Police who kill often receive lenient or no punishments. Derek Chauvin could be the exception.

Derek Chauvin is part of a small group of nonfederal law enforcement officers — such as police officers, deputy sheriffs and state troopers — convicted on charges of murder related to on-duty killings.

NBC News

By Janelle Griffith
Photo: NBC

Twelve jurors took about 10 hours to convict Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd. It was a swift rebuke to conclude the three-week trial of the former Minneapolis police officer.

Their decisive action, however, is no guarantee he will get a harsh punishment when he is sentenced Friday.

Chauvin is part of a small group of nonfederal law enforcement officers — such as police officers, deputy sheriffs and state troopers — who have been convicted on charges related to on-duty killings in the last 15 years and an even smaller bunch to be convicted of murder. On average, those officers have received far less prison time at sentencing than their civilian counterparts.

Chauvin is among only 11 nonfederal law enforcement officers convicted of murder resulting from an on-duty incident since 2005, according to Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, who tracks police prosecutions.

The average punishment for the nine who have been sentenced so far is 21.7 years in prison, he said, with 81 months as the shortest sentence and life in prison as the longest.

Publish : 2021-06-25 16:41:00

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