Five Years after Ferguson: Reflecting on Police Reform and What’s Ahead

Abstract

Policing in the United States is not the same profession it was before Michael Brown’s death on a street in Ferguson, Missouri, five years ago. Police use of lethal force has become central to the debate triggered by Ferguson. In this article, I review steps taken to implement policing reforms at local, state, and federal levels; note obstacles to reform; and speculate about which proposals advanced by authors in this volume might be implemented by policy-makers at different levels of government. I conclude by suggesting four areas where attention is needed if reform measures are going to be successfully institutionalized, and I comment on current bipartisan attention in Washington to criminal justice that offers the potential for federal action.