Police Officers Who Commit Homicide: What Consequences Should They Receive?

Human rights organizations across the country are protesting the ongoing abuses of power by an increasingly militarized police force, demanding that officers who kill unarmed citizens be charged with homicide. Marches and rallies seem to have little effect, as more citizens come forth whose loved ones have been gunned down by overzealous police. What consequences should police suffer when they kill unarmed citizens? How can these human rights abuses be stopped? What body of authority needs to oversee judges, who continue to issue harsh sentences to individuals who have been tortured into false confessions or ill advised to plead guilty by attorneys with questionable ethics? As the Human Rights and Justice Committee of Missouri creates a National Registry to expose homicidal police officers and unjust judges, more citizens are challenging the police departments who killed their loved ones and received not so much as a reprimand. Many innocent citizens have been railroaded into jail by judges who knowingly sentenced innocent people to prison time. How do we remove people from power who are abusive and corrupt? What consequences should those who violated the public trust ultimately suffer? Our guests Yahkhanahn Ammi and Queen Tahira Sparks discuss strategy for punishing abuses of power and stopping those who violate the human rights of others.