United States: Joe Biden receives relatives of George Floyd, but the great law will wait
US President Joe Biden speaking at the White House on April 20, 2021. AP - Evan Vucci
Text by: Eric de Salve Follow
4 min
The American President receives this Tuesday, May 25 the family of George Floyd, who died a year ago below the knee of a white police officer.
Joe Biden had called on Congress to pass the law to reform the police before this anniversary date.
But for the moment, still no reform in sight for lack of bipartisan agreement.
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From our correspondent in San Francisco,
Joe Biden would have preferred to celebrate the passage of this law with the Floyd family that he receives at the White House on
this anniversary
for a private visit.
This family whose president has repeatedly praised the courage.
After a month of trial, Joe Biden had called them personally on the day
of Derek Chauvin's conviction
to congratulate them.
"
Your daddy changed the world,
" the president had said to George Floyd's daughter.
And to back up his point, Biden had promised that this law would be passed in Congress before May 25.
The law aims to reduce police blunders and which has also been dubbed the
George Floyd Justice and Policing Act
in memory of the African American.
But there is still no consensus on this law despite weeks of negotiations.
"
We are making progress but we still have a lot of work to do,
" Corie Booker admitted on Monday, one of the Democratic senators in charge of negotiations with the Republican opposition.
►
To listen: United States: George Floyd Square, the movement continues
"Qualified immunity"
What exactly will this George Floyd law change?
Why are Republicans hostile to this reform of the American police?
First, because the
Blacks Lives Matter
movement
has become a real political foil among the conservatives.
Donald Trump has regularly demonized these demonstrators by likening them to looters, supporters of an outright abolition of the police.
And the elected Republicans constantly oppose them with the slogan "
Blue Lives Matter
", that is to say "
the lives of police officers
" also count.
They do not like this law, first of all because it aims to reform the methods of interpellation. The text provides for example to prohibit the technique of the strangulation key, source of many deaths. But what is blocking, it is especially the reform of what is called "qualified immunity" in the United States. It is a case law of the Supreme Court which guarantees a quasi legal immunity to the police officers even in the event of murderous blunder. Suddenly, only a tiny minority are prosecuted despite a thousand people killed on average each year by the police in the United States. Democrats want to remove this immunity or at least reduce it. The Republicans, on the contrary, believe that it is essential to the work of the police.
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To listen: Thomas Nolan (criminologist): "Qualified immunity is at the center of opposition to the George Floyd law"
Second indictment for excessive use of force
In any case, Derek Chauvin, him, was an exception since the ex-police officer was
convicted of murder
.
After his murder conviction in April, the 45-year-old ex-police officer will not be sentenced until June 25.
She should be around 40 years in prison.
After the verdict, the prosecution appealed to have his sentence as heavy as possible because of five aggravating factors, including abuse of position of authority, cruelty and crime committed in front of children. His lawyer appealed on behalf of an impartiality issue of one of the jurors seen in a
Black Lives Matters
protest
.
In any case, Derek Chauvin has not finished with justice since he is now the subject of a second indictment for a very similar case.
Three years earlier, he had already knelt for 17 minutes on the neck of a 14-year-old black teenager who had survived.
In this case, Chauvin is also being prosecuted for excessive use of force.
As for the trial of the three other police officers present by his side on the day of George Floyd's death, it will be held next August in Minneapolis.
►
To listen: Derek Chauvin condemned: "The image is more important than the number of years in prison"
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