Prosecutors seeking to criminally charge police officers face a number of obstacles. Proving intent has a high bar, and police officers generally are granted leeway to do a job that requires split-second decision-making. Law enforcement officers also place people under restraint tens of thousands of times every day. And even then, in the rare cases when someone dies, proving they died specifically because of the restraint is rarely cut and dry.
In this episode of [Un]Common Law, we talk with Professor Ekow Yankah, a criminal procedure expert at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law about the legal distinctions that make it difficult to criminally prosecute police. We also speak with Brad Colbert, a professor of law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, about the differences between the charges Derek Chauvin is facing under Minnesota state law.
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