Hopes fade for reform of massive U.S. criminal justice system

FILE PHOTO: A Black Lives Matter protester leads a rally as protests continue over the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite a renewed focus on wrongful arrests and racial discrimination after the death of George Floyd, meaningful reform of the massive U.S. criminal justice system is unlikely ahead of the November election, politicians and activists say.

The United States, where evidence https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-coronavirus-usa-jails points to COVID-19 tearing unchecked through some jails, has the world's largest prison population and highest incarceration rate, studies show https://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison-population-total?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All. A toxic relationship between some city police departments and their communities was highlighted by the May death of Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police office pressed his neck into the pavement.