African Americans Suffer the Most From Police Brutality

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Recommended: Racial discrimination and police brutality

Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict defines police brutality as the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police against the public. Excessive force is explained to be any behavior or force beyond what is reasonably necessary in order to control a situation. It is a common misnomer that people believe some police use excessive force more often than not. What’s more concerning is most of the time people believe that this excessive force is usually focused upon the African American men, women, and children. This misnomer is typically found to be found in city settings where the population consists of mostly African Americans. The population make up causes the common belief to seem more true than it may otherwise appear.

Americans know that some police are guilty of police brutality. Unfortunatly, this is simply reality. The real question however is do police tend to focus on any one group in particular or does external factors only make it appear that way? Do officers that are sworn to protect the public actually want to use excessive force against any specific group other than criminals? Or is it just the imagination, creating a vision of police brutality on a specific group due to circumstances outside of police control? Fitzgerald, S (2007) “Police Brutality”. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press

In S. Fitzgeralds book “Police Brutality” he discusses police brutality from both opposing viewpoints. Police have made great improvements in reducing crime and use of deadly force, but not without a cost. A decrease in the use of deadly force by police and reduction of crime in the community has been proven over time. However, unfortunately police misconduct is still a problem. The fact of 30 less people bei...

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... it is no wonder that minorities seem to be abused more than Caucasians. As the first source of information suggests there is a larger population of minorities in those areas than in other areas where citizens’ behavior is better due to the removal of crime and criminal opportunities.

Works Cited

Beasley, M. (2007, July 5). Arrests and accusations. New York Amsterdam News. pp. 3-28.

Chevigny, P. “Police Brutality.” Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict . Vol.2 (2008:1612–1621)

Fitzgerald, S (2007) “Police Brutality”. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press

Hendrix, N. (2013). Experience Criminal Justice. 1221 Avenue of Americas, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Jefferis, E., Butcher, F., & Hanley, D. (2011). Measuring perceptions of police use of force. Police Practice & Research, 12(1), 81-96. doi 10.1080/15614263.2010.497656

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