Crimes Against Asian-Americans: What needs to change in Policing

The growing barbaric and divisive trend of brutal attacks on Asian-Americans have garnered national outcry across racial lines; among Asian-Americans; and among justice advocates. The President of the United States has publicly denounced these crimes of hate on several occasions, rightfully calling them un-American.

In early March 2021, Westchester unfortunately experienced its worst fear of an attack against a member of its Asian-American community in White Plains. The attack further elevated the callousness of these events, as the victim was an 83-year-old Korean American woman who was simply going about her business, assuming to be protected by the basic human entitlement of safety and the right to be free.

The White Plains Police subsequently made an arrest in connection with this attack, however, due to procedural issues with the identification process done by the police, the charges were dropped. The District Attorney released a written statement by way of an initial explanation. Then, in a joint televised statement with White Plains Police, Westchester County District Attorney, addressed the Westchester community on the reasons pertaining to the charges being dropped. The victim’s family also provided their impassioned reaction to the decision.

Following the address, some on social media, expressed skepticism, outrage, and criticism, with regards to the disappointment that justice was in their view denied for the victim, and a perpetrator of a heinous crime could roam free within the community. Some also voiced their lack of understanding of what went wrong, and others reduced their misunderstanding of the legal decision and explanation into personal smears.

Public outrage at the application of the law, oftentimes become ad hominem (by some) towards those entrusted to apply the law. However, the focus must remain on the steep learning curve which the handling of this egregious incident has thrown to the law enforcement community. There must be liable understanding by law enforcement and prosecutors that the public’s trust of the justice system as it stands, hinges heavily on getting the “bill and receipt.” Once the receipt is not itemized and fully explained, then the frustration with the justice system becomes amplified and unfortunately extends to the purveyors of justice. Only continued proof of transparency, respect, responsiveness, and hard work at correcting the deficiencies and reimaging the justice system can suffice and eventually vindicate those who serve in it.

The constructive messages conveyed via the public’s response must be redirected into meaningful criminal justice reform.

According to the Innocence Project, a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted, mistaken eyewitness identifications contributed to approximately 69% of the more than 375 wrongful convictions in the United States which were later overturned by post-conviction DNA evidence.

The possible mistaken identity averted in this case on procedural grounds, can be viewed as a small proactive step in the reform efforts to prevent an increase in this astounding number. There can be no consideration of how ‘small’ the error was in terms of its legal authenticity, or how easy it could have been dismissed, as the legal standard of measure for the deviation from the identification process, is no different than that used to answer the question as to whether one is or is not pregnant.

While balancing the rights and expectations of all stakeholders especially the victim, objective scrutiny must also extend to the other half of the equation, which is the prevention of a wrongful conviction. This has been one of the elements highlighted in the national demand for criminal justice reform.

The outcome of the investigation must be seen as an opportunity to recognize the immediate need for more cultural diversity and inclusivity within the law enforcement community, and as an underscoring of the various ways that a lack of culturally responsive recruitment affects the legal process, and by extension affects our interactions with one another. Ironically, cultural, and racial intolerance and hate may have formed the debated or suspected reasons for the brutality surrounding the very incident being investigated. Culture and language are intertwined, and human communication without language suffers the danger of errors and misunderstandings. Criminal cases which must withstand the high ethical standards of scrutiny and rightful convictions, unfortunately cannot be built on misunderstandings.

As outlined in the NYS Municipal Police Training guide and which later has to stand the legal test of the judicial system, an extensive amount of communication and admonishments are required of law enforcement when leading the identification of a stranger who will be implicated in a crime. The rules and procedures require meticulousness, way above those required in a game of Tag. It can therefore be understood how the lack of diversity such as a language barrier between the investigating officers and the victim, could have resulted in this unfortunate situation, of what now appears to be justice delayed but perhaps not denied barring any other pending evidentiary development.

Leaders within the criminal justice system must seize upon this opportunity to conduct a postmortem training-cycle of this investigation and play their part in ensuring that all that went wrong from, recruitment, hiring, the allocation of applicable resources, and training are included in the building of a culturally responsive reformed justice system.

The victim deserves this, and all Americans who encounter the justice system and who rely on equal justice and protections under the law, expect this.