Procedural Justice System: A Case Study

Society in general have showed the distrust, protests and many questions for the like hood of the police profession. The reputation of the police profession is that of the 6 pillars of policing in the modern world as outlined by the President’s Task Force on the 21st Century Policing, which sought to recommend steps forward. Under the banners of ‘Building Trust and Legitimacy’, ‘Policy and Oversight’, ‘Technology and Social Media’, ‘Community Policing and Crime Reduction’, ‘Officer Training and Education’, and ‘Officer Safety and Wellness’ – here are concise definitions for each one and what they mean for American policing ("Final report of the resident’s task force on 21st century policing," 2015).

Lack of training and policing standards are closely linked to the myriad problems bedeviling police work, especially in small departments (Brodeur, 2010). All over the country, police departments report cases of officers being caught in uncompromising and unprofessional situations, resulting in disciplinary actions such as redeployment, suspension or sacking. These cases of unprofessionalism have led to questions being asked about policing, occasioned by recurring series of questionable and controversial encounters with police officers (Brodeur, 2010). The consequence of such encounters is increasing public distrust in law enforcement agencies.

In cities and towns across the country, tragic deaths of citizens in confrontations with police have have spiked a wave of distrust for law enforcement. The bad perception for law enforcement is unfair to the officer’s who are dedicated, and mean well in their duties, yet unfortunately, it has created tension between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Due to the recent deaths and confrontations, reform proposals and new policies have been a national conversation to implement new initiatives to strengthen the bonds between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. Although, confrontations between law enforcement and citizens in the community have spiked, the concept of community policing is not new. Throughout the years the philosophy of community policing has been to

A concern that has plagued contemporary society lately is the use of police force and the sometimes racial injustices seemingly perpetrated by police forces. This issue has caused many citizens to become distrustful of law enforcement and to develop a disdain for police officers. Numerous test, survey, and data have been collected on the subject to gain a better understanding of the growing problem between the police and a weary public. With a increasingly socialized world connecting citizens through different mediums such as the internet, television, and radio comes the newfound problems of old issues coming to a head.

Cooperation from members of the public is important in order for police officers to effectively fight crime within the community. In order to obtain cooperation from members of the public, police officers must gain their trust and confidence. It has been known that African Americans and Hispanics have lower levels of trust and confidence in police because of racial disparities and racial profiling. This paper will discuss the public opinion of police by different ethnic groups and how racial minorities hold lower levels of trust and confidence in police.

In order to bridge the gap between police officers and the community, trust needs to be established. The community needs to feel secure that the officers are there to serve and protect them from harm. Ozkan, Worrall, and Piqueri (2016) article called " Does Minority Representation in Police Agencies Reduce Assaults on the Police?" analyzed the hypothesis that minority representation in the police departments is inversely associated with assaults against the police (p. 402). For this study, data was collected from several official databases such as 2007-2009 Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA), 2000 Census, 2007 Uniform Crime Reports Offenses Known as Clearances by Arrest (UCR), and the 2007 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative

When one endures negative confrontations with the police, it is quite difficult to get rid of the belief that police officers are corrupt. One negative experience often tampers one’s judgement. This is seen as a detrimental factor when trying to reconstruct pro-social relationships with the police.

Law enforcement leaders must be continually vigilant to ensure that the actions of their officers do not violate civil rights and do not compromise public support. The individual officer is granted a tremendous amount of authority and discretion to enforce the law. Their ultimate duty is to protect individual rights from being infringed upon by others in the community. They must never consider themselves above the law while executing their responsibility to enforce the law. This commitment is what distinguishes police in constitutionally based, democratic societies like ours from police in nondemocratic countries, where they are perceived as oppressive agents of a government whose main purpose is to restrict, rather than protect, the rights of civilians (International Association of Chiefs of Police, 2006).

When police use force against a subject, they are often belittled and reprimanded by the media and public. “Police Brutality” and “Excessive Force” seem to be a daily headline in the news these days. This paper shall present research conducted on how to improve police-community relations. The goal, is the show the lack of understanding that exists between police and the community on what the job of police officer can and cannot lawfully do. By presenting this lack of understanding between police and community, we can work on improving relationships by educating the public on what is constitutionally permitted. By better educating the public, we can hopefully prevent rioting in future incidents and better remove the tensions that are present in encounters with law enforcement and minority communities.

The moral filter police use for initiated intervention is community based. Here community is the one who communicates most of the crimes commited to police rather than the police being proactive to crime. In this way, “...potential benefits [community policing]... empowerment of communities to participate in problem solving...hazard lie[s] in..excluding...communities [with] less power”(Kubrin, 76). Findings have shown that intimacy affects police involvement; if an offender is a stranger he is more likely to be arrested because the citizen holds no ties to the stranger (Dalton, 04/19/16). Police officers tend to hold leniency to citizen complaints(Dalton, 04/19/16). Similarly, the case of George Jones reflects the moral filter of policing when he was arrested with the charges of murder, and attempted murder of two children. He was identified as a suspect in a one-on-one identification procedure after Purvy Jr. woke up. George was taken into custody because the Pointer family insisted in finding a suspect which lead to faulty eyewitness testimony targeting him(Bogira, 155). Police knowingly chose not to use controversial/contradictory evidence by naming it irrelevant for case hearing because it would affect the case negatively, and would show that police had wrongly arrested someone(Bogira, 156-158). This represents the morals of the current police community based system including their lack of inclination to assess all evidence equally; therefore, this model works more for

It has been consistently shown in research that minorities are more likely to be mistreated by the police compared to other people (Dunnaville, 2000). Recent incidents have seen the police use excessive force on people and mistreat minorities. As such, the legitimacy of the police has been put under scrutiny and questioned. Many communities in the United States have demonstrated in reaction to recent incidents of police misconduct and excessive use of force. The people have lost trust in the police because of these issues. The police force has been accused of mistreating people, sexual harassment, violent and careless arrests among people particularly the minorities. As demonstrated in the movie ‘Policing the Police’ police officers are seen mistreating people for instance the scene where the police sexually harassed a teenager by touching sensitive areas. Community members are not willing to trust or work with the police to fight crime. As such, it is critical for the police agencies and department to make improving police-community relationship a top police priority. Policies should be developed that will strengthen the mutual trust between the police and the community. This relationship is critical because the police depend on information from the community to fight crime in the society.

In recent years, society has heard cases of police brutality at an increasingly shocking rate, thus creating a sense of distrust among communities towards police officers and other authority figures. As the first line of defense against crimes such as home invasions or crimes against persons, police officers are expected to be an ally towards victims; however, it seems that society is now viewing officers as the perpetrators of crimes as opposed to the protectors. This has already posed an issue because community members are choosing not to seek police help when needed, and when they do decide to seek help, forgoing police assistance results in being uncertain of where else to go.

The United States is governed by rules and regulations, law and order that legislatures have created for which the people must abide by. But what if the criminal justice system we all depend on for fairness, respect and cultural and social stability is somehow doing more harm to the American people than good. I am talking about the issues arising within our procedural justice system. Nowadays, with the help of social media, you see the abuse of power in its many forms from different government agencies around the nation. From police brutality to ICE agents with their racial profiling, judges issuing unwarranted sentencing lengths for first timers or minor offenses, and the list goes on. The same authorities whom are sworn in and took an oath to serve and protect the people are instilling more fear than security. So, what does that say about our criminal justice system? Many would agree that it has its flaws and or is corrupt from the inside. It comes as no surprise why, so many Americans are losing faith in our system and are refusing to obey the laws. Our justice system is in dire need of a judicial makeover. The people have been voicing their concerns and are taking them to the streets demanding a change, but aren’t being heard. The people just want to feel respected, to be heard, and most importantly they expect a great amount of fairness within the procedural justice system.

There is a perception of distrust between law enforcement and the community. This distrust stems directly from the dangerous words police use when communicating with the community. (Willis, 2015, p.) Simply choosing better words can help build relationships between law enforcement and the community. It is necessary for law enforcement to have trust with their community. There are many things that hinge on the police-community relationships, the ability of law enforcement to perform their duties, are the most important. Law enforcement must be willing to rely on the public to observe the law. They must always demonstrate absolute impartiality to the law.

Within our police system in America, there are gaps and loopholes that give leeway to police officials who either abuse the authority given to them or do not represent the ethical standards that they are expected to live up to. Because of the nature of police work, there is a potential for deterioration of these ethical and moral standards through deviance, misconduct, corruption, and favoritism. Although these standards are set in place, many police are not held accountable for their actions and can easily get by with the mistreatment of others. While not every police abuses his or her power, the increasingly large percentage that do present a problem that must be recognized by the public as well as those in charge of police departments