Campaign Action
In 2000, Bobby Scott of Virginia and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas introduced the Death In Custody Reporting Act (DICRA) and it passed with bipartisan support. The legislation was a response to a scathing 1995 editorial by journalist Mike Masterson that exposed the conditions in prisons as well as the death rates for persons in prison. Researchers, activists and legislators had been concerned about these topics since the 1980’s though.
DICRA required all Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) and Medical Examiners (ME) to fill out a brief 23 question report for any person who died, no matter the cause, while in the criminal justice system. DICRA also gave the DOJ the right to withhold 10% of federal grant funds to any agency that did not comply with the reporting requirements. Although the DOJ did not exercise this right, even once, many LEAs and MEs complied. Some continued to do so even after the Act expired in 2006.
According the data just requiring reporting is effective at protecting citizens.
Representative Scott delivered a floor speech in support of the renewing DICRA in 2008 where he explained,
Before the enactment of the Death in Custody Act of 2000, States and localities had no uniform requirements for reporting the circumstances surrounding the deaths of persons in their custody, and some had no system for requiring such reports. The lack of uniform reporting requirements made it impossible to ascertain how many people were dying in custody and from what causes, although estimates by those concerned suggested that there were more than 1,000 deaths in custody each year, some under very suspicious circumstances.
Since the enactment in 2000, the Bureau of Justice Statistics has compiled a number of statistics detailing the circumstances of prisoner deaths, the rate of deaths in prison and jails, and the rate of deaths based on the size of various facilities and so forth. But the most astounding statistic reported since the enactment of the bill before is the latest Bureau of Justice statistics report dated August 2005, which shows a 64 percent decline in suicides and a 93 percent decline in homicides in custody since 1980. Those statistics showing a significant decline in the death rate in our Nation's prisons and jails since stricter oversight has been in place suggest that the oversight measures, such as the Death in Custody Reporting Act, play an important role in ensuring the safety and security of prisoners who are in the custody of State facilities.
DICRA wasn’t re-enacted until 2014 though. After introducing the legislation in 2013, post – Ferguson, the bill was passed, again with bipartisan support, and was signed into law on December 18th, 2014. To date this is the only legislation that has been passed to address murder by the state since the tragic death of Michael Brown and at this point, all it would do is require Darren Wilson to fill out a 23 (reduced now to 18) question form regarding the "incident". So make no mistake, DICRA which is the law of the land right now / again, is only a starting point.
As Representative Scott stated in a press release the day the Act became law in 2014,
The President's signing the Death in Custody Act of 2013 into law today represents a critical step in improving and reforming our nation's criminal justice system. It is clear that the federal government needs to exercise greater oversight of federal, state and local law enforcement personnel to ensure that they are protecting and serving all of our citizens and that the protections embodied in our Constitution apply equally to all citizens. To aid in that measure, we need data on deaths that occur within our criminal justice system. Without accurate data, it is nearly impossible to identify variables that lead to an unnecessary and unacceptable risk of individuals dying in custody or during an arrest. The passage of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 will make this information available, so policymakers will be in a position to enact initiatives that will reduce incidences of avoidable deaths in our criminal justice system.
The problem is the data is still not being compiled for public consumption. Some of the LEA’s and ME’s that never stopped submitting their reports are likely still doing so but the report that the DOJ is supposed to provide to Congress within two years of the Act’s passage is yet to be seen. Without data on custody and arrest related deaths legislators won't be able to pass and study the effectiveness of bills meant to reduce deaths and police misconduct.
Which is why, on June 9th of this year, Representative Scott’s office requested a report or update on the implementation of DICRA and on August 19th received a response. In the letter the DOJ
…acknowledges that lack of data collection is a concern. The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing has recommended that law enforcement agencies create their own policies on use of force, which should also require agencies to collect, maintain, and report data to the federal government on all officer-involved shootings, whether fatal or non-fatal, and any deaths in custody. However the Department’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP) has historically distributed grant funds to law enforcement in accordance with statutorily defined criteria that do no include whether agencies participate in such data collection.
The letter from Peter J. Kadzik, the Assistant Attorney General, goes on to explain that a pilot project launched in 2015 looked into the best methods of collecting data this go 'round and that four major law enforcement associations have signed on in support of the proposal.
In the meantime the public is still very much not involved in the process of ensuring that LEA’s are accountable to the public. And public scrutiny is the very thing that could push the DOJ to make enforcing DICRA the priority that it should be. We the public need to join Representative Scott in reaching out to the DOJ and demanding that DICRA is enforced since it is basically a tool at our disposal for holding our criminal justice system accountable. It's a first step, and one that feels small at best, but it's a start. Data, leads to legislation, leads to accountability, leads to justice. If we don't want to see cops who kill an unarmed young black man in the street put on administrative leave with pay, DICRA is the first step in that journey.
The data collected is vital to improving our criminal justice system, protecting American citizens and law enforcement officials and building the trust between Law Enforcement Agencies and citizens.