Derek Chauvin only 10th police officer in 16 years to serve prison time for on-duty murder
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin became just the 10th U.S. police officer in 16 years sentenced to prison for murdering someone while on-duty, Fox 9's Seth Kaplan reports. Since 2005, only nine other officers have received sentences for such a crime.
On Friday, Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison after having been convicted two months earlier for the murder of George Floyd.
"I think people need to understand that the fact that there was a prosecution at all is something that is very rare and largely unprecedented," said civil rights lawyer Brian Dunn to ABC News.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Despite its rarity, some, like CNN commentator Van Jones, have criticized Chauvin's sentence as being "too light," especially after The Associated Press noted he "could be paroled after serving two-thirds of his sentence, or about 15 years."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
