In the context of many deaths at the hands of police officers, there has been increased pressure to prosecute officers who are involved in civilian shootings. We’re now seeing the effects of that pressure, as prosecutions of officers who were involved in the shooting of a civilian have reached their highest number in a decade.

So far in 2015, 12 officers have been charged with either murder or manslaughter resulting from police shootings. That’s significantly higher than the average from 2005-2014, which was five prosecutions a year. It also doesn’t include the six police officers who are being prosecuted for the death of Freddie Gray, because that death did not stem from a shooting, or any other deaths not resulting from police shootings.

While this kind of data isn’t compiled nationwide, a professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Philip Stinson, curated it as part of a project he worked on with the Department of Justice. The project is called “Police Integrity Lost.” This project is one example of the ways in which the DOJ is trying to improve its knowledge of police-related killings, and the prosecutions that follow–or the lack thereof.

The prosecutions related to deaths this year also still make up only a tiny fraction of police-related killings. According to the Washington Post, there have been 796 fatal police shootings this year in the United States. Killed by Police, a watchdog organization reports 979 civilians have been killed to date at police hands–those stats aren’t just limited to shootings like the Washington Post ones are.

Moreover, just because more officers are being prosecuted doesn’t mean they’ll be convicted. Stinson’s numbers show that out of 47 officers charged in fatal shootings over the last 10 years, only 11 have been convicted.

Despite the fact that it seems like more police officers will be held accountable for actions that are deemed inappropriate this year, Stinson cautions against reading too much into this year’s numbers, pointing out they might be indicative of a trend sparked by recent public outcry over police brutality, but they might also just be an anomaly. Regardless, ensuring more accountability and understanding of the circumstances surrounding police shootings is a good thing.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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It’s been just over a year since the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, but the United States is still reeling from the revelations about police brutality and the issues in our criminal justice system. One of the most controversial aspects of Brown’s case involved the choice of the local grand jury not to indict the police officer who shot him, Officer Darren Wilson. The aftermath of that non-indictment, among others, sparked a new law in California that was just signed by Governor Jerry Brown. Under the law, grand juries will no longer be used to investigate the deaths of people allegedly killed by police officers.

Although processes differ from state to state, as well as on the federal level, traditionally there are two different ways that suspects can be indicted. In California, either a prosecutor can files charges and then bring the case before a judge in a preliminary hearing, or they can present evidence and seek an indictment from a supposedly unbiased grand jury. The new law, which will go into effect next year, eliminates the latter option.

The reason that California is eliminating the use of grand juries in police-involved deaths comes directly from concerns about transparency that are inherent in the grand jury system. The process usually just involves a group of private citizens receiving evidence from a prosecutor, without a judge or defense attorney present. The prosecutor essentially controls the flow of evidence–yet it’s the grand jury’s decision whether or not to indict. So, if a grand jury fails to do so, the ire falls on them, not the prosecutor. While this is supposed to protect witnesses and keep the presumption of innocence, critics of the process believe it favors the police and allows the prosecutors to avoid responsibility for their actions.

Under the new California law, however, the decision will be made by the prosecutor–and the hope is that they conduct fair and unbiased investigations and file charges if they’re needed. The move is supposed to foster transparency and accountability.

California state Senator Holly J. Mitchell, who wrote the bill, stated:

The use of the criminal grand jury process, and the refusal to indict as occurred in Ferguson and other communities of color, has fostered an atmosphere of suspicion that threatens to compromise our justice system.

However, not everyone is as optimistic that the change will help make sure that officers who do use force inappropriately are held accountable. In fact, another state, New Jersey, has taken literally the opposite approach to ensure that proper oversight is given to police-involved deaths. New Jersey has mandated that civilian grand juries be used in those cases, and created some guidelines and parameters for that use in order to ensure that cases are presented uniformly.

It is very clear that there are certain aspects of our justice system that warrant a re-examination; police-involved killings certainly make the list. While California’s move away from grand juries could end up leading to more transparency, more change may still be needed to make sure that the prosecutors on whom the burden now falls are subject to fair oversight. It’s a step in the right direction, but let’s just hope it’s a big enough step.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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