Following Derek Chauvin's conviction in the murder of George Floyd, the Justice Department launches a "pattern or practice" investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department.
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Former congressman John Conyers, who died at 90 on October 27, left office under a cloud. But he also left an important legacy for criminal justice reform: the "pattern or practice" statute that gave the Justice Department authority to go after law enforcement agencies engaged in unconstitutional practices like racial profiling.
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A federal judge says Seattle's new contract with police puts the city out of compliance with a 2012 consent that was supposed to make officers more accountable for use of force. We'll be watching this one closely.
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What are pattern-or-practice consent decrees? Trisha wants to know more about how they're being applied in her home city of Baltimore and other cities.
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Sometimes a local law enforcement agency is so dysfunctional that the federal government has to get involved. What does a top-to-bottom overhaul of an entire police department look like?
Sam Walker is Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska, and a leading expert on police accountability.
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