Statement on the Fate of Breonna Taylor from the Deans of Washington College of Law
Sept. 29, 2020
Dear Community Members and Friends of WCL,
Say Her Name.
We write on behalf of the Washington College of Law to express our profound sorrow and outrage at the fate of Ms. Breonna Taylor of Louisville, Kentucky, whose promising life ended in senseless violence at the hands of the very law enforcement officers charged with protecting human life. Ms. Taylor’s family and other loved ones, as well as society at large, have suffered the terrible loss of her enormous potential. The entire country has suffered yet another blow to our collective confidence in the fair and just operation of our law enforcement and legal systems.
The circumstances surrounding the grand jury’s decision last Wednesday are an additional source of pain and grief not only for Ms. Taylor’s family and loved ones but for all of us who recognize that Breonna Taylor’s life matters. We hope the recent decision to release the transcript will provide some measure of clarity for Ms. Taylor’s loved ones. As we contemplate the role that we play in seeking a fair and just legal system, we are inspired by Ms. Taylor. Ms. Taylor was a first-generation high school graduate whose responsible and caring nature inspired her to obtain her EMT certificate on her path to becoming a registered nurse. It is not lost on us that on March 13, 2020, while most of us were preparing for an extended quarantine, Ms. Taylor had recently taken the next step in her life as an emergency room technician for two medical facilities on the eve of a global pandemic. The decision by the grand jury and its aftermath demonstrate to us the vital role that lawyers play in shaping outcomes. It is with Ms. Taylor’s focus and determination that we must ensure that the outcomes we seek are measured not solely by the rules and procedures that we uphold, but also by the justice that we must achieve.
There are so many aspects of injustice surrounding Ms. Taylor’s death. In circumstances like those presented in her case, law enforcement officers should not be permitted to use so-called no-knock warrants to enter a person’s home forcibly in the middle of the night without identifying themselves as officers of the state or even knocking to announce their intent. The settlement Ms. Taylor’s family reached with Louisville provides that police there will no longer use no-knock warrants, but many other jurisdictions still do so. Law enforcement officers should never be permitted to fire blind rounds of gunfire into an occupied dwelling in which innocent persons are known to be present. The legal system should not fail to produce accountability for a death that occurred as a result of such a reckless act. Although the city of Louisville entered into a $12 million settlement with the Taylor family, a settlement that includes a number of important reforms of police procedures, and in a separate action has now banned the use of no-knock warrants, these actions cannot make up for the failure of the grand jury to indict the officers for Ms. Taylor’s killing. Recent calls for the state attorney general to release the grand jury transcript, which might serve to clarify what evidence regarding homicide and possible defenses the state presented to the grand jury, have been answered. The transcript is set to be released tomorrow. While we approve of the state attorney general’s decision to release this transcript, the delay and resulting uncertainty have nevertheless undermined confidence in the system. In the absence of more complete explanations of the decision not to indict for Ms. Taylor’s killing, we are left to speculate why there was no indictment for it.
Breonna Taylor’s death does not stand alone. According to a recent Washington Post analysis, of the 247 women shot by police since 2015, 48 were Black, seven of whom were unarmed. Although Black women constitute 13% of the female population, they account for 20% of the women shot and killed (and 28% of those who were unarmed).
As a law school, we pledge a renewed commitment to working for, and training students to help engage in, real and meaningful steps to reform law enforcement and the criminal and civil justice systems to address these and other issues. We must continue to develop and implement an antiracist law agenda that contributes to community movements for law reform. We must work to channel into nonviolent avenues aimed at law reform the legitimate outrage that exists in our country today over the law’s treatment of Black and Brown persons, poor persons, persons with disabilities, and all others in vulnerable communities.
Please know that the leadership of WCL is deeply committed to that agenda. As a law school founded by and for women, and committed to the antiracist movement, Ms. Taylor’s death strikes at the core of our values and commitments. We thus deeply mourn the tragedy of Ms. Breonna Taylor’s senseless death at the same time that it further strengthens our institution’s commitment to the campaign for a more just legal system in which such tragic outrages will not continue to occur.
Say Her Name.
Robert Dinerstein, Acting Dean
Jonas Anderson, Associate Dean for Scholarship
Robert Campe, Associate Dean of Finance & Administration
Susan Carle, Vice Dean
Ann Chernicoff, Senior Assistant Dean
Laura Herr, Associate Dean of Development & Alumni Relations
David Jaffe, Associate Dean of Student Affairs
Amanda Leiter, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty & Academic Affairs
Adeen Postar, Director of the Pence Law Library
Jayesh Rathod, Associate Dean for Experiential Education
Ezra Rosser, Associate Dean, Part-Time and Evening Division
Cathy Schenker, Assistant Dean, Online Learning
Akira Shiroma, Assistant Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid
William Snape III, Assistant Dean for Adjunct Faculty Affairs
Lisa Taylor, Assistant Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, & Affinity