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Police Brutality Research Paper

Decent Essays

Shannon Younger
English 111
Professor Paden
November 2, 2014

Hold All Firearms What is police brutality? “Police brutality is the use of excessive and/ or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians” (Danilina). Not only does police brutality happen in the form of excessive force but it can also be psychological, racial profiling, sexual abuse, and verbal abuse (Danilina). There are infinite forms in which police brutality can take place. Police officers are constantly infringing on civilians human rights when it comes to police brutality. Former human rights activist, Malcom X, says “We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this …show more content…

Acco rding to recent studies, 313 African Americans in 2012 alone were killed by police officers, security guards and other types of law enforcers. In turn, this indicates that an African American was killed every 28 hours. “Of the 313 killed, 124 (40%) were between 22 and 31 years old, 57 (18%) were between 18 and 21 years old, 54 (17%) were between 32 and 41 years old, 32 (10%) were 42 to 51 years old, 25 (8%) were children younger than 18 years old, 18 (6%) were older than 52, and 3 (1%) were of unknown ages” (Adam Hudson). He also writes that 40% of the prison population is made up of African Americans. “It is often perceived that people of certain races are more likely to be guilty of crimes, and this may factor into police choices. While this is technically illegal, because discretion is not an exact science with specified, codified rules, it is very difficult to prove this in court” (Hirby). This act is called police discretion. Racial profiling plays a major role in police …show more content…

Following the Michael Brown case, hundreds of African American students responded at Howard University by standing in solidarity with their hands up. This “’Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” meme was mimicked across the country in order to get the message of surrendering across. Michael Brown put his hands up to surrender to the police. These protest of police brutality are sometimes held by the victim’s family. In the Oscar Grant case, sparked riots in the area. The officer of this shooting faced second degree murder charge with the maximum of 14 years. Did he serve his time for this crime? In fact, he barely even served a year. Mehersle served only 11 months and then was released. It’s clear as to why people, especially the families of these victims, wanted justice for these

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