By Jill McCorkel for The Conversation
Broadcast version by Diane Bernard for Maryland News Connection
Reporting for The Conversation-Public News Service Collaboration

BALTIMORE -- As protests against police violence and racism continue in cities throughout the U.S., the public is learning that several of the officers involved in the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville share a history of complaints by citizens of brutality or misconduct.

Decades of research on police shootings and brutality reveal that officers with a history of shooting civilians, for example, are much more likely to do so in the future compared to other officers. A similar pattern holds for misconduct complaints.

Officers who are the subject of previous civilian complaints - regardless of whether those complaints are for excessive force, verbal abuse or unlawful searches - pose a higher risk of engaging in serious misconduct in the future.

A study published in the American Economic Journal reviewed 50,000 allegations of officer misconduct in Chicago and found that officers with extensive complaint histories were disproportionately more likely to be named subjects in civil rights lawsuits with extensive claims and large settlement payouts.

In spite of this research, many law enforcement agencies not only fail to adequately investigate misconduct allegations, they rarely sustain citizen complaints. Disciplinary sanctions are few and reserved for the most egregious cases.

Complaints, lawsuits - but few consequences

Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for killing Floyd, is no stranger to situations in which deadly force has been deployed.

During a 2006 roadside stop, Chauvin was among six officers who, in just four seconds, fired 43 rounds into a truck driven by a man wanted for questioning in a domestic assault.

The man, Wayne Reyes, who police said aimed a sawed-off shotgun at them, died at the scene. The police department never acknowledged which officers had fired their guns, and a grand jury convened by prosecutors did not indict any of the officers.

Chauvin is also the subject of at least 18 separate misconduct complaints and was involved in two additional shooting incidents. According to The Associated Press, 16 of the complaints were "closed with no discipline" and two letters of reprimand were issued for Chauvin related to the other cases.

Tou Thao, one of three Minneapolis officers at the scene as Floyd pleaded for his life, is named in a 2017 civil rights lawsuit against the department. Lamar Ferguson, the plaintiff, said he was walking home with his pregnant girlfriend when Thao and another officer stopped him without cause, handcuffed him and proceeded to kick, punch and knee him with such force that his teeth shattered.

The case was settled by the city for $25,000, with the officers and the city declaring no liability, but it is not known if Thao was disciplined by the department.

In Louisville, Kentucky, at least three of the officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor while serving a no-knock warrant at her home - allowing them to use a battering ram to open her door - had previously been sanctioned for violating department policies. One of the officers, Brett Hankison, is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit alleging, according to news reports, that he harassed suspects and planted drugs on them.

Hankison has denied the charges in a response to the lawsuit.

Another officer in the Taylor case, Myles Cosgrove, was sued for excessive force in 2006 by a man whom he shot seven times in the course of a routine traffic stop. The judge dismissed the case. Cosgrove had been put on paid administrative leave as his role in the shooting was investigated by his department, and returned to the department after the investigation closed.

Patterns of misconduct and abuse

I am a scholar of law and the criminal justice system. In my work on wrongful conviction cases in Philadelphia, I regularly encounter patterns of police misconduct including witness intimidation, evidence tampering and coercion. It is often the same officers engaging in the same kinds of misconduct and abuse across multiple cases.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that across the nation fewer than one in 12 complaints of police misconduct result in any kind of disciplinary action.

And then there is the problem of "gypsy cops" - a derogatory ethnic slur used in law enforcement circles to refer to officers who are fired for serious misconduct from one department only to be rehired by another one.

Timothy Loehmann, the Cleveland officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, resigned before he was fired from his previous department after they deemed him unfit to serve. A grand jury did not indict Loehmann for the killing, but he was fired by the Cleveland Division of Police after they found he had not disclosed the reason for leaving his previous job.

In the largest study of police hiring, researchers concluded that rehired officers, who make up roughly 3% of the police force, present a serious threat to communities because of their propensity to re-offend, if they had engaged in misconduct before. These officers, wrote the study's authors, "are more likely ... to be fired from their next job or to receive a complaint for a 'moral character violation.'"

The Newark model

The Obama administration's Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommended the creation of a national database to identify officers whose law enforcement licenses were revoked due to misconduct. The database that currently exists, the National Decertification Index, is limited, given state level variation in reporting requirements and decertification processes.

Analysts agree that this is a useful step, but it does not address underlying organizational and institutional sources of violence, discrimination and misconduct.

For example, in the aftermath of the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the Department of Justice found that the department had a lengthy history of excessive force, unconstitutional stop and searches, racial discrimination and racial bias.

The report noted that the use of force was often punitive and retaliatory and that "the overwhelming majority of force - almost 90% - is used against African Americans."

One promising solution might be the creation of independent civilian review boards that are able to conduct their own investigations and impose disciplinary measures.

In Newark, New Jersey, the board can issue subpoenas, hold hearings and investigate misconduct.
Research at the national level suggests that jurisdictions with citizen review boards uphold more excessive force complaints than jurisdictions that rely on internal mechanisms.

But historically, the work of civilian review boards has been undercut by limitations on resources and authority. Promising models, including the one in Newark, are frequently the target of lawsuits and harassment by police unions, who say that such boards undermine the police department's internal disciplinary procedures.

In the case of civilian review board in the Newark, the board largely prevailed in the aftermath of the police union lawsuit. The court ruling restored the board's ability to investigate police misconduct - but it made the board's disciplinary recommendations nonbinding.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to unlock knowledge from academic experts.

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Jill McCorkel, Ph.D. wrote this article for TheConversation.com McCorkel is Professor of Sociology and Criminology at Villanova University and the founding director of the Philadelphia Justice Project for Women and Girls. Follow her at jillmccorkel.com and @JillMcCorkel.





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Mississippi prisons often lack resources to treat people who are incarcerated with substance-use disorders adequately but a nonprofit organization is offering alternative programs focused on treatment instead of incarceration.

The Magnolia State has one of the highest incarceration rates in the nation, with more than 1,000 people per 100,000 residents behind bars.

Christina Dent, founder and president of End It For Good, said they invite people to support approaches to drugs prioritizing life, preserving families and promoting public safety.

"We do education out in the community - with citizens, with advocates, with policymakers - to help them understand why a punitive criminal justice approach to drugs and addiction has not produced good results and why a health-centered approach would produce much better results," Dent explained.

It is estimated more than 578,000 people in state and federal prisons in 2022 had a substance-use disorder in the year prior to their admission, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

Dent emphasized they recommend lawmakers look at other alternatives to stop reactionary approaches resulting in Mississippians paying harsher penalties for crimes such as drug possession.

"Shift away from increasing penalties," Dent urged. "Another thing that we could do would be to reduce penalties or recategorize penalties for something like drug possession. We would love to see a shift from treating drug possession as potentially a felony to drug possession being a misdemeanor. "

Dent noted such an alternative approach would allow individuals impacted to more easily regain employment, support their families and reintegrate into society. She added felony convictions create lifelong barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.


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April is Second Chance Month and many Nebraskans are celebrating passage of a bipartisan voting rights restoration bill and its focus on second chances.

Legislative Bill 20 restores voting rights to those convicted of a felony upon completion of their sentence, eliminating the two-year waiting period.

Jason Witmer, policy fellow at the ACLU of Nebraska, said the change will promote success for formerly incarcerated Nebraskans. He pointed out it also will increase the likelihood of the state meeting the objectives Gov. Jim Pillen and the Department of Corrections have committed to.

Nebraska became the fourth state to join "Reentry 2030," a national initiative of the Council of State Governments focused on strengthening programs and removing obstacles for those reentering society after incarceration.

"The more somebody can have their rights in place for them, the more invested they are in the society," Witmer contended. "The more invested you are in your community and your society, the more likely you are to succeed. And the right to vote is fundamentally part of reintegrating into society. It's your civil voice."

Reentry 2030 aims to have all 50 states commit to improving outcomes for formerly incarcerated people. Nebraska's goals include increasing GED completion and college coursework by those in Nebraska prisons, and reducing recidivism 50% by 2030.

Pillen allowed the measure to become law but stated it contains "potential constitutional issues" which could lead to a legal challenge.

Nebraska's recidivism rate for those who left prison between 2019 and 2022 was nearly 30%.

Witmer noted it is at least partly attributable to the challenges people face upon leaving incarceration.

"You did the time, and then you come out and find out, 'Oh, I can't vote. Oh, housing is almost impossible to get. Oh, I can't work here,'" Witmer outlined. "Suddenly you don't feel like you're a part of any of this."

Across the country, 37 other states restore voting rights to those charged with a felony either immediately after incarceration or after completing parole or probation. Two states and the District of Columbia allow people to vote while incarcerated.

A new website aims to help Kentuckians just out of prison re-enter their communities and find job training, employment and recovery services.

April is Second Chance Month - and according to the Prison Policy Initiative, about 60% of formerly incarcerated individuals are jobless.

Gov. Andy Beshear said the website - secondchance.ky.gov - is meant to cut bureaucracy around job searching, and tie resources together in one spot to make it easier for people to get back on their feet.

"We are not our worst day," said Beshear. "When we look at how many people have a criminal record in Kentucky, this is the right thing to do. But it's also necessary from a workforce standpoint."

In 2021, lawmakers passed legislation that tasked the Kentucky Department of Corrections with issuing certificates of employability to people who successfully complete programs while incarcerated.

It also helps increase access to state-issued IDs for those leaving prison.

The website includes information on resume help, job searches and local reentry services.

Beshear said eventually, the site will contain a comprehensive list of employers - such as Kentucky State Parks, which is a participant in second chance employment.

"If they need to find resources on how to get that next level of education or workforce training," said Beshear, "and then ultimately be able to see a list of employers that are willing to look at them for second chance employment."

Businesses in the Commonwealth can also find information about programs that can aid in hiring and retaining more second-chance employees - including the Fair Chance Academy, Kentucky Transformational Employment program, Prison-to-Work Pipeline, and Jobs on Day One programs.