Why Isn’t the Government Tracking Police Custody Deaths?

FEATURING JUSTIN MAZZOLA – The tragic cases of Sandra Bland in Texas and Freddie Gray in Maryland brought to the forefront the disturbing incidence of unexplained deaths in police custody in the US.

While individual stories crop up in the news frequently, there is no national accounting of how many people die in while in custody. The Justice Department announced recently that it would begin implementation of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act (DIRCA) which was passed two years ago.

But dozens of advocacy organizations including the NAACP, ACLU, and Amnesty International have written to the DOJ saying they are troubled by how lax the reporting requirements are for police departments. Police custody and jail deaths are a part of the bigger problem that movements like Black Lives Matter are drawing attention to.

Find more at www.aiusa.org.

Justin Mazzola, Researcher with Amnesty International USA.