    
June 12, 2020
Dear Neighbor,
This week I proudly joined my colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee and in the Congressional Black Caucus in introducing the Justice in Policing Act. I’m an original cosponsor of this sweeping legislation, which would address systemic racial discrimination, improve transparency and accountability in police departments, and bring us closer to obtaining justice for countless unarmed African-American victims like George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor.
The Justice in Policing Act:
- Prohibits federal, state, and local law enforcement from discriminatory profiling, and mandates training on profiling for all law enforcement
- Bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants at the federal level
- Classifies lynching as a federal crime
- Mandates the use of body and dashboard cameras
- Establishes a National Police Misconduct Registry to increase accountability
- Limits the transfer of military-grade equipment to state and local law enforcement
- Reforms qualified immunity
- Creates law enforcement development and training programs
You can read a section-by-section summary of the bill here.
I also participated in the Judiciary Committee’s related hearing on police reforms and spoke strongly in favor of this bill. You can watch my questioning of the witnesses here.
Last week I was joined by two of America’s leading criminal law scholars and champions of justice reform, Professors Paul Butler of Georgetown Law and Angela Davis of American University Washington College of Law, for a roundtable about racism and official violence in America. You can watch our discussion here.
As Black Lives Matter civil protests continue across the country, I believe this comprehensive, bold legislation is a fundamentally important step in beginning to address America’s long history of systemic racism and police brutality. Please let me know your thoughts on the legislation by taking my survey below.
As always, I encourage people across the 8th District to continue to share their concerns and insights with me and my staff by contacting my office or connecting with me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
All best,
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