(WSIL) -- Derek Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd.
A lot of people are reacting to the Chauvin's sentencing.
Some see it as turning the tide in the American court system.
This case is different than previous police brutality cases because it's rare officers are even charged.
Since 2005, less than 2% of officers involved in these kinds of cases are charged with murder.
Those that are charged, have a 33% conviction rate.
This sentencing is significant to many people particularly in the African American community.
The Carbondale branch President of the NAACP, Linda Flowers, said she is happy for the Floyd family, after getting what she calls quote "a semblance of justice."
However, she said this sentencing is just one step on the long road ahead.
"Justice is more than one verdict. Justice is more than one conviction. This sentence does not abate decades and centuries of disenfranchisement, racism, discrimination and suppression," said Flowers.
Associate professor at the SIU School of Law Jennifer Brobst, called the Chauvin case sentencing an outlier.
However, as an attorney, she is not surprised by the sentence itself.
She says as long as the public and government work together, this could be the beginning of change in America.
"There are a lot of George Floyds out there, and as a former prosecuter, there is certainly excessive policing, and that's always been the case, but the national attention and even international attention to this case has been extraordinary. And I do think that we're in an era of a new civil rights focused on racial justice," said Brobst.
Flowers also said while she hopes this sentencing will help change how police brutality cases are handled, there are still more issues that need to be addressed before the problem is fixed.
