A law professor explains police shooting trials

991 people were fatally shot by police officers in 2015 and no officers were convicted. Why?

Transcript

00:00If you can say anything to those two police officers, what do you say?

00:05First, I will say that I forgive you, but justice needs to be served.

00:25I mean, remember, in these murder cases, one of the biggest challenges, of course,

00:28the victim is not there to tell his side of the story.

00:47There are a couple reasons why police officers tend not to be charged.

00:50There is something that's referred to as the blue wall of silence, where there is powerful

00:56social pressure among police officers not to help in the investigation and prosecution of

01:01one of their own. And we have even seen that when these cases do, and it's very rare, go to trial,

01:07prosecutors tend to believe police officers who they work with every day,

01:10and even juries tend to believe police officers.

01:18Some of the video evidence has raised doubts about whether or not we can presume officers

01:23always tell the truth. But the vast majority of cases are not on video. And in those cases,

01:28the police have to, or the investigators have to, ask witnesses questions. And often,

01:33the only witnesses are the police officers themselves and the victim.

01:39It's an incredibly hard challenge to get the police to the police themselves.

01:43Part of that problem is there is incredible social pressure

01:47among officers not to participate in a case that would hurt another officer.