Justice For All Analysis

August 9, 2014 Michael Brown, a 18- year old black man was shot and killed, brutally at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson. Brown was leaving the gas station when he caught the attention of Wilson, who was supposed to be responding to another call. He thought Brown looked suspicious because he was a big, black “intimidating” man. Wilson “claimed” Brown was reaching for a gun so he fired twelve unnecessary shots at Brown while his hands were up. It turns out that Brown was not in possession of a weapon. Darren Wilson made up this allegation to make it seem like self defense, and to make Brown seem at fault for the shooting taking place. When Wilson went to trial the court found him not guilty. White police officers are not beingg held accountable so these police shootings are becoming more brutal and frequent. The Mike Brown

In the past years we have seen many riots and debates over the racism and inequalities in our criminal justice system. We have heard story after story, and watched video after video of police brutality and racism in America. We saw the unfair outcome of the Zimmerman and Treyvon Martin case. When George Zimmerman followed and fatally wounded Treyvon Martin, a seventeen year old African American boy who was walking around the neighborhood, just because he looked suspicious to him. In 2014, we saw the riots in Ferguson, Missouri after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a white police officer, sparking a debate over the

Some cities often start new, or “rookie”, police officers in the areas with the largest concentration of reported crimes of their city. “Rookie” officers lack the experience of personal interaction with the public because, oftentimes, their training has been limited to a classroom setting. An example of a rookie officer committing police brutality is in the case of Akai Gurly. On November 20th of this year, new police officer Peter Liang shot and killed an unarmed man named Akai Gurly in front of his girlfriend while in a dark stairwell in east New York. Locals, due to the violence that happens in the surrounding the

“Officer Jeronimo Yanez, charged with second-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black Minneapolis man” (Capecchi). “Brian Encinia, former Texas trooper charged with misdemeanor perjury stemming from his arrest of Sandra Bland, a black woman who was later found dead in a county jail” (Almasy). “Sgt. Kizzy Adonis, charged with failure to supervise in connection with the 2014 death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black Staten Island man who died after police to administered a controversial choke hold” (Eversley). These are a few examples of the mistreatment suffered by young black citizens at the hands of police officers that resulted in the death of a suspect. Throughout the nation, the mishandling of the authority given to police officers has increased and is not merely coincidentally occurring.

The beating of Rodney King from the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991 and the Los Angeles riots resulting from the verdict of the police officers on April 29 through May 5, 1992 are events that will never be forgotten. They both evolve around one incident, but there are two sides of ethical deviance: the LAPD and the citizens involved in the L.A. riots. The incident on March 3, 1991 is an event, which the public across the nation has never witnessed. If it weren’t for the random videotaping of the beating that night, society would never know what truly happened to Rodney King. What was even more disturbing is the mentality the LAPD displayed to the public and the details of how this mentality of policing led up to this

On August 9, 2014 Officer Darren Wilson with the Ferguson Missouri Police Department was on his way to a reported strong-arm robbery at a local convenience store in the city. While on his way, he observed two African-American males walking in the middle of the roadway (#1). Officer Wilson realized the pair matched the description given of the suspects from the robbery call in which he had been dispatched. While still in his patrol vehicle, Officer Wilson drove up to the males, and began speaking with Michael Brown. Officer Wilson told Brown to not walk in the lanes of traffic (#1).

After Michael Brown was killed by Darren Wilson the tension blew up into a riot. The events received considerable attention in the U.S. and elsewhere, attracted protesters from outside the region, and generated a vigorous debate about the relationship between law enforcement and African Americans as well as created a national dialogue about police use of force doctrine in Missouri and nationwide. The court case that followed the shooting was led by Robert McCulloch in a highly unusual process. Instead of conducting an investigation and gathering information the prosecutor, Robert McCulloch left jurors to wade through mass amounts of information to determine the outcome. (Placeholder cite) His office left no recommendation as to whether or not Darren Wilson should be indicted or not. The unfair treatment discussed just is not in this one area there are hundreds of these communities being treated just as unfair as the Ferguson community. Those communities should band together and protest for a change so everybody in the United States can be treated equally. All of these issues matter and are very important. People in our country no matter what race, religion, or sexuality should be treated as equals. Everybody should protest together for a change, a change for everybody to have the same rights as the common white man. This is an issue everybody in our

To begin the police has caused many unnecessary deaths throughout the United States. More than 920 people have been killed by the police in 2015 (“5 Facts about Police Brutality in the United States That Will Shock You”). In Ferguson, Missouri 18 year old Michael Brown was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. Mr. Johnson a witness at the scene, says that his friend was shot once from behind and then turned to face the police officer while raising his arms in the air. According to Mr Johnson, the officer fired several more shots at Mr. Brown before he fell to the ground (“Ferguson protests:What we know about Michael Brown 's last minutes”). Although Mr. Brown was fleeing from the officer, there was no need for the officer to shoot Brown.

It is one that everyone is familiar with due to its high profile coverage. Although this incident occurred in St. Louis, Missouri, it is very relevant to police shootings all over the country. As a short recap, police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed unarmed teen Michael Brown. Ultimately, Darren Wilson was not charged with any crime. Wilson, like many officers before him, argued that he was afraid for his life and therefore used his weapon in self-defense. Unfortunately, this argument has been heard many times after Michael Brown’s death as well. When Laquan McDonald was shot and killed in Chicago in 2014, Jason Van Dyke “feared for his life”; dash-camera footage, though, showed otherwise. Police personnel and city officials even went so far in this cover-up as to pay Laquan’s mother millions of dollars not to speak to the media about what happened. Although video of the shooting was available in 2014, the video itself was not released to the public until late 2015, after Rahm was re-elected to mayoral office. As more details surfaced, it then became clear to the public that not only did the officers and top law enforcement attempt to hide this incident, but the Cook County State’s Attorney was also involved. I argue that had there been more diversity on the force, or in the very least sensitivity training, maybe these officers would have seen a person and been more compassionate, instead of seeing a threat and

On August 4th, 2014, an eighteen year old boy by the name of Michael Brown was killed by Darren Wilson. Mr. Wilson was an officer of the Ferguson Police Department. He was a twenty-eight year old white male and was accused of killing Michael out of racial hatred. This case was examined but not enough evidence was accumulated to charge Mr. Wilson with the murder of Michael (Moylan). This act of violence touched many people’s hearts but made many people angry. It was thought that the FPD was being racist when Michael was killed because of statistic after the investigation. The arrest rate in seven felonies in the FDP decreased by over fifty percent and the police commissioner stated that overall crime decreased. (Newsday) After these statistics were reviewed, some thought it was time for repercussions. This in turn was the reason behind

August 9th marks the two-year anniversary of the fatal shooting of black 18-year-old Micheal Brown. Brown was unarmed when shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting caused many protests that disturbed the area for weeks. The story sparked controversy during the time the police, public, and media attempted to assign blame. Not much has changed since then. Despite “who was at fault” or if the victim was “no angel” (Mapping Police Violence) the issue of police using excessive force is still at an inclined rate. This rate may be inclined but from year to year, the numbers are somewhat consistent. These numbers only become staggering once compared to the low numbers in police brutality around

Everyday we can expect to see a news story of a minority going to jail for a crime that they have committed, but we rarely see the news of a Caucasian going to prison unless it was for a serious crime. For example, recently we have seen two major news stories go viral, the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases. In each of these cases, the “defendants” who felt violated were Caucasian and both victims who were killed were African Americans. Although we will never discover the exact story of the Brown case, the Caucasian police officer was not indicted on the death of Michael Brown, who was shot and killed because of controversial reasons. Just when people thought this was a huge issue, the Eric Garner case put the tension between African Americans and the criminal justice system over the edge. Eric Garner was put down in a chokehold for selling untaxed cigarettes. While on the ground he clearly said “I can’t breathe! I can’t breathe!” and the NYPD disregarded his statements and kept him in a chokehold. Unfortunately, this resulted in Eric’s death and the NYPD cops who handled the matter were not indicted for the crime. These are not the only two examples where minorities are getting treated unequally in the criminal justice system. In contrast, there have been many untold national news stories where the roles of similar incidents were switched. In meaning, the African American was a

Peter Lian, a 28 year old former N.Y.P.D. officer, was convicted of killing an unarmed black man in the stairwell of a housing project (Kang). This event stirred up a controversial issue on whether or not former officer, Peter Liang, is innocent or guilty as charged. The topic of murder by police officers has always been a controversial issue in which people question whether or not deadly force is needed. On the other hand, the issue of the Peter Liang case is different as Peter Liang accidentally fired his gun and hit a civilian. In the article, How Should Asian-Americans Feel About the Peter Liang Protests, Jay Caspian Kang talks about the history between the Asian-American community and the African American community, the event of the Peter Liang killing, and the effect of the event due to his Chinese ethnicity.

In the shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith, Jason Stockley was deemed not guilty of first-degree murder by Judge Timothy Wilson. As a result of the acquittal of a white police officer who shot and killed a black suspect, protestors in St. Louis are taking action. The struggling, tense relationship between the police and minority groups, such as African Americans, in the U.S. seeps into people’s view and trust towards law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Cady’s failed cry for help to the police had similarity to the difficulties that African Americans are facing with law enforcement in St. Louis.

Over the decades, the concept of justice has been continually evolving. This is occurring based upon different moral or legal interpretations. Evidence of this can be seen with observations from Burke (2011) who said, "Few things are of more importance to a society than its concept of justice. This is because it is justice that provides criterion for the legitimate use of force. In the name of justice people are detained, arrested, handcuffed, put on trial and punished. This concept is used to provide every society with some kind of social order. Over the last 200 years, a revolution has taken place with these principles. Our idea of it is what we employ, when dealing with ordinary individuals in daily life including: making agreements, paying bills, resolving disputes and putting criminals in jail. This is a concept that is as old as recorded history and it is familiar to people everywhere. What makes it so unique is that these ideas are constantly changing which focuses on society as a whole and how people are interacting with each other. " (Burke)