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Police Brutality Research Paper

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Police brutality against black men in America is thought to be something that does not exist anymore due to the civil rights movement in 1955-1968. Unfortunately, a statistic shows a black suspect is killed by a white police officer twice a week. (McKay) “While African-Americans constitute 13.1% of the nation’s population, they make up nearly 40% of the prison’s population. Even though African-Americans use or sell drugs about the same rate as whites, they are 2.8 to 5.5 times more likely to be arrested for drugs than whites.” (Hudson) These statistics confirm that not only are black people more like to be victims of fatal police brutality, they are also more likely to be convicted for a crime as well. Many police are accused of racial profiling. “43% of the shootings” involving a white police officer and a black suspect “occurred after an incident of racial profiling.” (Hudson) Racial profiling is defined as "police officers stop motorists of certain racial or ethnic groups because the officers believe that these groups are more …show more content…

Eric Garner who was murdered by a NYPD officer using excessive force by forcing Eric into an illegal chokehold. All of this brutality was caught on camera by a man who lived near the scene which shows that “Garner said the words “I can’t breathe” several times before he stopped talking.” (Duncan) Garner never received CPR by EMS or police officers. “[T]he person shooting the video ask[ed] why Garner never received CPR. “Cause he’s breathing” an officer responds.” (Duncan) Garner died later in the hospital due to his injuries from the chokehold. Even though a chokehold is illegal in New York, the officer did not have reason to use this excessive force, and Garner died from the officers’ actions, the officer was not charged with anything. This is only one example of the police getting away with murder just because of their

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