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Essay on Police Brutality

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Throughout history, efforts to police society have been flawed by brutality in one way or another. Police Brutality exists in many countries and is only one of several forms of police misconduct. Abuse by law enforcement officers in the United States is one of the most serious human rights violations in the country. Police officers have engaged in unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and unnecessarily rough treatment. The history of police brutality is cyclical, going through phases of violence, corruption, and reform. Police brutality is the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers and other law enforcement officers. The targets of the violence are usually the poor, the …show more content…

The Constitution is designed to ensure that no one individual or agency can become powerful enough to usurp the rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment ensures that we each have the right to be secure in our persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures. Under the Eighth Amendment, even if a person is a convicted incarcerated prisoner, he has the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The Fourteenth Amendment allows us all not to be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The police are in place to ensure us these rights and protect harm to individuals or to society. The case of police brutality against Abner Louima is one of the worst in history. Louima is a Haitian immigrant who was assaulted and brutalized by New York City police officers after being arrested outside of a Brooklyn night club in 1997. That night, Louima visited a popular night club after work. Late in the night he and several men interceded in a fight between two women. The police were called and several officers from the 70th Precinct were dispatched to the scene. Outside of the club, there was a confrontation between police officers, patrons, and bystanders involved in the scuffle. For reasons that remain unclear, Officer Justin Volpe thought he was “sucker-punched” by Louima and arrested him on charges

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