Six white former law enforcement officers in Mississippi have pleaded guilty to a racist assault on Michael Corey Jenkins and his friend Eddie Terrell Parker, who are Black.
Normally I don’t believe in the death penalty but I would consider it here.
I feel the same way, these men brutally tortured and murdered civilians for not racially segregating themselves, then tried to cover up their crimes. I believe criminal police should face worse consequences for crimes than civilians as a counterbalance for qualified immunity.
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee said the men will be sentenced in mid-November. Dedmon and Elward each face a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines. Hartfield faces a possible sentence of 80 years and $1.5 million, McAlpin faces 90 years and $1.75 million, Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke could be sentenced to 100 years with a $2 million fine.
The men are scheduled to plead guilty to the state charges on Aug. 14, said Mary-Helen Wall, a deputy state attorney general. source
May they get the maximum sentence and die behind bars.
An investigation by The Associated Press also linked some of the deputies to at least four violent encounters with Black men since 2019 that left two dead and another with lasting injuries.
Everyone responsible for hiring, overseeing, and training these officers should be investigated and possibly face serious legal consequences themselves. There’s no excuse for keeping excessively violent and racist cops on the force.
There’s no excuse for keeping excessively violent and racist cops on the force.
I read somewhere a couple of years back that a big roadblock to the concept of “police reform” is that many (all?) police unions have language that requires officers with less seniority to be laid off before officers with more seniority. This means that if the culture is being cultivated from the old guard, and it always is, that the only way to really root it out is to completely disband the department and then start it again with all new people.
This isn’t meant to be an excuse, but to explain why it’s so difficult; almost to the point where the phrase “police reform” is a nonsensical statement. It’s less “reform” and more scrap it all and start over.
I feel the same way, these men brutally tortured and murdered civilians for not racially segregating themselves, then tried to cover up their crimes. I believe criminal police should face worse consequences for crimes than civilians as a counterbalance for qualified immunity.
May they get the maximum sentence and die behind bars.
Everyone responsible for hiring, overseeing, and training these officers should be investigated and possibly face serious legal consequences themselves. There’s no excuse for keeping excessively violent and racist cops on the force.
I read somewhere a couple of years back that a big roadblock to the concept of “police reform” is that many (all?) police unions have language that requires officers with less seniority to be laid off before officers with more seniority. This means that if the culture is being cultivated from the old guard, and it always is, that the only way to really root it out is to completely disband the department and then start it again with all new people.
This isn’t meant to be an excuse, but to explain why it’s so difficult; almost to the point where the phrase “police reform” is a nonsensical statement. It’s less “reform” and more scrap it all and start over.