(CW: sexual assault)
In a recent op-ed, New York State Senator Julia Salazar blasts qualified immunity (QI) for shielding sexually abusive prison guards from accountability. Salazar, chair of the New York State Senate’s Standing Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Corrections, is a co-sponsor of S 1991, the New York bill that would end QI for bad correction officers.
A new poll commissioned by End QI NY reveals that an outright majority of New Yorkers, 58 percent, favor ending qualified immunity for public officials.
Silvy Ovalle, a respected community leader from Central Islip, New York, speaks out against qualified immunity (QI). Ovalle, founder of the Central Islip Community Patrol, believes passing S 1991, the bill to eliminate QI in the state, will help build public trust in policing.
Black Westchester Magazine and End QI NY recently sat down for a virtual discussion on the need to repeal qualified immunity in New York. The conversation featured End QI NY co-founders Katerina Siira and Darlene McDay, along with retired NYPD officer and public safety advocate Corey Pegues.
Following President Biden’s State of the Union speech, congresswomen Cori Bush and Ayanna Pressley held a rally March 3 in front of the Department of Justice, reigniting the call to end qualified immunity at the federal level.
On March 2, a group of Vermont lawmakers and activists—including Sen. Kesha Ram-Hinsdale and Ben and Jerry—held a press conference in Burlington to draw attention to the necessity of abolishing qualified immunity in the Green Mountain State.
Georgina Yeomans and Kevin Jason from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund highlight the Pamela Moses case as an example of the “deepest failures” of our legal system, looking at how qualified immunity “protects officials and punishes citizens.”
Newsday takes a look at S 1991, the bill to end qualified immunity in New York, and speaks to End QI NY’s Katerina Siira about how this measure will transform public safety in the Empire State.
Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, president of Sojourners, explains why we have a “moral duty” to end qualified immunity. “For our justice system to have any legitimacy,” he writes, “wrongdoers must be punished fairly and equally, whether they are holding a badge or not.”
Vermont State President Pro Tem Becca Balint, Ben and Jerry, and other public safety advocates hosted a virtual event showing support for Senate bill S.254. The event, Justice for All, focused on creating justice and safety for all Vermonters with the passage of the bill.