Police Brutality Cases

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

This academic paper will discuss and examine the code of ethics and security case study. This paper will examine police brutality in New Orleans. The case will be examined from the perspective of the four different ethical theories. The four ethical theories are ethical relativism, ethical egoism, deontological ethics, and ontological ethics. The analysis will determine how the different perspectives support or condemn the conduct in the case study. The analysis will reveal which ethical theory resolves the particular ethical issue or issues from Criminal Justice Ethics 2e, Case Study 1.1, Police Brutality in New Orleans.

The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)

Recently police have come under fire for the deaths of many unarmed African American males. This has broken the trust between civilians and police and torn our country apart. People are frustrated about the killings of unarmed citizens and how it seems every officer can get away with killing an unarmed suspect. Back in 1994 a law was passed that required the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to record date on police involved shooting and deaths by police officers. Except where are the numbers that would show there is an increase in unarmed African American deaths from police officers?

Police shootings are unfortunate events but whenever there is a shooting, the topic of race emerges. Police shootings have always been the highlights on news channels and there is always the racially biased narrative that keeps repeating itself yet no one seems to dispute this narrative. However, did you know that studies show a police officer is eighteen and a half times more likely to be killed by a African American male than an unarmed African American male is to be killed by a police officer? In fact, a recent “deadly force” study by Washington State University researcher Lois James found that police officers were actually less likely to shoot an unarmed black suspect than unarmed Caucasian or Hispanic suspect in simulated threat scenarios. Some would argue that there are still police shootings all over America and they occur when police officers

It feels as if nothing has changed about police brutality over the years. The usual cycle is that juries acquit the police, cops get their jobs back, and brutality happens again. One of the most broadcasted cases of police brutality, was the beating of Rodney King. On the night of March 2, 1991, a bystander named George Holiday, videotaped the moment when five officers used excess force on an African American man named Rodney King, beating him with batons as he struggled on the ground. Also, it was recorded that an officer stomped on King’s shoulder causing his head to hit hard against the asphalt. Holiday sent the videotape to a local TV station and soon sent shock waves around the world, catapulting police brutality and race relations in the United States to center stage. Most viewers who watched the tape revealed the brutal and senseless beating of a hopeless drunk. After debating for seven days over the fate of the officers, on April 29, 1992, the clerk announced the final verdict, the five officers were not guilty.

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

Recently, there has been much in the media about clashes between African Americans and the police. Two such cases, being the shootings of Michael Brown and Laquan McDonald - both incidents resulting in public outrage. These cases result in questions about racial profiling by police. Through research, it is clear that African Americans are the target of racial bias by many police departments in the United States; in order to remedy this situation, law enforcement agencies need to (and are beginning to) undergo scrutiny on their interactions with the public and, additionally must receive training on diversity.

The professors use hard hitting facts that demonstrates the truth behind African Americans and the way the law enforcement perceives them, giving the reader some distinctive insight. The history of the law enforcement along with the criminal justice system has portrayed that they are disproportionality race-based. Blacks are more likely than whites to be racially profiled (Staples 2011), to be stopped by law enforcement, and receive harsher sentences. Unfortunately, it has been shown time and time again that judges, jurors, and the law enforcement finds it challenging for them to sympathize with African Americans. All in all this body of academic work has highlighted external factors that have shaped the lives of Blacks in America without giving due attention to the words of Rodney King, the man who became the face of racial injustice (Chaney and Robertson 2014). Four themes were unveiled in the analysis King’s quotes: appreciation for the struggles of former Civil Rights Activists, appreciation for the legal system, personal feelings related to police brutality, and the desire for non-violence as a catalyst for positive

A great deal of society views law enforcement officers as heroic and honorable individuals, whose main purpose is to protect and serve the community. For many officers, this description is accurate, however for others; violence and brutality against innocent citizens is part of getting the job done. For years, minorities have fallen victim to police brutality based on racial profiling, stereotypes and other

In today’s society, some police are treating African American differently because the way they look and their color of their skin.In the Novel “All American Boys” Rashad’s Father told him what happens when he was at work.Rashad’s Father stated,”When he was a newer cop he pulled the trigger on a young black man thinking

Granderson writes in several story highlights he's been repeatedly stopped, and hassled by police for no good reason, as a result, he reports -Trayvon Martin's shooting shows similar injustice, which is, he says,- it has echoes of how police handled Amadou Diallo case, Rodney King, Sean Bell. Lastly, he reports by far the predominant reason, LZ says, Cover ups, lax investigations show black people why they can't trust police (Granderson, 2012). McKay, (2015), shows an appalling video exposing how the police really treat black teens in America. The video uncovers why black Americans are more likely to be restrained with a lethal weapon as opposed to a non-lethal weapon. The results of McKay research also show how American activists have decided to challenge Congress to administratively address the deprivation of Rights under the color of Law Statute (McKay,

So, what type of impact could the Supreme Court decisions make on police brutality have on future policing processes? Well, according to website http://time.com/police-shootings-justice-department-civil-rights-investigations/, “Some legal scholars and civil libertarians have argued that the costs of the refusing to change discriminatory police practices should be even higher. They have pressed the Justice Department to aggressively use of its authority under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which allows the department to cut off federal funds to any program or agency that is found to engage in discrimination. Even some police departments that have been investigated repeatedly, the activists note, have continued to draw generous grants

They’re several cases where African Americans have been shot for no entire reason. In 1991, Rodney King was videotaped getting beaten by LAPD officers; He was struck 50 times all over his body by nightsticks. The video was recorded by a witness that told the media that Rodney King didn’t deserve what he got by these officers on March 3 (Front Line). Another case is Ferguson, Michael Brown eighteen years old, Un armed was shot twice by officer Wilson, both bullets hitting his hand, as he was shot he ran from the officer with the gun and then the officer shot him a couple more times, hitting his head and chest, killing him on the scene. Most middle-class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal (Spock). That quotes is very true speaking that most white people are not hurt by anything that happens but blacks. Because blacks are most targets for this type of crime or at that any crime. The reason behind this is that some officers are racist but don’t say anything because they do not want to lose their job. But the people all around the world have started noticing this type of behavior and decided to start acting out in riots and other type of violent activities to have it all come to an

African American males are disproportionately the victims of police brutality, compared to their white counterparts in the American society. Due to race. Although racism does not exist, race still plays the factor in the everyday life of an African American male. Recent events in America have given citizens of the United States reason to suspect that extreme force is often unleashed on African American males. When going back and looking at the police cases, the use of extreme force is tragically displayed by the death of many African American citizens. A recent example can be found in the case of Charly Keunang. He was a homeless man who was shot and killed by the LAPD in the streets of Los Angeles. Another incident involved Michael Brown, an African American