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race discrimination in the police force
introduction of racial bias in the criminal justice system
racial inequalities in law enforcement
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On September 21, 2016 an unarmed black male named Terrence Crutcher from Oklahoma was fatally shot by a female police officer as he stood outside his vehicle. Police officers responded to Crutcher, age 40, in response to a stalled vehicle in the roadway. At the moment it was unknown to the officers if Crutcher was armed at the time. Police said Crutcher approached the officers after the officers arrived. Investigators said that Crutcher refused to obey several orders given to him to show his hands. Officials said that when Crutcher reached into his car that is when one officer fired his taser while another officer fired one shot. In the dash cam video, it shows that Crutcher had his hands in the air, but it was very hard to see because he was surrounded by a wall of officers. A helicopter footage was taken from above showing that Crutcher was surrounded by officers but his movements were obscured. Crutcher was seen dropping to the ground after an officer called on the radio that he might have been tased. Immediately after, an …show more content…
Your statement clearly states that this shooting was unjustified because the system is corrupt and has always been towards people of color. Even with videotaped evidence the eyes of the American people remained unconvinced that this is not a systematic problem. The incident involving Crutcher could have easily been handled without the use of deadly force. Today’s officers are supposed to be professionals who know the rules and understand the need for proper conduct (Criminal Justice in America, Page 149). Officer Betty was the first to arrive on scene. Her dash cam was never activated which leads to missing evidence that could be very helpful in this ongoing
Police officers that racially profile, and kill innocent people based off of stereotyping and hate, should be held accountable for their actions. The police officer that shot and killed Oscar Grant did a total of 11 months in jail. He did less than a year. Oscar Grant’s family and loved ones grieved longer than the time that police officer did. It is not fair that people in a high position are treated differently. That police officer did not go to jail for a long time for the fact that he was a white police officer. The police officer said that he meant to pull out a Taser gun instead of the actual gun. That was when he was charged with involuntary manslaughter. Regardless if it was an accident or not, which it wasn’t, 11 months is not enough time for taking an innocent life. I believe people in higher and important positions should be held accountable even more than a regular citizen. This is because they are trained, and they have our lives in their hands. So when they abuse their power that should not be taken
The police officers who approach the suspects are risking their lives to protect the citizens, that is their job. Therefore, if an officer conducts an action out of impulse, it is not out of spite or prejudice, most of the time it is out of fear. Police officers are only human and as Professor Brown said, “Cops come from citizens… you guys (the class).” We, normal citizens, conduct mistakes on a daily basis; however, we do not possess the pressure of the world on our shoulders like police officers do. A scene where police relations is displayed at its finest in Crash is when Officer Tom Hansen picked up Peter Waters in his car. As Officer Tom Hansen used his discretion, he shot Peter Waters when Peter refused to show his hands and go into his pockets. Now in that instance, he might have not told Peter Waters he was an officer, but any reasonable person who were to be in that position would recognize the authority of an officer when Officer Tom Hansen said, “Put your hands where I can see them.” Peter Waters, in my opinion, was wrong for ignoring a stranger in his car, especially since he was hitchhiking. This goes to show that behind closed curtains, the full story cannot be revealed. As white officers kill minorities, riots arise; however, one cannot rely on the media for facts. What occurred at the scene is only between the victim and the suspect, and at times, witnesses; however, not all witnesses are confidential. Race relations, in my opinion, do exist; however, the minorities do not provide a better platform for themselves to be seen in, they continue their criminal activity and expect for the misconceptions to fade away. Race relations must be
In the Ferguson article (2015), there was an example given about an African American man claimed that he was standing outside of of Wal-Mart, an officer called him a “stupid motherf****r” and a “bastard.” According to the man, a lieutenant was on the scene and did nothing to reproach the officer, instead threatening to arrest the man (p. 80). This demonstrates that the police in Ferguson had no respect for the civilian and even though the lieutenant was present, they did nothing. The officer was not suspended nor held responsible for this incident. By failing to hold officers accountable, it sends a message that officers can behave as they like, “regardless of law or policy, and even if caught, that punishment will be light.” (Ferguson, 86). This message serves to excuse officer wrongdoing and heighten community distrust. This is also to say that police can possibly get away with murder because they are higher officials and work for the
On October 20, 2014 a young male teen was fatally shot in Chicago, Illinois. The shooting occurred in the middle of the road and the suspect that was fatally shot was named Laquan McDonald. McDonald was just 17 years old and was the suspect after initial reports placed him in the scene of a possible car jacking. It was reported that Laquan McDonald had a knife and was also seen slashing tires of a police cruiser. When police had finally had him surrounded in the middle of the road, one officer opened fire and released 16 shots into his body. Another deputy on hand said the use of force was not needed because Laquan was not in any way trying to attack the officers present. The officer who fired the 16 shots into Laquan is named Jason D. Van
Police are supposed to maintain the law, but how can you differentiate a police officer from a criminal when they themselves are breaking the law and killing innocent people. Police are not just killing people randomly, they are targeting African Americans. African Americans die at the hands of police more than white which proves that U.S. policies are discriminatory. In “Chicago police shot and killed 70 people, most of them black, in five years period ending in 2014” (Peter Katel 2016). Additional African Americans death by police is not just criminal but also innocent and unarmed African Americans. According to the article, African Americans account for only 6 percent of the U.S. population. Africans Americans are a small group, therefore, Africans American death should be small, but statistics have proven otherwise. As noted in the article 40 percent – 37 percent of the 90 unarmed deaths by police are African Americas males. This statistics shows that the deaths of Africans Americans are less than whites but when you compare the population of Africans America against whites in the U.S. it proves that African Americans are dying faster than white. Additional that proves that police are killing African Americans more than
The duty of a police officer is to protect the people with the laws and enforce them, not hurt the people. For all the African American women and men that have been killed by a police officer should be brought to justice. However, this is not the solution to the problem of police brutality in America. The solution to police brutality is the proper training and certification of police officers, so they understand how to handle various situations without using lethal weapons. For instance, Moore states that “extensive training for several weeks in patrol and observation, narcotics activities and community relations” (Moore, 2010) will lead to the solution of police brutality. Also, in order to dissolve the police brutality in America, America must recognize race as more than just one complexion and accept that people of color shouldn’t be dehumanized, but equal to their
“Never trust anyone who says they do not see color. This means to them, you are invisible.” The Police System needs to be fixed but it’s not going to accomplish in 1 day. In America, structural racism is every day. White Americans don’t see how dreadful Structural Racism is and how it affects people of color that are suffering from racism, police brutality, and inside of poverty. America is not aware of how serious structural racism is. Maybe they weren’t taught correctly or maybe they were taught to not care about it.
“Personally, everyone has racially profiled another person. But when cops do it it 's worthy of a public shaming. It 's a part of the job,” said Hall-Walker. “I don 't think its law enforcement vs. African Americans. Are cops killing blacks? Hell yea! Are they killing whites too? Hell yea! If a black cop shot an unarmed white person, the nation would be overturned with rage. The reason being: that isn 't the social norm. We 're used to the white police killing black Americans. The media does a great job at showing us what they want us to see!”
A video from a dash cam showed what seemed to prove the officer had liable reason to shoot the man but when audio was released with the video the perspective really came into view. In the video the man is seen stepping out of his car as the officer told him to do, but when the officer tells the man to get his license and he reaches in the car to grab it he is shot. The officer is heard telling the man to “put his hands up and get out of the car.” When the man was shot he had his hands in the air, with his wallet in hand. While the officer had the right to defend himself against a potential threat it was extremely unnecessary to shoot at the man. Thankfully the man was not killed in the shooting but the man’s lawyer stated that his client was not unhandcuffed until an officer remembered that he did not have his handcuffs and went to the hospital to retrieve them.
What most people would think is that only black men and women are killed by police officers. Yet this year there has actually been more white individuals killed by police officers than any other race. This is only a problem, because when you read about police killings it is almost all about how police target people of color. With this idea it makes it so that people of color feel more like a victim in the country and are then scared of police officers, who are supposed to be there to help. The statistic of white people being killed by police officers is not covered by the media, because it is not as intriguing or as controversial as the other stories. It is very important that people know that police killings as a whole is an issue not just police killing minorities. Using social imagination and looking at this problem you can see why you would not want one group to feel victimized, which would lead to them striking back at the people that are there to help
Police investigations of shooting that involve officers are based on facts not opinions. Detectives with years of experience investigate the case and the information is then turned over to a prosecutor. The problem with news coverage and the media is they let emotions get a hold of them for views. Whether a video depicting the shooting was shown or not it is not their job to decide who was in the wrong. Attitudes about the prevalence of racial profiling are susceptible to the way the media construct incidents of police misconduct (Graziano, Schuck & Martin
Today police officers are trained to kill. Steven Rosenfeld, a journalist in civil liberties for Alternet said, “The militarization of local police has been growing...They face few consequences for making mistakes, such as maiming or killing people” (Rosenfeld). This shows that the local police officers are trained with military tactics and receive no penalty for their wrong actions. Not only is there an increase in police brutality, it seems as if they are targeting specific nationalities. Tony Brown, a writer for Raw Story agrees by saying “young black males in recent years were at far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts”(Brown). Brown is blantly saying that the police seem to target one group to discriminate against. According to Brown it is 21 times greater chance for a black male to be killed over other
Throughout history there has been many problems involving racial profiling and police misconduct. Very rarely do police get the proper punishment for their wrong doings. One of the most recent cases was the Oscar Grant case. Oscar Grant was 22 years old when he was killed because of police misconduct. He was killed on New Year’s Day 2009 by Ex-BART cop Johannes Mehserle. This misconduct made the people of Oakland extremely angry because they lost one of their own. After the shooting many people around Oakland started protesting. This lasted for months on end because people were very angry. Bystanders videotaped the incident. This has been one of the most racially polarizing cases in California (Ravindhran).
Police brutality and racism are an ongoing problem in our country. It goes back hundreds of years with no sign of it stopping. Police officers have been abusing their power since they have been around. Abuse against African American males by white police officers is getting out of hand. Most officers face no punishment at, and all there is a special code that they follow. Officers follow The “Blue Code of Silence”, which is a code that means they look out for one another. Even with video recording devices, the news, and social media, these events still go on. African Americans take most of the abuse and it looks like there is no end to this. This is a reflection on our society, and it makes us look ignorant to what is going on around us.
History has shown that certain racial groups, especially Black and Latino have had a long, and poor relationship with the police largely due to socio-economic and racist discrimination in one way another. Race is a tremendous part when it comes to the fact of police brutality, but you only see something have a tremendous outbreak when it is the white officers assaulting someone of the opposite race. Maybe it isn’t always the race that comes to the problem but the fact that the citizen was doing something wrong. Then just because he or she is of a different race then all fingers are then pointed at the officer who was just trying serving justice. This is saying that it could go both ways, it isn’t always the cops at fault but that is what media has perceived it to be and has but a stereotype toward officers of the law. Maybe it was the civilian that has egged them on or threatened them. They do have a right to protect themselves, and sometimes that is exploited by the media and even the community at