Chauvin conviction raises hopes for change in policing

Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin’s conviction and lengthy prison sentence in George Floyd’s murder could lead to better police hiring and training, law enforcement experts say.

And it might have made the public — and future jurors — more receptive to longstanding complaints about police interactions with minorities.

Even so, the case was so unusual — from bystander video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for 9½ minutes to police department brass testifying against him — that it’s difficult to say it was a watershed moment for lasting change.

“The conviction was critically important, in part, because of how blatant the violence was and because of the way in which the video couldn’t allow the lies that police often tell in these situations to dominate the narrative,” said Sheila Bedi, director of Northwestern University’s Community Justice & Civil Rights Clinic.

Officers accused of brutality or other misconduct against Black people rarely go to trial, and among those who have, the list of acquittals and mistrials is longer than the list of sentencings after conviction. That includes acquittals in recent years of officers tried in the deaths of Philando Castile in suburban Minneapolis and Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla.

Eleven nonfederal law officers, including Chauvin, have been convicted of murder for onduty deaths since 2005. Of those, the nine who were sentenced before Chauvin received sentences ranging from six years, nine months, to life behind bars, said Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University.

Still, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said the outcome was a step toward accountability, even if not total justice. And he urged lawmakers to pass laws to improve policing, saying Chauvin’s sentencing was “by itself not enough.”

Chauvin’s highprofile case likely led more people to believe longstanding complaints about police interactions with Black people, experts said. And that could make jurors less likely to simply believe police versions of events in the future.

The testimony of Minneapolis officers, including the chief, that Chauvin violated his training — though highly unusual — also could make officers think twice about using force.

“And if it does, it’s a good thing,” said former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Cramer.