What Next

Sessions’ Last Act Deals Blow to Police Reform

A last minute memo could change how the Justice Department keeps tabs on abusive police departments.

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Just as he was getting kicked out the door, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions wanted to do one last thing: strongly limit the strength and use of consent decrees moving forward. It’s a move that deals a significant blow to the Department of Justice’s ability to rein in police abuse across the country.

Today on the show: What is a consent decree? And what happened in one small town in Louisiana when Jeff Sessions took office and decided to turn a blind eye to its police abuses?

We’ll be piloting What Next in public for the next several weeks. Tell us what you think: whatnext@slate.com.

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Podcast production by Mary Wilson and Jayson De Leon. Engineering by Terence Bernardo.