Police Brutality Research Paper

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

Not only has Police Brutality exposed hidden racism, but it has begun to cause separation in our nation. All of these Police Brutality cases such as Alton Sterling, Mike Brown, and Trayvon Martin just to name a few, all have happened within the last 3 years, and they were all documented on camera, exposing the reality to millions around the world. The conflict didn’t stop at the shootings though, many big-name Athletes stood up for the altercations and asked for attention. I am going to go over each individual shooting, the athletes that stood up for them, and political leaders that spoke on it.

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 governmentТs role in initiating and prolonging racial suppression and provides the explanation for police brutality to become a federal crime(Black Radical Congress, 3). In history, racist violence, police brutality, has been used to suppress the racial blacks and to preserve power and privileges for the white race. This was done for five primary purposes. First, it has forced black people into slavery or low wage situations. Secondly, to steal land and other resources. A 3-rd was to maintain social control. A fourth

b) Their silence and ignorance set a bad example to the communities they are meant to protect.

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

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

A police force is an organized body of people empowered by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. In today’s society, it is often questioned if policeman’s purpose in society is fulfilled. Since 2015, police have killed 964 people in the U.S. Despite being only 13% of the population, black people were 25% (242) of those killed. (MappingPoliceViolence.org) These killings are often identified as police brutality. Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. Police brutality is a rising but yet unsolved issue that remains relevant in today’s society. Differences between African Americans and police officers often affect interaction amongst each other. When police officers aren’t representative of the people they are supposed to protect, they often use cultural differences, racial tensions, and bias to target or view these communities as dangerous.

The article “Black Lives and Blue Lives Matter” by Bryant Alston shows and represents the importance of black lives just like any other, police brutality, also showing how no matter the color of one’s skin, it should not affect one in a negative way or agitate others to want to look over one just because a person of color seemed as a more ‘fitting’ person for such a crime instead of other non-black, or non-hispanic, person. I completely agree with Bryant Alston’s perspective on those cases, which regard race and ethnicity.

•Many people get affected by it because of the abuse of power the police use against them.

In the United States of America, law enforcement have been the guardians of protection and the enforcers of law. Although it may seems like everything is going to be peaceful, law enforcement officers have used abused their authority within the community. Police brutality is getting worse in the United States, which caused fears among citizens. Researchers stated that law enforcement officers informed them that brutality is the first step on abandoning their integrity (Ivkovic, 2005). In today’s society, police officer must warn the suspect on his or her right to have an attorney and to remain silent. When a police officer is trying to subdue a suspect at a crime scene, he or she must not use a level of force that can results in civil liability

Adjudicating those responsible for specific situation is important. But, as we’ve seen, that doesn’t always have a positive result for that one case or for addressing the root of the problem. Law enforcement is part of the legal system. One wonders what it takes to get a court of law to find error in the actions of the police. A court of law addressing the cases one by one may not be the right place to solve our societal problems. The source may more likely be in the structure of their training and job. Thus just taking each case one at a time does nothing to stop the situation from reoccurring. As has been noted, police brutality is very sick and cruel. Police beatings can really be a downfall in a community, losing all faith in what a police

I live in Oakland, a city with high crime rates and a reputation of being dangerous. With such high crime rates come large amounts of police action, and with this, a higher probability of police misconduct. Statistics indicate that in Oakland alone, more than a hundred federal and state cases of police brutality have been brought to court in the last decade. Tragically, several of these cases have been dismissed despite clear evidence against the offending police officer. The number of such cases in Oakland represents only a small fraction of the number of reported and unreported incidents of police brutality that occur nationwide.

When it comes to police brutality, it is one of the many forms of police misconduct, which involves violence done by a police officer. Police brutality has been around as long as policing has been around. This kind of action has been growing over the past years and is mainly directed at people of color and minorities which can sometimes result in death. For example, in 1919, “an African-American teenager drowned in Lake Michigan after violating the unofficial segregation of Chicago’s beaches and being stoned by the group of white youths” (The Chicago Race Riot of 1919, 2009).

Benjamin Spock was correct when he said: “Most Middle-Class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal.” What he was expressing was that police treat white individuals generally with deference and uncommon fights accrue. All through history, police have been constraining their hands, with experiences with people in general. This particularly remains constant with regard to officers managing ethnic minorities. Did you realize that Black individuals are three times as liable to be killed by an officer than a white individual? Thirty-six percent of unarmed individuals murdered by police were Black in 2015, in spite of the reality; Black individuals just make up thirteen percent of the US population. (NAACP.org) As per this reality and numerous others I've come to trust police and equity framework don't esteem Black lives. This is an issue I feel should be settled, if not settled have an approach to guarantee the security of Black individual’s who come experience with officers who don't think twice about hurting them.

“We’re not anti-police… we’re anti-police brutality” (Al Sharpton). Police brutality continues to be a major concern in society. The brutality displayed by police describes the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks or slurs, or threats from any law enforcement officer. The efforts of the police communities, throughout history, have been tainted by brutality and abuse of power to some degree.