Schneider Joins Congressional Black Caucus and Judiciary Committee Introducing Police Reform Package
Justice in Policing Act of 2020 would improve law enforcement accountability, transparency, and training to address decades of systemic racism and excessive policing
Today, Congressman Brad Schneider (IL-10) joined more than 160 House colleagues as an original cosponsor introducing H.R. 7120, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020, a major package of reforms to improve law enforcement accountability, transparency, and training to address decades of systemic racism and excessive policing.
The legislation is led by Rep. Karen Bass (Chairwoman, Congressional Black Caucus and Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (Chairman, Judiciary Committee). The Senate companion legislation is led by Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris.
"In communities across the country, Americans have marched demanding justice for the victims of police brutality and racial profiling," said Schneider. "George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others should be alive today, and their deaths expose a system of law enforcement in dire need of reform. I am proud to join my colleagues today in support of the Justice in Policing Act to hold officers accountable, end police brutality, and improve transparency. Led by the Congressional Black Caucus, this package of reforms is long overdue to address the systemic racism and excessive policing targeting Black Americans and other communities of color, and I am proud to add my voice and my vote to this effort."
Specifically, the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 would:
- Prohibits federal, state, and local law enforcement from racial, religious and discriminatory profiling, and mandates training on racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling for all law enforcement.
- Bans chokeholds, carotid holds and no-knock warrants at the federal level and limits the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement.
- Mandates the use of dashboard cameras and body cameras for federal offices and requires state and local law enforcement to use existing federal funds to ensure the use of police body cameras.
- Establishes a National Police Misconduct Registry to prevent problematic officers who are fired or leave on agency from moving to another jurisdiction without any accountability.
- Amends federal criminal statute from "willfulness" to a "recklessness" standard to successfully identify and prosecute police misconduct.
- Reforms qualified immunity so that individuals are not barred from recovering damages when police violate their constitutional rights.
- Establishes public safety innovation grants for community-based organizations to create local commissions and task forces to help communities to re-imagine and develop concrete, just and equitable public safety approaches.
- Creates law enforcement development and training programs to develop best practices and requires the creation of law enforcement accreditation standard recommendations based on President Obama's Task force on 21st Century policing.
- Requires state and local law enforcement agencies to report use of force data, disaggregated by race, sex, disability, religion, age.
- Improves the use of pattern and practice investigations at the federal level by granting the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division subpoena power and creates a grant program for state attorneys general to develop authority to conduct independent investigations into problematic police departments.
- Establishes a Department of Justice task force to coordinate the investigation, prosecution and enforcement efforts of federal, state and local governments in cases related to law enforcement misconduct.