The Department of Justice recommends no civil rights charges in the Ferguson shooting

The Justice Department has decided it will not pursue federal civil rights charges against Darren Wilson, the white Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who shot and killed unarmed black teen Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014. Prosecutors had been investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal encounter for months, continuing their work well after a St. Louis County grand jury decided in late November that it would not return an indictment against Wilson, who resigned from the force days later. + "Federal prosecutors must clear a higher bar than the state law enforcement officials who decide if criminal charges are warranted," explains Mic's Tom McKay. "In this case, the Department of Justice needed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Wilson sought to 'willfully deprive a person of a right or privilege protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.'"