A judge in Minneapolis has just passed a sentence of 270 months imprisonment on Derek Chauvin, the police officer convicted of the second degree murder of George Floyd. While not going as far as the family and activists demanded (they were looking for the maximum 40 years), the sentence goes beyond the standard tariff and takes account of the aggravating circumstances, the abuse of trust by an officer of the law. The judge has written a voluminous memorandum explaining his thinking in detail and no doubt a link to this will be provided in due course.
In the UK, in Birmingham Crown Court, PC Benjamin Monk has been found guilty of the manslaughter of former footballer Dalian Atkinson. This trial has been unduly delayed (Atkinson was killed in 2016) and we still await sentencing, but it would be surprising if the judge in this case did not pass an appropriate sentence.
It is to be hoped that these two cases mark an end to the belief common to polities on either side of the Atlantic that the police can never do wrong and that victims of colour can never be in the right.
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