Mariana Garcia
Mr. Lyons
30 October, 2015
Senior Project Police Brutality: Becoming More Frequent in the United States
“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened” (John F. Kennedy). Police Brutality is a violation to the Federal Civil Rights Act. If cruelly beaten, kicked, and thrown by a person who is supposed to ensure the law, will you then trust them afterwards? Will your rights be valid then? Officers wear the badge and uniform which will make them feel superior making them think the law is in their hands and can twist and change it as they please. Jessica Watson-Crosby comments on the police brutality history and says, from
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This problem has been around for many years. According to Gregory it has been around since the 1930s, “Local officers, for example, beat hundreds at a 1930 labor rally in New York City, while Chicago police killed ten strikers in the Republic Steel Memorial Day Massacre of 1937.” This tragedy has been going on for decades, it is wistful having to hear that this problem still continues today. “Police Brutality was officially sanctioned in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The police misconduct aimed at undermining labor actions or controlling working-class leisure” (Umbach). The principal objective behind the cruelty is allegedly defending themselves from “dangerous criminals”, but in fact these criminals are unarmed when being viciously attacked. Gregory Umbach also comments, Dallas police formally charged less than five percent of the 8,526 people the arrested “on suspicion” in 1930. A police officer has the right to briefly detain a suspect for investigatory purposes, but to have a reasonable suspicion it requires more than a hunch. It is up to the citizen to determine if they are being detained or free to …show more content…
When given directions from a police officer, you must follow orders because it could end tragically bad for the both of you. Some of the public take Law Enforcement as a joke and would rather argue, lie, or fight instead of taking the situation you are put in seriously. Various cases of police misconduct have taken place with teenagers being the “victims”. Teenagers will act immature with the Law Enforcement because at that age they are rebellious and would like to prove who the bigger person is and sadly in some cases the situation will end tragically wrong. Many people view police brutality as excessive force towards “innocent citizens” when in some cases the culprits are responsible for causing this corruption. Various stubborn people when arrested will not follow directions when asked by an officer, which makes a cop’s job more difficult. “In tense situations, there are times when police are called on to make quick decisions in difficult circumstances in order to protect their own and that of innocent bystanders” (Dilascio). Officers as well get told what to do and it is in their training to handle a dangerous situation in the way they were taught. There have been many events where criminals are armed and or threatening the safety of the public, which creates a difficult problem for Law Enforcement. Law Enforcement then has to take matters into their own hands and try to fix the
Police brutality in the U.S. has been a phenomenon that has caught international attention in the last few years. As defined in thelawdictionary.org, police brutality is “the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians.” In many cases, civilians that were law-abiding and even unarmed were victims of police using unjustifiable force upon them. While independent organizations and activists have tried to eradicate this unacceptable behavior and phenomenon through protests and demonstrations, their efforts have not been enough. If law enforcement agencies, such as local police departments, educate their employees on the right and wrong ways to behave on the streets with civilians, the root cause of the problem will be addressed.
Since the first state-sponsored police forces in the U.S. racial discrimination in police forces has been a characteristic of the American landscape. Racial profiling and police brutality have their roots in enforcement of slave codes, black codes, and Jim Crow Segregation laws. We Charge Genocide, a petition submitted to the UN by the Civil Rights Congress in 1951, documented thousands of incidents of police violence against African Americans alone. Police brutality against Native Americans has also been a regular of colonial culture in the U.S. as well. Official studies have consistently found that people and communities of color are disproportionately subjected to human
Due to recent technological advances, many social justice issues have been brought to light. One issue is police brutality involving minorities. Police brutality is a major problem in our society, but it is a problem that we can fix. In order for any problem to be fixed, the problem must be acknowledged, then whoever has the problem must work for change. In order to fix the problem of police brutality, we must bring light to the issue by utilizing social media, then push for a change is the police force. One significant change the police force could make is the implementation of body cameras. They can offer video evidence in the case of opposing accounts of an incident, they dissuade police brutality, and videos released from police cameras
The media has portrayed Officers in a new light. Rather than protective guardians, they are now unstable, power-fueled workers of the law. It is their choice what they will do with the duty of enforcing the law. Anyone can fall victim to Police Brutality. However, America’s social and economic society is improving at an alarming rate. America is at a time now where peaceful protests and the like are promoted, while aggressive out lashes, unlawful activities, and excessive force is frowned upon. The economy today is a result of the hard work of ancestors who protested and ensured a better future. In the future, it is possible that Officers will no longer be stereotyped as abusive, or unlawful. A united front is required for this future, where there are no more sides, violence, or
On April 19, 2015 at approximately 7 a.m., Freddie Grey, a 25-year-old black man from Baltimore, Maryland died by mysterious causes. After being chased down and thrown into a police van by police officers, he was taken out of the van unresponsive and soon, “...lapsed into a coma, died, was resuscitated, stayed in a coma and on Monday, underwent extensive surgery at Shock Trauma to save his life" (Ford, 2015). Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner are other minority males that have become symbols of a raging national conversation about police brutality and racial injustice. These events have caused community’s civil rights protests to unite under themes such as; " Black Lives Matter", "Hands Up Don 't Shoot", "No Justice No Peace", and “I Can’t Breathe.” Police brutality driven by racial profiling is evident in lower income and minority areas. This is apparent because of lack of minority police officers, racial profiling in all ages, and the fear of the people in the community to step up to authority in the face of adversity.
Police officers are individuals who enforce the law upon their community to ensure that their citizens remain safe. In the past couple of years, officers of the law have been involved in acts of brutality that seem to go beyond the proper measurements of protection for their citizens. Policemen are supposed to protect their citizens from danger and from harm, not impose a threat on them. The fact that officers have a history of abusing their power indicates that their trust amongst the community has been corrupted. Those who have been affected of police brutality feel as though they have been deceived. They no longer feel that police officers will protect them, but rather abuse them, and that is a problem. We have began to live in a community in which an individual feels frightened when seeing a cop, rather than feeling protected. Some individuals may argue that police brutality is not a problem due to the fact that it is not consistent enough to catch the attention of needing a solution. However, that idea means little when the level of brutality has led to the death of several innocent victims in some cases. We must not wait for there to be a pattern of death at the hands of police officials to consider this a problem. One death indicates that preventive measures must be taken to ensure that these officers are no longer put in the position to abuse their power to begin with.
The history of police brutality goes way back, even into the 1800’s. Back then it was said to be aimed at the poor labor workers. Workers would go on strike, such as the Great Railroad strike of 1877, the Pullman Strike of 1894, or the Lawrence Textile strike of 1912. Police would brutally beat the strikers to get them to stop. As a part of their revolt, labor workers that were participating in the strike would beat the police officers(“Law”).
Living in the information age, the prevalence and awareness towards social problems are able to receive more access than ever before. We always hear the term Social Problems being thrown around habitually in the 21st century, but the term Social problem is defined as “A general cause that motivates activists and social movement organizations to address a particular troubling condition”. (CITE). The current world has too many social problems to name off in under 5 pages so for this paper I would like to focus on perhaps the most prevalent one that we are seeing way too often these days. Police Brutality and racial profiling. As a white male, someone who is a criminal justice major in hopes of eventually becoming some type of law enforcement for my career later in life, you may ask why I even care about this issue since it isn’t necessarily affecting my life directly. My response is simple, I am tired of seeing the hashtags behind these deaths and one death from police brutality is already too many.
-By definition the term police brutality is “applied in the context of causing physical harm, it may also involve psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedure.” In today’s society we have police known as riot police, who are known throughout the world to use extreme force. Statistics show almost every time the riot police are involved in crowd control, there is at least one fatality and multiple injured. This is why I believe this is one of the most important issues in the World today. Police are there to protect us but from April 2009 to June 2010 in the United States there were 5986 reports of misconduct from police officers. Police brutality has today’s citizens doubting the police department, and how they go about their arrest. Police brutality is an everyday occurrence, especially in cities where there are large communities of Blacks, Latinos and Asians.
Over the recent years, police have been one of the organizations to be associated with the largest cases of misconduct. Police brutality can be termed as the process of misuse and abuse of authority by the police. The rising cases of police brutality are causing more harm to the public, compared to the actions perpetrated by real criminals. Although police claim that it’s sometimes necessary to curb crime, the process is illegal and police officers should be charged just like any other criminal offender. It should be the responsibility of the justice system to establish effective strategies to deal with the rising illegal activities in order to restore public trust in the law
Police brutality is one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States and it occurs in every community. 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 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 a situation. Sometimes this force takes the form of hand to hand combat with a suspect who resists being arrested. Not all police officers in communities are good cops. At least once a year the news is covering a story about a person
There is no question that police brutality, when it occurs, is one of the most egregious violations of public trust that a public servant can commit. Police officers, those individuals taxed with protecting the public from danger, should never be in a situation where they pose a threat to the public. Furthermore, there is no question that police brutality occurs. Moreover, generally when there are allegations of police brutality, there has been some type of underlying violent incident. In addition, while issues of brutality may seem clear-cut to a disinterested observer, it is critical to keep in mind that law enforcement officers are not presented with textbook examples of the appropriate or inappropriate use of force, but real-life scenarios involving quick decisions. There are many arrest and non-arrest scenarios where officers need to use force to protect self or others; and the degree of force required may be greater than what a disinterested observer would assume. Another recurrent issue in debates about police brutality is that racial bias appears to be a motive behind police brutality. When one considers that minorities are disproportionately likely to be arrested and convicted of crimes, one would expect to find a disproportionate number of minorities among those alleging police brutality. Therefore, while acknowledging that police brutality, when it occurs, is a serious problem, the reality is that most
Police brutality is defined as “excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians,” and this has become more prominent within the United States throughout the years (Danilina). There has many cases where police brutality has been seen via news channels, and it has dismantled the unity of trust between the civilians of the United States and the law enforcement who are supposed to protect the everyday people from harm. The issue is if the law enforcement is actually right within their means of protection, or have they gone too far with using excessive force in any situation that may or may not be harmful to them. There is, also, the question of whether racial profiling is the biggest contributor to police brutality.
Although I should know by now, I cannot help but think that there has been an overwhelming amount of police brutality in recent years. Police brutality can be defined as, when a police officer uses more force than necessary. This issue has spread throughout the United States of America, and is putting the lives of our citizens in great danger. Police brutality is not only physical, but it can also be verbal attacks; and, in most cases, it is caused by false arrest and racial profiling due to police corruption. Police brutality has been and continues to be a major concern in society and it is used very loosely to any and all forms of police misconduct. Whereas, in reality, excessive force of police misconduct is what defines police brutality. The jobs of a police officer are too calmly resolve public disturbance and disputes. Police officers are supposed to protect citizens; instead they are hurting and using excessive force. It is not right and it is unjust for a police officer to hurt a citizen due to an assumption without any actual proof of criminal activity.
Over the years United States has witnessed a substantial increase in police brutality, it is one of the most common and serious violation of the human rights and it happens more often than we care to know in our communities, ranging from verbal to physical abuse in which usually an innocent person results injured as police officers lay their called justice upon the alleged criminals.