Researching Law Fall 2020 - Flipbook - Page 11
VO L 31 | NO 2 | FA LL 2020
While citizen political
participation is
essential, Burch
argues that citizens
should not be the last
line of defense when
it comes to police
reform.
“The media needs to be careful of
how incidents are framed in terms
of what information is presented in
the initial stages.”
Burch also notes media headlines
should also be carefully evaluated
since it can set the tone for fairness
in the case of police-involved
killings.
“Should the media write headlines
that say, ‘armed suspect killed by
officers?’ This headline sets up a
dynamic that this person also had
a weapon and was intending to
use it, so this presupposes the selfdefense in the headline, and it sets
the tone immediately,” says Burch.
Citizen Political
Participation
Burch identifies the critical roles
that reporters, watchdog groups,
and activists play to increase
visibility, provide transparency,
and address framing. Competing
narratives often arise surrounding
an officer-involved killing, and
these groups have used social
media and other devices to provide
the counter-narrative for victims
whose encounter with police has
been otherwise villainized. They
can also publicize police violence
and organize events like protests to
generate attention.
“When it comes to social media
and hashtag activism, people
can be dismissive of it as real
activism, but in actuality, this
plays an important role in framing
and shaping the narrative in a
particular incident,” says Burch.
Burch notes that protests can
influence politicians and broader
political thought and signal the
significance of these issues within
the public discourse. Beyond
protesting, Burch said citizens can
also get more politically involved
in policing reform through voting,
writing to elected officials, and
partaking in community efforts.
While citizen political participation
is essential, Burch argues that
citizens should not be the last
line of defense when it comes to
police reform. The limitations in
both visibility and framing make it
challenging to get and maintain a
high level of public attention. Even
when the public does pay attention,
Burch says, they will usually focus
only on black victims framed
as non-threatening. In addition,
citizens lack the investigative
power and access to data to pursue
all instances of officer-involved
killings. Instead, according to
Burch, a more effective solution is
institutional management.
“There should be more routine
oversight before it gets to the point
where citizens have to take to the
streets in order to demand justice
in any particular case,” says Burch.
Burch argues that different kinds
of system oversights such as
courts, county prosecutors, and
citizen review boards should be
strengthened to help in the
reform process.
“The idea is that function of
accountability and reform is better
left to an entity that can provide
oversight without the bias,” says
Burch. “The extent to which
judges, lawyers, and even the chief
of police are willing to engage
in conversations of providing
oversight and make major policy
change, that in itself can really help
shape how reform happens.”
“The extent to
which judges,
lawyers, and even
the chief of police
are willing to engage
in conversations of
providing oversight
and make major policy
change, that in itself
can really help shape
how reform happens.”
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