This petition seeks to protect unarmed African Americans from being killed by law enforcement agencies whether state, local, or federal. Given recent killings of unarmed black people by law enforcement officers and the failure of several local prosecutors to bring formal charges against these officers, it's evident that the federal government should be given the ability to criminally charge individual police officers who commit this act. Currently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) can investigate this type of police shooting, however, while it can levy charges if civil rights violations have occurred and require systemic changes, it cannot charge the offending officer criminally. Given the history of heavy handed law enforcement against minorities, this current DOJ power isn't strong enough



