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November 14, 2014

U.N. Torture Panel Criticizes Police Brutality in the United States 
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A United Nations panel has criticized the excessive use of force by
police in the United States two days after hearing testimony from the
parents of Michael Brown, the African-American teenager shot dead by
police in Ferguson, Missouri. U.N. expert Jens Modvig questioned the
mechanisms in place for holding police officers accountable.

Jens Modvig: "There are disturbing patterns of excessive force on part
of police officers, especially towards African Americans and other
persons of color, which seem to demonstrate that the current mechanisms
of accountability are insufficient. We have information that many
federal investigations against police officers for unlawful and
excessive use of force were closed without criminal charges because they
did not present sufficient evidence of willful misconduct to give rise
to a federal criminal prosecution for the police officers involved."

 

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