Over the past several years, and especially now in the past two years, innocent black men are being killed every day by police officers. More often than not, see news headlines of more and more black lives being taken. Innocent lives being taken by officers who serve little to no justice. Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile are only just a few names on the long and growing list of the black victims of police brutality. Police officers should be held more accountable in cases against police brutality so the list of innocent black lives doesn’t keep growing.
The first and one of the more well know cases is Eric Garner. Garner was a 43 year-old black man who was approached on suspicion by the New York police department for selling
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?
“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.
Over the past decade, police brutality has covered major headlines because officers have acted out in ways that have made citizens question their motives. Things such as unjustified shootings, deadly chokings, and rough treatment have all added to the constant problem of police brutality in the black community. Annoyingly, the police officers responsible for the killings and abuse are not held for long before they are discharged to their normal routines. Since many people believe that the issues of police brutality is based on race, officers should be held accountable for their misconduct. Accountability will permit officers to treat all with equality; therefore using the appropriate amount of force on everyone. Often cops are indicted in less than 1% of killings, but the indictment rate for citizens is 90% which is a major problem. If someone does wrong they should suffer the consequence no matter who they are. As a result of misconduct officers tend be mistrusted by their communities. Deaths in the black community often stems from police officers using excessive force such as assaults, beating and shootings.
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.
Police brutality has occurred all across the world and is still a major amongst society and police organization. This brutality arranges from assaults, death as a result, of use of force, harassment, Etc. It takes two forms which is physical brutality which includes assaults, and non-physical brutality which includes use of verbal language. Police officers have been granted the privilege of using “non-negotiable force” (Bittner 1970) to control citizens’ behavior and ensure public order. Police use of excessive force is also called police brutality. This term refer to any unnecessary use of force by police. There are many different definitions to what police brutality is considered to be. “Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians” (Danilina, 2014). Police brutality occurs when officers use more force than is necessary when making arrests or controlling people. Police brutality is categorized as an excessive use of force. Danilina from Law Dictionary states that, “Excessive use of force means a force well beyond what would be necessary in order to handle a situation. These claims of police brutality are made when someone is injured or killed during the course of a search or an arrest. Throughout history there has been many incidents where police officers have used unnecessary force to handle a situation. One of history’s most nationally known incidents of police brutality took place March 3, 1991, in Chicago, when
A topic that is very prominent at this time in social media and mainstream media is the presence of police brutality in the United States. Two instances in the news recently are the disputes that resulted in the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
Police brutality is the use of excessive and unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. Police brutality can be present in many ways. The most common form of police brutality is a physical form. Police officers can use nerve gas, batons, pepper spray, and guns in order to physically intimidate or even intentionally hurt civilians. Police brutality can also take the form of false arrests, verbal abuse, psychological intimidation, sexual abuse, police corruption, racial profiling, political repression and the improper use of Tasers. Black people are mostly affected by white cops. Cops are given a lot of scope in performing their obligations. Since they are relied upon to ensure general society and stand up to possibly rough people, they can lawfully utilize physical, and even fatal, power in specific situations. Be that as it may, an officer who uses power when it is not called for, or who utilizes more constraints than is important to perform his or her occupation, may go too far into police ruthlessness. Police brutality should be controlled and stopped because its getting out of hand and is killing our African American youth.
Police should be held accountable and criminally charged with the same consequences as cilivans. “27 percent of African Americans are killed by the law enforcement” (Cooke 1). Just recently, an 18 year old; innocent and unarmed African American was killed by two white police officers. This divisive human rights violations and let police officers escape punishment. “No charges for a Michigan police officer who escalated a disagreement with an unarmed
A controversial topic in today’s policing is whether police use reasonable force or excessive force in certain situations. By definition excessive force is any force beyond what’s necessary to arrest a suspect and keep police and bystanders safe. There have been a number of occasions where an officer has crossed the line and went farther then he or she needed to subdue the person getting arrested. With social media and the constant need to record things on camera many of these incidents have gone viral and caught the attention of the public. This can be helpful in certain cases and at the same time recording an officer puts him in a situation where he knows he is being recorded so he has to be mindful of what he says and does. That can cloud his judgement and put the bystanders in danger as well as himself.
Even though America is thought to be the land of the free, we still don’t feel as though freedom is ringing throughout the U.S. We often don’t feel safe because of the several examples of police brutality throughout the years. “Police brutality is a daily occurrence across the USA, most of it inflicted in the form of a few extra blows, punches, or kicks during arrests” (Angola, 2013). Police brutality consist of police officers that simply abuse their authority. The American law enforcement has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past few decades. Police officers have more powers than the average citizen; they have the power to arrest, seize property, and use deadly force. You would think that there would be some type of extreme
In recent years police actions, especially police abuse remains one of the most serious and estranged human rights violation in the United States. While citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been shown that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect us. Thousands of individuals that complained about police abuse are reported each year and local authorities pay out millions of dollars to victims in damages after all the lawsuits. Police have beaten, shot at unresisting suspects; they have misused their batons, and also their electroshock weapons. Over the past decade, police officers have acted out in ways that make people wonder, are these officers of the law really doing their job? Severe beatings, unjustified shootings, and rough treatment have all contributed to the problem of police brutality in America. Police officers continue to abuse their given authority by acting in a brutal manner in order to control a detained suspect. The job of a police officer is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crime. They are engaged in a dangerous and stressful occupation that can absolutely involve violent situations that must be controlled. In many of these confrontations with the public, it may become necessary for the police to administer force to take control of the situation. Sometimes excessive force takes the form of hand-to-hand combat with a suspect who is resisting arrest. At least once every month or two the news
Police abuse is one of the most violated human rights in the United States. Police are portrayed as heroes that stop bank robbers, stop kidnappings and catch murders, but as of recent year’s police actions have come into the public eye. While typically citizens worry about their safety from criminals, it also seems they have to keep an eye out for the people who are supposed to protect them from danger. Thousands of complaints about police brutality is reported each year, and seems to be growing more. China has a population four and a half times bigger than the United States and only twelve killings were reported by law enforcement in 2014, but in the United States ninety two times more people were killed than a country with nearly 1.4 billion people (Fairbanks). Within our police system in America, there are openings and loopholes that give liberty to police officers who either abuse their authority given to them or do not live up to ethical standards in today’s society.
In the recent years, police abuse has become clear to the public eye. Citizens in society are now not only trying to shelter and protect themselves from criminals, but now they must make sure they look out for those who are supposed to be the “peace keepers” that protect and serve. In this essay, it will discuss the incidents involving police brutality in society today, and also how the justice system is continuing to take away the given rights to citizens of the United States of America. Citizens must be able to protect themselves from the police officers taking advantage of their powers as a law enforcement agent. With this distinguishable difference in power, the citizens are prominently at a standstill for justice.
In our past white Americans use black African Americans as slave labor, now we see many white citizens still hurting and disrespecting them. A major example is police brutality. Police brutality is the act of police using force to deal with suspects that are beyond what is necessary. Police brutality has led America to a bad reputation with cops that go by the term, “to serve and protect.” Not only that, but it has contributed to racism in the country; many white police officers have been responsible for ending many innocent black lives. To the reader, for whoever you are, let this article inform you the many ways police brutality can be confirmed by story examples, racism, and reminding us why we came to our country. Maybe you haven’t seen it yet, but now you will know. Take note of what you have learned from the past about these events and similar events if you have learned about them. Step in someone else's shoes and see what they are seeing.
A disabled man was shot and killed by the police in Delaware, US. The event strikes a signifiicant resemblance to many similar police shootings that reportedly took place in the USA over the past year. The case is almost always the same. One, or more, police officers fatally shoot or seriously injure a citizen, claiming to be afraid for their safety. The victims range a lot in variety and are oftenly disabled people, like the aformentioned man, or even children and teenagers. The frequency of these shootings/attacks showcase well enough how normalised and frequent police brutality is in the states.