Rahsaan Hall, director of the Racial Justice Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, today released the following statement in response to the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling in Commonwealth v. Buckley:
“Pretextual traffic stops fuel racially discriminatory policing. We’ve seen too many times how traffic stops create a very real risk for people of color, including stops that have taken the lives of unarmed Black men. And for every police encounter that results in death, there are countless others that erode respect for law and increase civilian risk.
"Accordingly, today’s Supreme Judicial Court ruling is a setback for racial justice, for the police accountability movement, and for the physical safety of people of color in Massachusetts. But the ACLU of Massachusetts will continue to fight for a fair and equitable criminal legal system in which Black lives matter. And we hope that the Legislature will answer Justice Budd’s call for legislation requiring data collection on traffic stops in Massachusetts.”
Click here for more information about Commonwealth v. Buckley.
