Claudia Flores Talks Police Reform with New City

The Conversation: Claudia Flores and the Case for Police Reform

Too much force. None of the twenty largest cities in the United States meet international human rights standards on police use-of-force policies. Claudia Flores, Director of the Global Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School, tells us why and what can be done about it. 

Claudia Flores was in her office at the University of Chicago Law School where she directs the Global Human Rights Clinic (GHRC) when she heard the news: Derek Chauvin had been convicted of second-and third-degree murder, as well as second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd.

“My reaction was mixed,” says Flores, “I was grateful that there was a guilty verdict and that there were going to be consequences for police misconduct. And thankful and happy that Floyd’s family got this confirmation that his life mattered. But the moment didn’t feel celebratory. It took so much work, so much organizing, so much of a public voice to confirm something that should have been just obvious. So there’s a sadness. I remember thinking, ‘Okay, there’s this long road that we are traveling, and it’s going in the right direction, but there’s so much farther to go.’”

Read more at New City

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