Introduction
Police brutality against minorities across the United States has become a huge topic of interest. There are multiple events where interactions with minorities have had a horrible outcome. Police brutality is defined as the use of excessive force against a civilian and has caught the attention of many in the past few decades. This paper will argue that law enforcement officers disproportionally target minorities as criminal suspects. Racial profiling takes place due to law enforcement officers already having a bias from the composition of minorities that have been charged, convicted and incarcerated. The rate of minorities being brutally abused or ending up dead after interacting with law enforcement officers, leads me to believe that officers have a bias towards minorities based on their bad encounters. Does the race of an individual contribute to police brutality?
History of Brutality Race relation transformation of Americans during the twentieth century was due to police brutality and the reactions to the use of excessive force (Adler 2010). Chaney and Robertson (2014) state that “Even when the slaves were legally freed, their individual, familial, and communal status in society remained extremely tenuous”. Over the past five centuries, black people have endured violence in many different ways. In fact, “police brutality covers the full range of police practices. The most common of these practices include—the use of profane and abusive language, commands to
-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.
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
First, it is crucial to note that police brutality is not synonymous to racism against a particular group. However, there is a stigma that police often racially profile a specific African Americans. In February 2015, two cases of police brutality did not involve African Americans; instead the two victims were a Hispanic shot and killed in Washington State and an Indian-American severely paralyzed in Alabama. Even with this considered, of late, a majority of police brutality cases have involved minorities and specifically African American males. Cases such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray have sparked a cultural uprising. These trigger event inspired the protests and riots against police brutality demonstrating collective action and physical violence, but the idea of police brutality is much larger than these individual cases, since it is a reoccurring cycle.
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 brutality is a controversial issue that has recently been in the news, but seems to have always been an issue in America. Police brutality refers to the intentional use of verbal or physical attacks directed towards individuals by the police force that result in false arrests, sexual abuse, or death. (Dudley, William 13.) Most of these actions are linked to racial profiling: the targeting of individuals for suspicion of crime based solely on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. (Dudley, William 13.) Statistics about how often racial profiling and police brutality occurs, movements such as Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, and police reform efforts are just a few points as to why this topic is so controversial today.
When you think of the police, your opinion may vary. Let me ask you a question about our police force. But keep this in mind, in October 2015 alone, there was 81 deaths by the police. With that being said, who’s to protect us from whose protecting the block? I don 't care who you are, you have to be able to realize nowadays that the police brutality is getting out of hand, that the power surge is growing and growing. Look around, there 's an increase of civilians death via cops, an increase of reports of police wrongdoing, and an increase of more officers standing trial for a case relating to police brutality.
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.
Historically, minorities have been victims of police brutality in the United States. Since the middle of the 19th century a dominant white social class maintained racial injustice through a police force willing to use violence against minorities. This violence expressed itself in the years immediately after the civil war through brutality in various forms. America has a lengthy an disgraceful tradition of police brutality to attain a sense of law and order in its society. Police misconduct can be described as any inappropriate behavior on the part of any law enforcement officer that is either illegal or immoral or both. Law enforcement agents are should behave to a standard that is greater than the average civilian. Police brutality comes from
Police brutality within North America has created a divide within its population. Being a minority living in North America, I have seen what life is like for those who experience the effects of Police brutality. Whether it’s my Dad, Mom, Sister, or Brothers, we’ve all been a witness/or effected by the actions of Police brutality. Police brutality has created a divide between North American minorities and majorities. Therefore, this divide will also create a divide within the economy and different classes living within North America. Police brutality is perceived to take place where there is a high density of minorities, and is often carried out by a white male. Police know they are given power by the Government/Country, and therefore have the
It is never a bad time to discuss matters of police brutality since at any given time some American gets pulled over or chased down the streets. When the police get hold of him, they probably will use excessive force in getting him to the ground and cuffing him, they might beat him a little bit in the process, just at the scene or maybe later at the station, or they just might kill him. This is the brutal truth of the reality in the American streets. One can never understand clearly the brutality of the police through mere reading of statistics. A search in the YouTube and the videos uploaded would make you want to treat the police differently. The past few months has seen the police in the news for all the wrong reasons. It is for this reason that this paper sets out to explore the subject of police brutality on the American public.
Those of the minority community have been subjected, for many decades, to violence by those in law enforcement in the United States. This type of violence is a direct depiction of police brutality, which often leads to death. Police brutality has been an issue for many years, and it remains a major concern for those of the minority community. Over the past five centuries, black people have endured violence in many different ways. Today, police officers use deadly, excessive force that leads to inexcusable assaults, beatings and shootings.This demonstrates the government’s role in initiating and prolonging racial suppression and provides the explanation for police brutality to become a federal crime. In history, racist
Police brutality is an ongoing problem in the United States. Law enforcement agents are there to protect the public for they have the legal right to use physical, and even deadly, force. However, many of these officers abuse of that power. In the past year, there have been more than 900 cases of police abuse. Most of the victims have been innocent, unarmed, and/or of color. Police brutality is becoming more and more of an issue as society keeps growing. This nationwide problem could be solved in many ways, but having peaceful protests and by educating our police officers about racial differences are two good possible solutions.
History has shown that not only is police brutality and profiling nothing new—especially to minorities—but it is also a problem that is unlikely to go away. Some research hypothesized that due to the dynamics of our society, such as social and emotional variables, fighting police brutality is a losing battle. In their writing, Malcolm Holmes and Brad Smith (2017) concluded “the social circumstances that shape the emotional responses characteristic of police-minority interactions seem to make certain adverse outcomes inescapable, given the structure of inequality in America.” Police brutality and its relationship with minority communities has been the center of research beginning with the Wickersham Commission in 1931. (Ruffin, 2016) The Commission found officers routinely tortured and beat arrested citizens to obtain confessions. This regular practice had a negative effect on the opinion of law enforcement among minority communities.
Justice has become nothing more than a word in American society. Badges allow militarized police officers to brutalize and kill unarmed citizens. Police brutality is not a new issue, it first appeared in 1872 when the Chicago Tribune reported the beating of a civilian by a police officer. Although police brutality has been present for decades, the severity has tremendously increased in the past twenty years. It is critical for citizens to become aware of the growing statistics and casualties of the epidemic. By educating Americans on the problem, it may lead to preventing further incidents.
Police and community relations has always been a work in progress, some communities are more challenging than others. There are various factors that impact the relationship police have with civilians such as geographical location, race, gender, personal experience and in personal ones as well. In the last few years police and the African American community on a national level been more disconnected due to a pattern of unforeseen circumstances of unarmed black men being shot and killed by officers, that end up serving no jail or repercussion besides paid administrative leave. Police brutality is defined by The Law Dictionary as the use of force used unnecessarily. “Force that is used beyond what is necessary to handle the