Sign the petition to the Department of Justice: We will not back down until law enforcement agencies report all deaths of people in custody.

To: Department of Justice Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the future attorneys general

Although we will never forget the names of Freddie Gray or Sandra Bland, we will never know the names of the vast majority of people who die while held by law enforcement agencies (LEAs). We don't even know how many there are. This is unacceptable and legally preventable.

LEAs need to report all deaths of people while in custody. Without this information it is impossible to demonstrate how pervasive the problem is. It's also difficult to pass legislation to help communities facing LEAs with no transparency or accountability.

To address this problem the American people are demanding that the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA) and the Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD) program be enforced to the full extent of the law immediately.

The data collected by these laws will a) remove the shroud of secrecy from deaths of people in custody, b) prevent people's deaths, and c) provide much-needed accountability and transparency to the public, especially people who have lost loved ones who've died during arrest or in custody.

Right now, law enforcement agencies that don't report deaths of people while in custody or during arrest are violating laws, which have existed since 2000. The Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA) and the Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD) program are simply not enforced.

Sign the petition to tell the Department of Justice loud and clear: DCRA and the ARD program must immediately be enforced to the full extent of the law.

These laws give the Attorney General the discretion to withhold law enforcement funding from states whose LEAs do not properly report all deaths during arrest or in custody. They could face lost funding for equipment and tactical resources; this should be a motivator to report people's deaths.

The data collected by mandatory reporting under DCRA and ARD will be instrumental in passing legislation that transforms the criminal justice system. It will mean fewer lost lives and justice for families who have lost loved ones.

Every Case Matters, a group of determined mothers, will visit the Department of Justice in January to demand justice for their children killed by police. They are demanding information and records regarding their children's deaths and they want the killers to be tried for murder.

One simple step the DOJ can take right now is enforcing existing DCRA and ARD laws. The data collected by these laws can remove the shroud of secrecy from deaths of people in custody and lead to the answers these mothers deserve.

Sign the petition: The Department of Justice must enforce DCRA and ARD to the full extent of the law.