Final Project CJ 500

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Southern New Hampshire University *

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Political Science

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Dec 6, 2023

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1 Running Head: FINAL PROJECT CJ-500 Final Project Introduction: In society we see one of the major criminal justice issues of excessive force. This criminal justice issue is important to investigate due to how damaging this issue is for minority community members. When excessive force is used by an officer it creates mental and physical injury along with mistrust among community members on how they perceive and trust the officers. Excessive force incidents have been around since the establishment of law enforcement in the United States. Predominantly throughout history, minorities have seen the blunt end of this issue. Excessive force can be defined as “situations where government officials legally entitled to use force exceed the minimum amount necessary to diffuse an incident or to protect themselves or others from harm” (Pantekoek, 2020). Excessive force throughout history was met with little discipline or cultural change within departments. One of the primary reasons that it is difficult to discipline or fire officers in excessive force cases due to police unions. These unions “have set up drawn-out arbitration processes that often reinstate officers who are fired for obvious breaches of conduct”. (Burrus, 2020). If officers continuously see no discipline for their actions, it directly affects community perception and trust, which has been historically strained. In order to draw us into understanding how long excessive force an issue has been we can examine two historical cases. Such two cases are the protests at Kent State and civil rights marches. For example, “members of the Ohio National Guard fired between 61 and 67 shots into a crowd of unarmed anti-war protestors at Kent State University killing four students and wounding nine others” (Krause, 2014). In 1965 at the Civil Rights march “state and local police used billy clubs, whips, and tear gas to attach hundreds of civil rights protesters” (Calendar, n.d.).

2 CJ-500 Final Project Although these are just two cases, the list of excessive force incidents seems to go on forever. Many excessive force incidents manifest onto single community members, sometimes resulting in death such as Briana Taylor, George Floyd, and Isiah Murrietta-Golding. As technology has progressed, communities are able to expose the critical issue of excessive force through video recording and social media which allows community members to expose such un-ethical actions of officers. Issue Analysis: One criminological theory that allows us to understand the issue of why excessive force takes place can be seen through the frustration-aggression theory. This theory argues that aggression is often a result of frustration. This theory was proposed by psychologists Doob, Dollard, Miller, Mower, and Sears in the book titled Frustration and Aggression (Study, n.d.). Once this theory is applied to law enforcement, it can be hypothesized that chronic stress that comes with police work and the inability to respond to the actual sources of the stress can increase perception of threat and the aggressiveness of the response to some perceived threats” (Griffin, 2003). In recent years, Rich Morin brought forward research that coincides with the application of the frustration-aggression theory. For example, a factor as to why officers may utilize excessive force is seen through Morin’s research. It is shown that “about one-in-five police officers nationally state that their job nearly always or often makes them feel angry and frustrated feelings that are linked to more negative views towards the public” (Morin, 2017). However, in those officer’s defense, it should be noted that just because an officer states they are more frustrated and angrier does not mean they had or will utilize excessive force on community members. Yet, it can be applied such feelings can lead to excessive force.

3 CJ-500 Final Project Excessive force can impact the criminal justice system including law enforcement agencies, courts, and corrections. Excessive force cases lower public perception, specifically minority community members. About “73% of African Americans in a survey were far more likely to believe that law enforcement is too quick to use lethal force along with African Americans and Hispanics being far less likely than white Americans to be confident in their police departments ability to treat all racial groups equally” (Ekins, 2016). Minorities have a less favorable view of law enforcement, this was identified in Lynne Peeples’s article, which aligns with Erik Enkins statistics. Within Peeples’s article it points out “by one estimate, Black men are 2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police during their lifetime… Black people who were fatally shot by police seemed to be twice as likely as white people to be unarmed” (Peeples, 2020). With this data, we can see how excessive force affects the minority general public. This perception affects the criminal justice system as a whole. Officers’ actions allow minority perception to negatively attach to the courts and corrections. If minorities do not believe that police can be confident to treat minorities equal, why would they believe courts and corrections are different? This creates biasness and the perception that the criminal justice system as a who is corrupt. Stakeholders of this critical issue would be the law enforcement agency itself. If one of the agencies officers utilizes excessive force, the organization is now faced with the ethical dilemma to discipline the officer or to let the situation go un noticed. Another key stakeholder of the issue would be citizen who is stopped by the police. If the they become a victim of excessive force, the individual stopped may have their life put in danger or suffer physical/mental injuries. Citizens who experience excessive force from a law enforcement officer will have a less

4 CJ-500 Final Project favorable view towards the police in the future. Local policy makers can begin drafting policies that combat excessive force, for example, increasing budgeting which will be explained in greater detail in the recommendations portion of this brief. We have seen existing strategies that have been implemented attempting to combat excessive force. Minneapolis Police Department added the duty to intervene policy. This was established to “either stop or attempt to stop another sworn employee when force is being inappropriately applied or is no longer required” (Wbur, 2020). Another example of an existing strategy addressing excessive force comes from the Baltimore Police Department. The department has adopted the Ethical Policing Is Courageous (EPIC). The goal of EPIC is to prevent officers from using excessive force. Some police departments in other parts of the country have incorporated these initiatives. The effectiveness of these policies can be examined by events that have happened following the implementation of the policies. Minneapolis’s duty to intervene policy was clearly not used during the George Floyd case, which resulted in Floyds death. In Baltimore, EPIC was not used either. “More than two dozen correctional officers in Baltimore were charged with using excessive force on prisoners at state-operated jails” (CBS News, 2019). Even with these policies in place, we continue to see cases of excessive force throughout the country including our community. As excessive force continues to be a problem in the United States, public officials will continue to feel pressure from community members to intervene. Recently the momentum is led by the notion to decrease funding for police departments. This has the impact to affect law enforcement agencies and correction facilities. Minneapolis, Seattle, and Kansas City have been

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