Essay

Despite tremendous reforms demonstrated in policing coupled with significant decreases in crime and violence, a growing undercurrent of discontent among citizens has recently erupted in civil protests and riots across the country. Have our communities traded reductions in crime for policing tactics that are procedurally unjust? Have we given up too many of our individual rights, liberties, and freedoms in exchange for greater societal protection? And has the burden of this tradeoff been unfairly borne by minority racial/ethnic groups? In this essay, we ask: Is this tradeoff truly inevitable?