RALEIGH, N.C. – Democrats have officially nominated their candidate for the presidential election and continue to press the issues that will be most important for their party this fall, including criminal justice reform.

 

The platform document says: "Our criminal justice system is failing to keep communities safe and failing to deliver justice,” and "It is unacceptable that more than 1,000 people, a quarter of them Black, have been killed by police every year since 2015."

When the image of George Floyd being killed by police officers rocked the country in May, it was followed by protests and riots throughout the country and calls for change in criminal justice. This week at the Democratic National Convention, George Floyd's brother spoke out.

“It’s a fitting legacy for our brother,” Philonise Floyd said Monday night. “But George should be alive today. Breonna Taylor should be alive today. Ahmaud Arbery should be alive today. Eric Garner should be alive today. Stephon Clark, Atatiana Jefferson, Sandra bland—they should all be alive today. So it’s up to us to carry on the fight for justice.”

The fight over inequities in the criminal justice system can be seen at many levels. In North Carolina, a new study released by the crime commission looked at a 10-year snapshot of race and gender in traffic stops in the state, from 2009 to 2019. The findings, according to the Crime Commission executive director, are timely to today's national discussion.

“A Black person is twice as likely as a white person to be stopped in North Carolina,” Caroline Valand says of the study results.

Supporters of criminal justice reform say they are looking for changes from the federal all the way to the local level. And one mayor who spoke at the convention says creating change is personally important to her.

“I have a 2-year-old daughter, and I want her to grow up in an America where she's not scared to walk to the store,” Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at the convention. “An America where she's safe behind the doors of her own home, and an America where the president doesn't fan the flames of racism and looks out for all of us.”