Social Groups Essay

Gelsey Piatt and Madalyn Davishrr 1990’s News Article -Rodney King BREAKING NEWS: Rodney King was found face down in his LA home pool, dead at the age of 47. Rodney King’s public life all started on March 3rd, 1991 where after a high-speed chase from LAPD, King was violently beaten with batons suffering more than 11 fractures, all caught on tape. 4 Los Angeles Police Department officers by the name of Laurence Michael Powell, Timothy Wind, Stacey Koon, and Theodore Briseno are all indicted by grand jury in connection to the beating of King, to the joy of the public. April 29th, 1992 almost a year following the initial incident, the trial of the 4 officers comes to a harrowing defeat when they were pronounced not guilty of brutally beating King.

On March 3, 1991 Rodney King led the Los Angeles police on a high speed chase. Once the chase was over officers pulled King out of his vehicle and began to brutally beat,taze and stomp on him. The recording of the video taken by a witness standing on the other side of the street was locally broadcasted then nationally broadcasted.The reasons that police officers acted the way they did was because “Rodney King was driving while intoxicated and when officers attempted to arrest him, the large belligerent man resisted that arrest.” (Blue Knights with Lt. Dan Marcou ) It was already said that King had a criminal record of second degree robbery and out on parole so the officers were aware of who he was by now. I also believe that racial profiling was another factor that caused the police officers to act they way that they did. As stated by Connie Rice a lawyer and civil rights activist , “The LAPD at the time was almost an occupying force, partially biased against people of color.” (Sastry & Bates) Personally, I do not believe that the officers acted in an appropriate matter because instead of pulling him from his car and brutally beating him they should've just gone up to him and arrested him. I understand that he was seen as a threat during this time because of the high speed chase but there were other ways that they could have handled the situation. The use of forces that could have been appropriate for this situation were verbal commands, maybe a bit of empty hand control with the soft empty hand technique and if he resisted then that is when the use of less lethal force would of been used. Also they found out that in the first three seconds of the film were cut of and showed that “Rodney King rising up from the street to charge one officer in a clear-cut violent assault. In self defense, that officer struck King with his PR-24.” (Blue Knights with Lt. Dan Marcou.) Now with this new information I believe that the officer had a right to defend himself however not to the extent that they all went. Hitting King ith the PR-24 would have caused him to fall and during that time they could have arrested him instead. According to Biography.com, “The United States Department of Justice filed federal civil rights charges

When police brutality with an emphasis of racism is mentioned, most people automatically think of Rodney King. In fact, movies and television sitcoms reference Rodney King as an act. Rodney King was portrayed by the media as a black male that was being beaten unfairly by four white police officers. The media only chose certain parts of the video to present to Americans, that incited riots. Not until much later was it revealed that Rodney had in fact lunged at the officers, not just “cowered down and crawled away.” (CNN 2012). ("Rodney King was a symbol of civil rights and he represented the anti-police brutality and anti-racial profiling movement of our time," the Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement. "It was his beating that made America focus on the presence of profiling and police

When the judge, Bernard Kamins, who was Caucasian declared three of the four (also white) officers not guilty the public saw his decision very racist. The riots began in the evening after the judgment, and grew over the next two days, but they would continue for several days. Angry Los Angels residents went out to the streets to show their fury. “These people are angry and they have every right to be!” said a man to the news cameras during the destruction. Authorities failed miserably to control the people. As time went by the madness did not decrease but enlarged.

Akers, R. (2006). Parental and peer influences on adolescent drug use in Korea. Asian Journal of Criminology.

Throughout police history in the United States and around the world there have been numerous incidents of reported police brutality and other forms of corruption including taking bribes, theft, sexual deviance, and many more. In our present time corruption has decreased significantly from what it once was decades ago but still exists. One of the most publicized cases of police brutality, if not the most, was the beating of Rodney King. Most people have heard about the case and seen the video of the brutal beating that took place in Los Angeles on the night of March 2, 1991. The video shown to the public contained officers appearing to beat Mr. King while he is on the ground while

Rodney King was a black motorist who was beaten and arrested by four white police officers in Los Angeles on March 3, 1991. The policemen were unaware of being filmed until, George Holliday, captured the beating on videotape from his apartment window and released it to the press (Alexander, Jacobs, and Seidman, 2000). This incident was not a shock to individuals living in the Los Angeles County as it was common to be victimized by policemen. The difference in Rodney King’s case with other

Victims of police brutality may pursue court cases against the city employing their abusers. These cases do not always work out in favor of the alleged victims. Michael Brown, unarmed 18-year-old was shot dead by Ferguson, Missouri, Police Officer Darren Wilson. Brown had his hands up when he was shot and killed. Charges against the officers dropped. At times, an entire culture or race may feel victimized by police brutality. When police officers beat Rodney King, 25, it sparked a national controversy. The police officers that beat King were acquitted of all charges, sparking riots in Los Angeles, where civil unrest over racial profiling reached its boiling point. The riots resulted in the “deaths of 53 people” (Gray, 2016, p.

According to CNN, King led those officers on the chase because he violated his parole by drinking. He stopped in front of some apartment buildings thinking they would just arrest him and someone would catch it on tape. He was beaten by the police officers that caught him over 50 times. Three of the four officers were later acquitted and one had a mistrial, even after their vile beating was caught on tape. The trial’s result  sparked the 1992 Los Angeles riots; 50 people were killed, 2000 injured, and almost 12,000 arrested. Racial diversity in American has had many ups and downs in the past. However, there seem to be more downs that have never been corrected. Aside from the three-day L.A. 1992 riots, there were: Japanese internment camps during WWII, the civil rights movement during the 1960s, and of course, slavery, during the first 100 years of our country's founding. Slavery happened not only to Africans, but to the Native Americans, the native people of the Caribbean islands, etc. These lows points in our history have caused poets like Claude McKay that this injustice will not be taken lightly. In his poem, “If We Must Die” he notes that “We'll face the murderous pack. Pressed into a wall but fighting back!” when African Americans face hardships purely because of their skin tone. We need authors like Maya Angelou to remind us that “It is time for parents to teach young

It feels as if nothing has changed about police brutality over the years. The usual cycle is that juries acquit the police, cops get their jobs back, and brutality happens again. One of the most broadcasted cases of police brutality, was the beating of Rodney King. On the night of March 2, 1991, a bystander named George Holiday, videotaped the moment when five officers used excess force on an African American man named Rodney King, beating him with batons as he struggled on the ground. Also, it was recorded that an officer stomped on King’s shoulder causing his head to hit hard against the asphalt. Holiday sent the videotape to a local TV station and soon sent shock waves around the world, catapulting police brutality and race relations in the United States to center stage. Most viewers who watched the tape revealed the brutal and senseless beating of a hopeless drunk. After debating for seven days over the fate of the officers, on April 29, 1992, the clerk announced the final verdict, the five officers were not guilty.

In Los Angeles in 1991 Rodney King was driving under the influence of alcohol, and also speeding at excessive high speeds. Around 12:30 am, Officers Tim and Melanie Singer, of the California Highway Patrol, noticed King 's car speeding on the Highway. The officers pursued King, and the pursuit attained high speeds, while King refused to pull over. He would later state that he did not pull over because he was attempting to outrun the police because he would violate his parole from a previous robbery conviction for driving under the influence. After king exited the highway there were about five police cars behind him, with a helicopter following. King exited the Highway and was ordered out of the car. His passengers exited first

While racing down the freeway on March 3, 1991, driver Rodney King and friends were leading the Los Angeles Police Department on a high speed chase making it up to 115 miles per hour. When King was eventually caught, officers pulled him from his car and began to beat King with their batons hitting and kicking him more than 50 times and shocking him with stun guns in a period of two minutes as he struggled helplessly on the ground outside of his car. King suffered 11 skull fractures, kidney damage, and brain damage. This was one of America’s first viral video of what excessive force is, and it changed the way police interacted with communities forever. The use of police force is an obligation, but unfortunately some officers may misuse, or abuse

The beginnings of the riots came on March 3, 1991, when Rodney King was stopped and brutally assaulted by police. King was stopped after a high speed chase police after police caught him intoxicated and was subsequently forced out of the car (History.com). From there, police began to unlawfully assault Rodney King, leaving him with a fractured skull, along with a broken cheekbone (History.com). A witness, George Holliday, filmed the officers beating Rodney King; a day after the tape was airing on CNN for the rest of the country to witness (Los Angeles Daily News). Four officers were later arrested and put to trial a year later, however all of them were not pleaded guilty. The verdict angered a massive amount of African

There are several theories created by many thinkers of our time that believes that societal, financial, and social arrangements and/or structures as the main cause of criminal behavior. In society, depending on where you are, there are usually some unwritten norms that are expected to be followed. It can be in a business corporation, out in the streets, at home. Usually there will be two sets of norms that is expected to be followed that causes an individual to feel torn. However, the feeling of being torn is the inner battle of doing the right thing, conscience or keeping yourself alive.

Human beings are defined as ''social animals'' because in every aspects of life they live together, they form a variety of groups and improve relationships with each other. Interaction with others is a natural result of living in society. In the process of interaction, society and its rules has a social impact on each individual. If people face with any kind of social impact such as group pressure, great part of them show conformity by changing their behaviors, ideas, decisions in expected way. A person conforms if he or she chooses a course of action that a majority favors or that is socially acceptable. Some kind of conformity is natural and socially healthy but obeying all the norms, ideas, and decisions without thinking or accepting