The Prison Industrial Complex And Police Brutality Essay

Some people may not know what a Prison Industrial Complex is. The official google definition for it is The term "prison–industrial complex" (PIC) is used to attribute the rapid expansion of the US inmate population to the political influence of private prison companies and businesses that supply goods and services to government prison agencies. Prison systems make money off the prisoners. The more prisoners they have more money they make. Prisons are private institutions. Prisoners get charged per day for phone calls and things and they also work for free. Prisons should be banned because instead of it being a correctional facility it is a business that makes money over inmates. African Americans play a huge role in one of the mass

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a loosely‐coordinated, nationwide movement dedicated to ending police brutality that rose to prominence in late 2014. It takes its name from a hashtag started by three Black feminist activists Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi but the movement and the hashtag are not identical (Freelon, McIlwain, & Clark, 2016). BLM has achieved national reputation through their online and offline organizing, obtaining extensive news media coverage and glowing references in music and entertainment television. Based on a horrendous incident that sparked a concern for a lot of Black people across the world, the sudden need for a social movement was born called BLM. Black Lives Matter is a national organization working for the validity of Black life and also working to rebuild the Black liberation movement. Black Lives Matter broadens the conversation and highlight the incidents around state violence to include the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. This referring to the ways in which Black lives are deprived of basic human rights and dignity. According to the article The Murder of Walter Scott, which talks about race and class, “African Americans are less than 13% of the U.S. population yet they are nearly 50% of those killed by the police. North Charleston has a population of 104,000, 47% Black and the police force is 80% white (Miah, 2015)”.

Police brutality and police militarization have become a hot topic in the United States of America. There are many cases where police officers motives are being questioned, leading the public into an uproar. Just to name a few of these cases, we have Micheal Brown from Fegurson, Missouri, that started it all, which took place on Augest 19th, 2014. We also have Eric Garner from New York, taking place July of 2014. July of 2016, Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge and Walter Scott from South Carolina in April of 2015.

A current theme that has been expressed that ties in with police brutality is racism. One case study from The Journal of African

Police brutality and corrupt cop issues have increasingly risen. The problems posed by the illegal exercise of police power, which is an ongoing reality for individuals of a disfavored race, class, or sexual preference. There are innocent people beaten or put in jail or prison. They can be helped, but the ones beyond help are dead. There are good cops and there are bad cops. Under the law, article 7 states:

The United States has a dark history of mistreating and racially profiling black Americans. Over the years, America has developed into one of the world’s most powerful countries; yet police brutality remains a monumental problem. Police brutality has transformed into such a hot topic, and when brought up in conversation, it sparks a debate. Nevertheless, the brutality should be talked about. Although many believe that the media pushes the narrative, that only African Americans are victims, police brutality stems from racial profiling and is an ever growing issue because stories show a painful pattern, lives are negatively affected, and the use of different solutions is utilized to expose the problem.

“One out of every 31 Americans (7 Million) are in prison, jail, or some other form of correctional supervision. A high incarceration rate in the United States has led to the prison-industrial complex, which has provided jobs and profits to legions of companies and people. The field of corrections is big business.”1 I believe that this fact is the best way in which to start my paper. The main idea of corrections, as the name suggests, is to correct the behavior that has caused an offender to stray from the straight and narrow. However, as our prison population grows and recidivism rates increase we are not only seeing our prison system fail, but we are seeing a new and emerging industry take hold in this country. Increasing prison populations and the number of re-offenders is showing a relatively obvious failure of the current system. In my time as a criminal justice major I have taken a variety of classes on criminal justice, one of the most interesting for me (aside from this class) was restorative justice. In my restorative justice class I was introduced to the idea that the criminal justice system was taking the conflict away from the victim and the community and was focusing too much on punishment and not enough on rehabilitation. I understand that some people feel that restorative justice is too lenient, that by allowing offenders to bypass jail restorative justice gives them a pass and allows them to basically get away with an offense, however restorative

Most people think of America as “the land of the free”. From the outside it may seem like America has many freedoms. However, if those who do not live in American could see America from a different view, they may not like some of the injustices this country brings upon some of its citizens. When I think of injustices I look at it as the unfair treatment brought on to someone, who has no reason to be treated unequally. Unfair treatment in this country, mainly stems comes from the police officers that are put into power; those who are supposed to be here to help, serve and protect are those who most of us are afraid of today. Most citizens want to view law enforcement as courageous, fearless, respectable, and honest individuals. Unfortunately, for a countless number of officers this does not hold true; because there are many officers that tend to destroy this concept with their reckless behavior. Lately, police brutality has become a major issue in America; due to improper training, the use of excessive force against minorities, and America’s broken system for justice, as police officers are not being held accountable for their actions.

Eric Garner. Keith Lamont Scott. Philando Castille. Michael Brown. Do you know who these people are? I am Arianna Dwomoh, a ninth grade at Leesville Road High School in Raleigh, NC. I want to write to you about how racial profiling/ bias is a large part of police shootings and arrests lately as most victims are unarmed people of color. Over the past couple of years, cops have shot and killed unarmed or innocent black men and boys. This shows light upon the worrying racial differences in how police use force. For those who critique the police, the numbers show that it's not just higher rates of gun ownership and violent crime that explain the higher number of police shootings in the US, compared to other countries. Maybe, it's the nonchalant

Suspicion that a black person will always have the wrong intention and have a malicious plan when walking around a neighborhood, or whatever the case might be, is unjust and based on prejudice. As more of our black sisters and black brother’s lives are being taken away, the public begins to take this issue more seriously attemting to prevent from any more lives to be taken away by the police force, which is meant to keep us out of harm’s way and make us feel safe. Black lives matter is no longer maintained as a popular hashtag in the media, but it comes to live as a movement. Police brutality creates a black lives matter movement where our society unites to protest, regardless of economic status, religion, race, or sex.

Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi are the creators of the now famous hash tag Black Lives Matter. It was made as a call to action after George Zimmerman was not held accountable for the fatal shooting of teen Trayvon Martin in 2012. This incident was what gave life to the Black Lives Matter movement and has reframed the way Americans perceive police treatments of people of color. It was not until 2014 when it exploded all over social media after a Ferguson police officer killed a young black man named Michael Brown. The book Forces of Deviance: understanding the dark side of policing says, “African Americans tend to believe that the police were more corrupt, more unfair, harsher, tougher, less friendly, and crueler than did whites. African Americans generally were more dissatisfied with police service in comparison to the white population” (Kappeler, Sluder, & Alpert 6). Ferguson was exposed as a case study of structural racism in America and a metaphor for all that

Police brutality is a major issue in today’s society. Many African Americans tend to avoid the police for that very reason. A campaign was started in 2012 against police brutality and the unfair treating of African Americans entitled, Black Lives Matter. This movement was met with controversy as well as support from the American people. This movement has followed several controversial police brutality cases in the United States including, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Sandra Bland. All African American and all killed in the presence of a police officer, with no convictions. These three cases have been some of the biggest cases in the Black Lives Matter campaign. This campaign is determined to make sure that Black lives are treated just as equally as white live and Hispanic lives, because black lives matter

Police brutality is an ongoing problem in the United States. Law enforcement agents are there to protect the public for they have the legal right to use physical, and even deadly, force. However, many of these officers abuse of that power. In the past year, there have been more than 900 cases of police abuse. Most of the victims have been innocent, unarmed, and/or of color. Police brutality is becoming more and more of an issue as society keeps growing. This nationwide problem could be solved in many ways, but having peaceful protests and by educating our police officers about racial differences are two good possible solutions.

When we do research on daily prison life, we come across two typical but less than ideal situations: either social imaginaries cloud our judgment or information provided by the prisons themselves hide certain weak or bad aspects that they do not want to make public. We can also find information on TV, but most of the time it either exaggerates or minimizes the facts. In order to obtain more reliable information, we have to have access to people who are working or have worked in this institution, and such will be the sources of this essay. We will be describing and giving examples of prison violence according to three types of violence: sexual, physical and psychological violence.

Originating in 2012, the political movement known under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has exploded in size and renown. This movement, which was initially inspired after a police officer was acquitted of all charges after fatally shooting an African American individual, seeks to diminish police brutality against African American individuals and systemic racism particularly in the United States. Sweeping the nation, Black Lives Matter has become an international movement and its influence has only increased with time. On the movement’s official website, the following was written regarding the history of the hashtag-inspired entourage, “#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was posthumously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our dehumanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society. Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.” (http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/). The #BlackLivesMatter movement asserts that racism is still prevalent in modern society and exists not only in passive forms. Instead, racism apparently can be both overt and implicit.