The Recorder has collaborated with students enrolled in Reimagining Criminal Justice, a seminar at Golden Gate University School of Law, to publish this series of student writings. This next generation of lawyers explore a broad range of topics touching on criminal and racial justice, and provide their perspectives and voices on myriad proposals for building a better, more just, system.

In 1997 Daniel Mendoza was shot by an off duty Las Vegas Metro police officer. The officer who pulled the trigger had been drinking heavily and wanted to “harass dopers and bangers.” The officer in question fired into a group of people from the passenger side of a vehicle. This officer was tried and convicted, which sounds like a success. However, when an officer is not stopped before killing a citizen without regard to whether there was a suspected crime, it highlights a problem of accountability.