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发帖数: 8042 | 1 终于来了。
Searing DOJ report says Ferguson PD routinely violated rights of African-
Americans
The Ferguson Police Department routinely violated the constitutional rights
of the local African-American population in the Missouri city for years, the
Department of Justice has found in a searing report.
The investigation, launched after the August shooting of Michael Brown, an
unarmed black teenager, found that the department violated the Fourth
Amendment in instances such as making traffic stops without reasonable
suspicion and making arrests without probable cause.
The report provides direct evidence of racial bias among police officers and
court workers, and details a criminal justice system that through the
issuance of petty citations for infractions such as walking in the middle of
the street, prioritizes generating revenue from fines over public safety.
The practice hits poor people especially hard, sometimes leading to jail
time when they can't pay, the report says, and has contributed to a cynicism
about the police on the part of citizens.
The official release of the report could come as early as Wednesday. The
details were provided to Fox News on Tuesday by law enforcement officials
familiar with the department's findings.
The Justice Department alleges that the discrimination was triggered at
least partly by racial bias and stereotypes about African-Americans, a
violation of the 14th Amendment. The report details a November 2008 email on
an official Ferguson municipal account which joked that President Obama
would not be president for long because “what black man holds a steady job
for four years?”
From 2012 to 2014, the report found, African-Americans comprised 85 percent
of people pulled over for a traffic stop; 90 percent of those given
citations; and 93 percent of arrests.
Also, African-American drivers were more than twice as likely to be searched
during a traffic stop than white drivers, but that those black drivers were
26 percent less likely to be found to be holding contraband.
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