In light of Derek Chauvin’s Murder conviction for the death of George Floyd, scholars are taking time to reflect on the significance of the case.
“It is a bit of an outlier with respect to that because at least looking at this from a broader pool of data or these types of incidences, it’s rare for law enforcement officers to be charged with these kinds of crimes,” says University of Michigan lawmaker in residence, Javed Ali.
He says this verdict places more accountability on police in the field.
“How will police forces across the country change their standards of applying lethal force?” Ali says, “With Derek Chauvin those types of tactics and technique probably need to be completely relooked-if there are police forces that think something like that would be acceptable.”
North Central Michigan College professor, Kerri Finlayson, says on Wednesday her students wanted to talk about the verdict.
“I’ve asked them what do you think? Just trying to gauge them. Are they paying attention? Did they have baited breath? Most of them that I talked to it about said I’m really glad,” Finlayson says. “It certainly lends itself to having a really lively and informative discussion on policing, police reform, again discrimination in our society, how it’s changed and how we should go forward.”
She says she will continue to encourage this type of conversation in the classroom.
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