Some commenters are asking about what we can do to fix this, so I thought I'd list some potential action items off the top of my head: - Getting rid of elected

Some commenters are asking about what we can do to fix this, so I thought I'd list some potential action items off the top of my head: - Getting rid of elected judges will certainly help, though it looks like Hayes wasn't elected but appointed by the city council. I'm not totally clear on how local judge appointments work, but it might make sense to consolidate this power at the state legislature, which will have more visibility and accountability than the city council. In general, I think a lot of our issues with civil rights and justice reform could be helped by consolidating more power at the state level rather than the city/county level, and creating a clear hierarchy of power between the statewide and local entities. - People talk about having term limits for judges, but I'm not totally sure I agree with that. It's something to consider though, and worthy of study. - Improve funding for public defenders. It might make sense to require municipalities to match their budget for prosecutors with their budget for public defenders, or some fixed percentages. Elevating the office of public defenders and making it a viable career path, much like being a career prosecutor, would go a long way. - Look into expanding when you can rely on the services of a public defender, like in traffic court for more minor offences. For some people a hefty fine can make them destitute, and they need someone to advocate for them and make sure the fines assessed are fair. - Strengthen national organizations for public defenders, like the NAPD, through grant programs. - Increase liabilities for judges in the event of gross misconduct. This should include not just suspensions but monetary fines (which I know can be levied for lawyers engaging in misconduct). This can be done not just with legislation, but possibly legal action. And there might be grounds for civil rights lawsuits against municipalities and states that fail to properly vet and discipline judges conducting this sort of gross misconduct. Generally speaking judges are not personally liable for any actions they take on the bench, but the bodies that are supposed to oversee them could be. - The Justice Department should perform more investigations of these sorts of systemic civil rights violations, much like they did in Ferguson and Baltimore. It should be expanded to the point where they aren't just conducting these reviews after some bad behavior gets headlines, they should be conducting random audits to improve accountability. This can be backed up with legislation requiring the Justice Department to conduct regular reviews, to ensure this is happening consistently and doesn't vary from administration to administration.