Andrew C. Laufer: Fighting Police Brutality Through Laws

It was not too long ago when Rodney King became the poster child for the movement against police brutality. When a video showing multiple officers beating King went public, the drive for justice went all the way to the heart of Hollywood. Almost 27 years later, unfortunately, the same underlying principles that facilitated notorious LA riots are nowhere near eradicated. Just recently, Hollywood was in the spotlight of the latest $240,000 settlement in another police brutality case. This impoverished trend gives rise to the belief that the society is still a subject to issues like the lack of civil rights, wrongful arrests, and unjustified imprisonments.

Growing Concern

In the words of Andrew C. Laufer, a fierce fighter on the legal front of social inequities, the biggest problem might be the fact that lawyers are seeing a spike in the demand curve of their services. Laufer has represented many clients who were working through very similar issues to the aforementioned scenarios, and most of his recent work is related to police brutality cases that are becoming too common. In February of 2017, for example, 112 people have been killed by the police. This showcases an almost 10% increase in the number of deaths as compared with the same month of the year before.

The Media

A factor that plays a big role in these cases is the media coverage. Most outlets have stayed loyal to reporting the shootings of unarmed citizens which has, in turn, generated an outcry of regular people who witnessed the problem on their TVs or smartphones. Ironically, the quiet professionals who have been on the legal side of this issue have gotten little media exposure. Thanks to experts like Mr. Andrew C. Laufer, a lot of everyday cases pinned to innocent people have been dealt with.

Verdicts are Overturned

If one was to look into the way that states' judicial branches approach criminal cases of these implications, they would see some incredible improvements over the past decade. In 2007, per se, a black male was convicted of murder by a 12-member white jury after a very suspicious line of questioning by the local prosecutor. Ten years later, the same man was set free by the judge who regarded the prosecutor's approach as improper. This type of evolution is one of the few positive sides that has come out of the most recent police cruelty cases. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen if the growth in the judicial methods will be enough to overpower the decline in selective law enforcement strategies.

Overstepping Boundaries

Numbers usually deliver the best perspective on an issue. As previously noted, Laufer who practices law in New York has said that his services are needed more and more. This claim seems very true when considering that there have been 1,129 people killed by the police in 2017, out of which 147 were completely unarmed. Even more concerning is the fact that 87% of these individuals were queried for a simple traffic violation in the first place. Thus, as many as 982 people lost their lives after pulling over on the side of the road for issues like speeding, failing to yield, or something along those lines. Of course, it would be deceptive to state that every person accounted for should be victimized as many tragic outcomes are not police-driven. Still, the misuse of power and an obvious overreach in the way that law enforcement sometimes operates remain clear.

True Victory Takes Time

When people stood up in Los Angeles for Rodney King in the 90s, the infamous LA riots ensued. Sadly, this battle was fought with weapons instead of motions, clauses, and laws. Since then, people seemed to have wisened and accepted the high route. As seen in 2016, many celebrities led thousands of people through the Hollywood march and other areas around LA. The bottom line of their movement was "respect" and parties looking to engage in violent responses were discouraged from participating at all. Though it is a stretch to say that lawyers like Andrew Laufer will see a decrease in cases of brutality they can work on, it is a great step forward. Pushing for unity is one of the ways that the civil rights movement operated in the 1960s, which is why it seems reasonable to assume that racial dividedness would benefit from it again in the 21st century. After all, police-related crimes will hardly be able to persevere against people like Laufer, let alone against millions of citizens standing together.