These four tenets have been researched and shown to improve the trust and confidence a community has in police, and lay the foundation for creating a standard set of shared interests and values.
Dr. Lorenzo Norris
As health professionals, there are many aspects of procedural justice that we can and should embrace, particularly as we come to our reckoning with the use of restraints in medical settings.
Building on the work of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing, the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, from January 2015 through December 2018, implemented a six-city intervention aimed at generating measurable improvements in officer behavior, public safety, and community trust in police. The National Initiative was organized around three principal ideas: procedural justice, implicit bias training, and reconciliation and candid conversations about law enforcement’s historic role in racial tensions.
In addition to the recommendations of the federal government and independent institutions, national-level health policy organizations have made clear statements regarding police brutality and the need for systemic reform to address police brutality and systemic racism. In 2018, the American Psychiatric Association released a position statement on Police Brutality and Black Males. This was then followed in 2020 with a joint statement from the National Medical Association and the APA condemning systemic racism and police violence against Black Americans. Other health policy associations, including the American Medical Association and the American Association of Medical Colleges, have made clear statements condemning systemic racism and police brutality.
In the aftermath of the verdict, we also saw something very different. In our partisan country, there appeared to be uniform common ground. Statements were made acknowledging the importance of this historic moment, from police unions, and both political parties, and various invested grassroots organizations. In short, we may have true agreement and motivation to take the next hard steps in police reform for this country. There will be policy discussions and new mandates for training, and certainly a push to ban the use of lethal techniques, such as choke holds. While helpful, these will ultimately fall short unless we hold ourselves accountable for a true culture change.
The challenge of implementing procedural justice shouldn’t be just a law enforcement challenge, and it shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of communities with high crime areas. In other words, no single racial group should own it. Ultimately, procedural justice will need to be embraced by all of us.
On April 20, as I watched the verdict, my oldest daughter watched with me, and she asked, “What do you think, Dad?” I responded: “It’s accountability and an opportunity.” She nodded her head with resolve. She then grabbed her smartphone and jumped into social media and proclaimed in her very knowledgeable teenage voice, “See Dad, one voice is cool, but many voices in unison is better; time to get to work!” To Darnella Frazier, who captured the crime on video at age 17, and all in your generation who dare to hold us accountable, I salute you. I thank you for forcing us to look even when it was painful and not ignore the humanity of our fellow man. It is indeed time to get to work.
Dr. Norris is associate dean of student affairs and administration at George Washington University, Washington. He has no disclosures.