It has been more than four years since George Floyd was murdered on a Minneapolis street, but one of the things I noticed throughout my first year reporting on criminal justice for Sahan Journal is that we are still very much grappling with the aftermath of the killing.
This year, city staff unveiled plans to redevelop both the intersection where Floyd was killed and the former Minneapolis Police Third Precinct building.
As a criminal justice reporter, I’m often writing about tragic events. I try to also report on positive things happening in the community, such as public safety agencies allocating more resources to help people of color.
Here are the top five criminal justice stories from this past year.
1. Community members feel unheard in redevelopment of Minneapolis police’s Third Precinct
When I started my job at Sahan, I wanted to find out what was going on with the former Third Precinct building. The building was damaged and set on fire during protests following George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Since then, the building has sat empty, and looks almost the same. The city didn’t take down the razor wire that encircled it until this past October.