coalition_letter_federal_policing_priorites-e8ff0cc55e21013f.pdf

A coalition of over 450 organizations is calling for immediate federal legislative action to end systemic police violence against Black people in the United States. The letter identifies critical failures in police accountability, the dangers of militarized policing, and the lack of national data on use-of-force. It proposes eight specific legislative measures, including banning chokeholds, ending qualified immunity, and creating a national public registry of officer misconduct.

• The coalition argues that police brutality and racism against Black people are systemic and structural issues that have persisted since the nation's founding, rather than isolated incidents.
• The document highlights the danger of militarized policing and the use of no-knock warrants, citing the death of Breonna Taylor as an example of a 'heavy-handed, military-style raid'.
• There is a critical lack of accountability and data regarding police use of force, with the coalition noting that no reliable national accounting of victims exists.
• The coalition identifies a pattern where officers with extensive histories of misconduct are hired by other departments, necessitating a national public registry of law enforcement officers.
• The letter demands the end of the qualified immunity doctrine, asserting that it allows officers to commit unconstitutional acts without legal consequence.
• The coalition proposes specific legal changes to the federal criminal civil rights statute (18 U.S.C. §242), suggesting the mens rea requirement be changed from 'willfulness' to 'recklessness' to facilitate prosecutions.

APA

Gupta, V. (2020). coalition_letter_federal_policing_priorites-e8ff0cc55e21013f.pdf. Earthjustice. https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/coalition_letter_federal_policing_priorites.pdf

Chicago

Gupta, Vanita. coalition_letter_federal_policing_priorites-e8ff0cc55e21013f.pdf. Earthjustice, 2020. https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/coalition_letter_federal_policing_priorites.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Gupta |first1=Vanita |title=coalition_letter_federal_policing_priorites-e8ff0cc55e21013f.pdf |publisher=Earthjustice |date=1 June 2020 |url=https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/coalition_letter_federal_policing_priorites.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{gupta2020coalitionletterfederalpolicingprioritese8ff0cc55e21013fpdf, author = {Gupta, Vanita}, title = {{coalition\_letter\_federal\_policing\_priorites-e8ff0cc55e21013f.pdf}}, publisher = {Earthjustice}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/coalition_letter_federal_policing_priorites.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }