersection of policing, activism and politics. We will explore past attempts to reform policing and efforts to thwart change, whether proposed policies will lead to the desired outcomes, and the pathways to reform at the local, state and federal levels. Participants should emerge with a clearer understanding of the police reform space and how it may be influenced.
Instructor: Walter Katz is vice president of criminal justice at Arnold Ventures. His career includes more than two decades of public service as a public defender in police oversight, and as deputy chief of Staff for the mayor of Chicago. He was awarded degrees from McGeorge School of Law and the University of Nevada.
Suggested reading: The Atlantic, June 3, 2020: “How to Actually Fix America’s Police,” by S. Stoughton, J. Noble, G, Alpert. The New Yorker, July 27, 2020: “How Police Unions Fight Reform.” Council on Criminal Justice: Task Force on Policing: Report on Accountability and Oversight (2021) https://counciloncj.foleon.com/policing/assessing-the-evidence/viii-government-oversight-and-reform-measures/