Holder: Make Civil-Rights Cases Easier

Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder says he will ask Congress to lower the standard of proof required to prosecute criminals for violating people’s civil rights. “There is a better way in which we could have federal involvement in these kinds of matters to allow the federal government to be a better backstop in examining these cases,” Holder said in an NBC News interview. The claim by Holder comes just a few days after the Justice Department said it found insufficient evidence to pursue a federal criminal civil-rights charge over the killing of Trayvon Martin. Federal civil-rights cases give authorities the ability to prosecute when the local authorities are not able or don’t want to pursue a conviction.