President Joe Biden believes that the standard for convicting officers should be lowered, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Psaki said, â believes the bar for convicting officers is far too high. It needs to be changed.â
âHeâs a strong supporter, as he also conveyed passionately last night, of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act which does change the intent standard,â she added.
The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would lower the criminal intent standard for conviction from âwillful to knowing or reckless.â
Watch the video below:
Psakiâs comments come after the jury in former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvinâs trial found him guilty on three counts of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree âdepraved mindâ murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.
While the celebrations broke out following the rare conviction of a police officer, officers are rarely convicted in connection to an on-duty fatal shooting.
Since 2005, there have been 139 officers arrested in connection with fatal shootings and 44 have been convicted.
As Vox notes, in that time frame, seven officers â not counting Chauvin â have been convicted of murder, while the other 37 were convicted on charges of manslaughter or misconduct. Additionally, there are roughly 1,000 fatal police shootings each year in the U.S.
The New York Timesâ David Leonhardt explained that means the chance of a jury convicting a cop on charges of murder is roughly one in 2,000.
In remarks after Chauvinâs guilty verdict was announced, Biden said, âWe have a chance to begin to change the trajectory in this country. Itâs my hope and prayer that we live up to the legacy.â
âThis can be a giant step forward in the march toward justice in America,â he added.
In a statement, former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama said in a statement that the jury âdid the right thing.â
However, they said, âWe cannot rest. We will need to follow through with the concrete reforms that will reduce and ultimately eliminate racial bias in our criminal justice systems.â
