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Police Brutality? Essay

Decent Essays

Police Brutality?

In the criminal justice field one of the most debated issues centers on the use of certain techniques when trying to subdue combative suspects. Since incidents like the Rodney King beating, people have started paying more attention to how the police handle suspects. Questions concerning the deaths of people after a tazor was used or the choke hold had been applied have been raised recently.

The use of tazor guns, which were first introduced in the 1970's and put out a jolt of 50,000 volts, has been questioned recently by groups like Amnesty International who claim that police using the tazors have been responsible for killing more than 70 people since 2001. This is just the latest of several reports claiming that …show more content…

They responded by claiming extreme pain and stating that it was the longest five seconds of their lives. It can be argued that it's like using a cattle prod on animals or using electric cables to torture prisoners of war. It's also like getting punched 100 times in a row or for men getting kicked in the groin. The use of tazors could be said to be cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment however I believe to be better than any other option currently available.

The "choke hold" known as shime-waza used in the sport of judo is another common method employed by police. It has been taught and used by law enforcement officers to subdue violent suspects for several years. Recently, however, there have been reports of deaths allegedly caused by the use of choke holds, leading to law suits against its use. When properly applied, the choke hold causes unconsciousness in 8-10 seconds and once released most suspects regain consciousness within 20 seconds with no lasting effect. According to the International Judo Federation no deaths had occurred by these techniques since the sport of judo was founded by Professor Jigoro Kano in 1882 in Tokyo, Japan. In 1981, a class action suit was brought against the City of Los Angeles regarding 14 fatalities allegedly caused by the choke hold. Since there have been no deaths reported in the sport of

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