COPS AND CAMERAS

November 4, 2017

Oct. 25, 2017

Rohan Chakraborty

On October 25, UVA’s chapter of YLA (Young Americans for Liberty) hosted Jonathan Blanks of the CATO Institute. As stated on the CATO Institute website, “Blanks is a Research Associate in Cato’s Project on Criminal Justice and a Writer in Residence at Harvard University’s Fair Punishment Project. His research is focused on law enforcement practices, over-criminalization, and civil liberties.” Blanks gave an hour-long talk about the flawed criminal justice system and police brutality currently present in America.  Blanks stated that if cops can articulate to the judge that they felt weary for their life when interacting with a possibly violent person, they can easily avoid prosecution even if they caused physical harm to the person or took their life.  This has resulted in quite a few incidents in which police officers have been able to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.  Thanks to individuals such as Blanks, progress is being made in order to eradicate the corrupt system prevalent in our nation.