The Effect of High-Profile Police Brutality Trials on Future Juries

    With the advent and widespread usage of cell phone videos taken by the public of police interactions with the public, cases of police brutality are exponentially more accessible to community members. The old adage that one can deny wrongdoing unless it's on video is being put to the test in grand and petit juries across the country. But does that mean that juries are more likely to bring an indictment or a guilty verdict?

    Traditionally, police officers have enjoyed an extremely broad amount of reasonable doubt when it comes to jury decisions: "[i]n the many cases involving criminal allegations against police officers or proxy police actors poised as vigilantes, jurors consistently reject indicting or convicting on serious criminal charges of murder." However, the uproar that was caused by the video of the death of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers sparked a nationwide conversation about just how effective this technology can be in getting accountability for bad actors. The impression that police should always be believed or at least not questioned in their actions was being re-evaluated with every second that Floyd was held down with a knee to his neck that was played over and over in households that may have never had any bad experiences with their local law enforcement.

    But the ultimate legal outcomes of cases with police brutality captured on video does not seem to bring about actual charges against police officers. George Floyd's murder at the hands of police was not the first: Tamir Rice and Eric Garner's last moments were captured on video. Unlike the Floyd case, neither Rice nor Garner's cases resulted in charges for the officers involved. This has caused commentators to remark that "even video footage in seemingly egregious police abuse cases may not be enough to sway juries." Since 2005, "fewer than 5 officers have been convicted of murder and had those convictions upheld by higher courts" out of around 1,000 cases.

    Despite the outrage demonstrated through widespread protests and condemnation by community leaders, the vitriol and concern that immediately arises in your average individual is not a permanent state. Additionally, the trauma that is associated with watching an individual lose their life at the hands of the people we are taught are our protectors diminishes over time because of the reluctance to relive those horrid moments. We feel that fire rise in ourselves at the onset of these cases, but without constant kindling, that fire will go out and our attention is pulled to another outrage. 

    The bottom line is, we can not predict whether video evidence of police brutality will have a longstanding effect of bringing justice for the victims of police brutality. The idea of sunshine being a disinfectant has its place, and as an optimist who believes in the justice system in most cases, any accountability mechanisms have a chance to hold wrongdoers accountable in ways that may have been improbable, if not impossible, previously.