COVID-19 in America: The Justice System
For a look into how COVID-19 has impacted supply chains, click here. On how the pandemic has damaged the health-care system, click here. For how it has affected the K-12 system, click here.
Before you read, keep in mind this entire pandemic has been an exercise in picking bad options.
You all know the drill concerning what the pandemic has revealed about the American justice system and what problems it has made worse.
COVID-19 has worked to overstretch a justice system that was already in serious trouble. Thanks to the triggering of a recession, the fallout from George Floyd’s murder, and many other factors, violent crime surged across the United States during COVID-19, but cases of domestic violence especially increased as well. Moreover, thanks to crowded conditions inside America’s correctional facilities, jails and prisons saw incredibly high infection rates of both inmates and staff.
In the meantime, prosecutors and public defenders are facing a higher-than-normal volume of cases and, thanks to COVID-19, fewer staff to deal with this.
Overcrowding in too many jails and prisons caused sky-high infection rates among both inmates and staff. In turn, this caused an excess of deaths among inmates (to no one’s surprise, disproportionately people of color). With the death of staff from COVID-19, an already precarious situation with staff in these facilities has gotten even worse.
When the (necessary) shutdown orders came, one of the worst side effects was that it often trapped victims of domestic violence with their abusers. As a result, cases of domestic violence have gone up significantly during the pandemic, including murder.
Due to the crime wave causing a higher-than-normal workload along with staff getting sick, prosecutors and public defenders (though it has always been overstretched in the case of public defenders) were overwhelmed, causing an already backlogged system to get worse.
Before George Floyd’s murder, police departments were already starting to feel the strain of the pandemic. COVID-19 has infected a large number of police officers and has, in fact, killed quite a few of them. This made the problems Chauvin’s decision to kill George Floyd caused much worse.
The murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin caused a storm of rage that decades of police misconduct (specifically Minneapolis police misconduct, though not just them) and the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic fueled. It exposed just how unfair the justice system is for Black Americans across the country and how someone’s skin color all too often determines how the justice system treats an individual.
Hours after this horrific murder, the Minneapolis Police Department decided to start a riot by escalating the situation by needlessly using tear gas on a peaceful, albeit tense, crowd near where George Floyd was murdered. Intentional or not, the actions of the MPD set Minneapolis on fire.
The reaction and anger of the public caused many officers inside the MPD to take this as their cue to retire or quit. The MPD caused such a mess that the Minnesota National Guard and nearby police departments had to bail them out. Coordination between the various offices and departments was abysmal.
This murder did not cause the rise in violent crimes nationwide, but it did make the effects worse by triggering a shortage of law enforcement to deal with this problem, along with the plummeting of social/political capital of many police departments.
The snowball effect led to the above problems of overworked government county employees getting much worse.
Diversifying the police force is necessary, but on its own, it is insufficient.
I think the best question to ask going forward is who the enemy is that you want law enforcement to wage war on.
Before anyone starts to throw tomatoes at me, the default target for law enforcement in this country is Black Americans and other people of color, depending on the circumstances. I know you all know it’s not fair to treat a group of people as an enemy simply for their skin color.
Keep in mind that Defund the Police proponents follow the same logic that Republicans use to defund public schools—that logic being that this program is clearly failing, ergo, we should defund it; don’t worry about the long-term consequences.
Pay attention to who is getting elected as county/district attorney and judges. This has a significant impact on how the legal system works for everyone.
Make sure to donate to Saraswati Singh’s campaign for Hennepin County Attorney and to spread the word.
Like every other vital public sector, the legal system and law enforcement sectors are having serious shortages of people. Encourage people who would not traditionally think of a career in law enforcement to pursue that path.
There has been enough instability. Rebuilding the legal and law enforcement systems in America is a necessary prerequisite for bringing safety to all of us.
Before you read, keep in mind this entire pandemic has been an exercise in picking bad options.
You all know the drill concerning what the pandemic has revealed about the American justice system and what problems it has made worse.
COVID-19 has worked to overstretch a justice system that was already in serious trouble. Thanks to the triggering of a recession, the fallout from George Floyd’s murder, and many other factors, violent crime surged across the United States during COVID-19, but cases of domestic violence especially increased as well. Moreover, thanks to crowded conditions inside America’s correctional facilities, jails and prisons saw incredibly high infection rates of both inmates and staff.
In the meantime, prosecutors and public defenders are facing a higher-than-normal volume of cases and, thanks to COVID-19, fewer staff to deal with this.
What Went Wrong
Besides the political system (which interconnects these failures), I can think of few American systems that performed worse than the legal and justice system during the COVID-19 pandemic.Overcrowding in too many jails and prisons caused sky-high infection rates among both inmates and staff. In turn, this caused an excess of deaths among inmates (to no one’s surprise, disproportionately people of color). With the death of staff from COVID-19, an already precarious situation with staff in these facilities has gotten even worse.
When the (necessary) shutdown orders came, one of the worst side effects was that it often trapped victims of domestic violence with their abusers. As a result, cases of domestic violence have gone up significantly during the pandemic, including murder.
Due to the crime wave causing a higher-than-normal workload along with staff getting sick, prosecutors and public defenders (though it has always been overstretched in the case of public defenders) were overwhelmed, causing an already backlogged system to get worse.
Before George Floyd’s murder, police departments were already starting to feel the strain of the pandemic. COVID-19 has infected a large number of police officers and has, in fact, killed quite a few of them. This made the problems Chauvin’s decision to kill George Floyd caused much worse.
How George Floyd’s Murder Made Things Worse
Before I go on, it is worth keeping in mind the crime wave has hit red states and counties much harder than it has their blue counterparts.The murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin caused a storm of rage that decades of police misconduct (specifically Minneapolis police misconduct, though not just them) and the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic fueled. It exposed just how unfair the justice system is for Black Americans across the country and how someone’s skin color all too often determines how the justice system treats an individual.
Hours after this horrific murder, the Minneapolis Police Department decided to start a riot by escalating the situation by needlessly using tear gas on a peaceful, albeit tense, crowd near where George Floyd was murdered. Intentional or not, the actions of the MPD set Minneapolis on fire.
The reaction and anger of the public caused many officers inside the MPD to take this as their cue to retire or quit. The MPD caused such a mess that the Minnesota National Guard and nearby police departments had to bail them out. Coordination between the various offices and departments was abysmal.
This murder did not cause the rise in violent crimes nationwide, but it did make the effects worse by triggering a shortage of law enforcement to deal with this problem, along with the plummeting of social/political capital of many police departments.
The snowball effect led to the above problems of overworked government county employees getting much worse.
What Needs to Be Done
I have gone over quite often what needs to be done about the criminal justice system.Diversifying the police force is necessary, but on its own, it is insufficient.
I think the best question to ask going forward is who the enemy is that you want law enforcement to wage war on.
Before anyone starts to throw tomatoes at me, the default target for law enforcement in this country is Black Americans and other people of color, depending on the circumstances. I know you all know it’s not fair to treat a group of people as an enemy simply for their skin color.
Keep in mind that Defund the Police proponents follow the same logic that Republicans use to defund public schools—that logic being that this program is clearly failing, ergo, we should defund it; don’t worry about the long-term consequences.
Pay attention to who is getting elected as county/district attorney and judges. This has a significant impact on how the legal system works for everyone.
Make sure to donate to Saraswati Singh’s campaign for Hennepin County Attorney and to spread the word.
Like every other vital public sector, the legal system and law enforcement sectors are having serious shortages of people. Encourage people who would not traditionally think of a career in law enforcement to pursue that path.
There has been enough instability. Rebuilding the legal and law enforcement systems in America is a necessary prerequisite for bringing safety to all of us.