this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2024
89 points (95.9% liked)

News

23296 readers
5238 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
rjc@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
dezmd@lemmy.world
Tenthrow@lemmy.world
JonsJava@lemmy.world
gedaliyah@lemmy.world
Blackbeard@lemmy.world
little_cow@lemmy.world
jeffw@lemmy.world
enu@lemmy.world
89
Chicago Prosecutor Kim Foxx's proposal to not charge felonies from certain traffic stops has had success elsewhere (chicago.suntimes.com)
submitted 5 months ago by gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has stirred debate since proposing that her office no longer file felony charges when the cases stem solely from minor traffic violations.

Foxx says her intent is to reduce the incentive for police to conduct “pretextual stops,” where an officer uses a minor violation to pull over a car in order to find probable cause for another crime. Data shows such stops disproportionately target people of color and rarely result in charges.

Other jurisdictions have implemented similar policies over the last several years and report some success, not only in reducing such stops but rebuilding trust.

“It was indeed the most controversial thing that I had done,” said John Choi, the top prosecutor of Ramsey County, which covers St. Paul, Minnesota.

Two years ago, Choi stepped before a microphone and promised “a better version of public safety and justice” in announcing his office would enact a policy very similar to what Foxx is proposing.

Choi said he used to believe such stops were beneficial for police investigations but said he couldn’t ignore that less than 2% resulted in charges and that Black drivers were being stopped at four times the rate of other drivers in St. Paul.

“For the longest time, we’ve been policing in a way that is going after that 2% but not recognizing the harm that has been done to communities,” he said when he announced the policy.

Choi said he believes the decision has been a resounding success, citing an independent study that showed a drastic reduction in stops for minor violations, particularly among Black drivers.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240605123622/https://chicago.suntimes.com/police-reform/2024/06/04/kim-foxx-not-charge-traffic-stops-success

top 6 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] nkat2112@sh.itjust.works 23 points 5 months ago

I can imagine that measures like this go a long way toward rebuilding trust - and healing.

It's nice to read this good news. Thank you for sharing.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago

It's a little like nyc chasing subway fare gate jumpers. Most people who commit big crimes also jump gates. Most gate jumpers do not also commit big crimes.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I'm confused. Felonies are generally more serious crimes. If a felony is being committed, does it matter how it was noticed?

But it also says that less than 2% of stops resulted in a felony charge. That still seems like a lot of felonies. And 96% of stops resulted in nothing? That seems incredibly high.

It feels like a lot of factors are being muddled together here, painting a very unclear picture. Or maybe it's just that I haven't finished my coffee yet.

[–] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 13 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

over 4x as many people of color are pulled over as non POC during these stops

This is the important part. Cops are racist. They will stop 80 POC, 20 non POC, and arrest 2 of them for felonies. This puts targeted, inordinate strain on POC communities, who are consistently harassed by racist cops, which is an unjust act much worse than the felonies. Remeber felonies can be as non harmful as "has too much weed," etc.

If cops weren't racist, it wouldn't be an issue, but they continue to be racist at every oppurtunity, so this prosecutor is trying to stop that racism by making it fruitless.

[–] Vespair@lemm.ee 4 points 5 months ago

I agree, but this feels like just doing something tangential rather than addressing the issue. Until we clear out, clear up, and rebuild police departments from the ground up, they are going to continue to be motivated by racism and minority citizens will continue to be unfairly target and charged.

I'm not saying this isn't a good thing or that it won't help, but it feels like trying to put a single bandaid on somebody bleeding out after a bear mauling.

That said, we all only have the power of our station and our voice, so I do appreciate this prosecutor trying to do what they can with the power they has, and I do think they should be celebrated for it.