Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
United states racism in the criminal justice system
The causes and effects of racial profiling in law enforcement
The causes and effects of racial profiling in law enforcement
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: United states racism in the criminal justice system
Fair and impartial policing is a way of policing that focuses to rid decision-making based on bias. There are two types of bias that are encountered in policing implicit and explicit. Explicit bias is the easier of the two to spot. If an officer sees a group of young African American men gathering in a group and decided to engaged them based on their skin color, this in explicit bias. The officer knows that no crime has occurred and knowingly interacts with them because he believes people of their skin color are criminals. An implicit bias is one that and officer may not be aware they are exercising. In a call about a person wielding a gun, the officer might scan a crowd focusing on the males to look for the gun. The officer has an unconscious
In the United States of America today, racial profiling is a deeply troubling national problem. Many people, usually minorities, experience it every day, as they suffer the humiliation of being stopped by police while driving, flying, or even walking for no other reason than their color, religion, or ethnicity. Racial profiling is a law enforcement practice steeped in racial stereotypes and different assumptions about the inclination of African-American, Latino, Asian, Native American or Arab people to commit particular types of crimes. The idea that people stay silent because they live in fear of being judged based on their race, allows racial profiling to live on.
In the New York Time Article by Timothy William, Inquiry to Examine Racial Bias in the San Francisco Police Department, first thing to remember known as implicit social cognition, implicit bias refer to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. Another key point to argument is that there is no systematic bias in the criminal justice base on race. To point out, in performing their policing duties, police officer are able to exercise a high degree of discretion. This means that they have a have a broad freedom to make decision about how to act on the given situation. For this reason some police officer deliberately use their wide power of discretion and their authority to perform
One discriminating practice used by police officers is racial profiling. This is the police practice of stopping, questioning, and searching potential criminal suspects in vehicles or on the street based solely on their racial appearance (Human Rights Watch, 2000). This type of profiling has contributed to racially disproportionate drug arrests, as well as, arrests for other crimes. It makes sense that the more individuals police stop, question and search, the more people they will find with reason for arrest. So, if the majority of these types of stop and frisk searches are done on a certain race then it makes sense that tha...
Although it is hard to not be bias when it comes to anything, it is possible to lessen occurrences of racial profiling. For instance, police agencies everywhere should have more training based on ethics and dealing with minorities as a joint class. Since America is a culture filled with white dominance and privilege, we should be more informed and made aware of how our actions affect and impact people of color. It is disappointing and disheartening to know that police brutality does occur and it frequently emphasizes the factor of race, the vast majority of these incidents involve African Americans. However, the rate of police brutality is not as high as we may think it is because we should also factor in media bias and how news outlets like to distort information that have obtained, in order to profit from them (ex. more viewers). We live in a world where live is unfair and it is extremely sad to know that black parents have to have the "talk" with their children about how to interact with the police, in fear of them becoming a potential target. In addition, police agencies should have stricter and not looser policies when it comes to officer conduct, so this can protect those individuals who are being regularly and constantly harassed by the police due to their skin color. It can be tough to implement this kind of policy because officers ' actions are not being
By law a fair trial consists of an unbiased trial, who hears the whole trial out before making a verdict. Many people condone racial profiling out of fear. A fair trial today is not possible due to racial profiling, the way the media presents the trials, and the way the jury is made up.
This essay will bring to light the problem of racial profiling in the police force and propose the eradication of any discrimination. The Fourth Amendment states “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Despite this right, multiple minorities across the country suffer at the hands of police officers through racial profiling; the singling out of a person or persons as the main suspect of a crime based on their race. Many people have also suffered the loss of a loved one because police believed the suspect to be a threat based on their races therefore the officers use their authority to take out the “threat”. Although racial profiling may make sense to police officers in the line of duty, through the eyes of the public and those affected by police actions, it is a form a racism that is not being confronted and is allowing unjust convictions and deaths.
Policing relies on the public trust, police legitimacy and accountability, which can be destroyed by unjustifiable police shootings (Squires and Kennninson, 2010). Within this country, there is a recognition that the police do not always adhere to the rule of law (Newburn and Reiner, 2012: 809), which has led to consistent public outrage at the lack of effectiveness and legitimacy the police has maintained. Therefore the deliberate decision to enforce police to attend to the streets unarmed was employed to reassure the public that the police were not to be feared (Waddington and Wright, 2010). Ultimately, concerns derive from the belief that the police are completely ineffective when dealing with gun crimes (Farrell, 1992: 20). However, whilst arming police with guns can act as a protector when on duty it can also cause an increase in police misconduct. This issue will be discussed throughout this essay.
The police chief selection is very interesting to me. Police chief of NYPD is Philip Banks III and he was selected in March 2013. The 26-year veteran of the force and former Chief of Community Affairs was officially installed as the Department's highest ranking uniformed officer in promotion ceremonies at Police Headquarters. I wanted to know how chiefs were selected and what they were selected based on. A Chief of Police is the title commonly given to the top official in leadership of a police division, especially in North America. Elective titles for this position incorporate Commissioner, Superintendent, and Chief constable. Rather than an Us Sheriff, who is for the most part chosen by the voters of a district, with the exception of in the states of Rhode Island and Hawaii, a Chief of Police is generally a civil representative who owes his or her fidelity to a city or town. The expected salary for a typical Police Chief is $97,822.
Police discretionary practices vary from officer to officer and every officer is differently trained by departments. Without the proper use of discretion out on the field, police officers are left open for legal suit actions however, if the officers are trained and exercising the use of discretion in a good manner, each individual officer can be held accountable. The second disadvantage of use of police discretion is that it allows the police officers to have too much power on making decisions which can affect the life, safety or liberty of an individual (Bargen, 2005). Police discretion presents a clear danger to society because the average officer can make a poor decision and affect the life of a person or persons. If discretion in law enforcement is used in a wrongful manner, it has great potential for being abused out of the field. Discretion allows police officers to “perform a duty or refrain from taking action” (Gaines & Kappeler, 2003, p. 251). Police officers are supposed to enforce equality under the law, people in society all should have equal rights and should be treated the same. However, discretion allows police officers to misuse it by treating offenders of different genders, race, class, ethnicity, religion, age and more inappropriately (Pepinsky, 1984). Law enforcement officers are
Just how much force is appropriate under various circumstances can be debatable. When an officer uses excessive force, he or she violates the law. Most brutality is directed against minority groups or otherwise powerless populations. Officers who engage in brutality rationalize their use of extralegal force, they claim they are punishing those groups that threaten to disrupt the social order. The importance of understanding racism in the context of police brutality cannot be underestimated. Many police officials automatically regard racial minority group members as potentially dangerous regardless of their particular activities, gestures, or attire. This perception of racial minority citizens as “trouble” sometimes translates into racially discriminatory police behavior. Most police officers expect citizens to always surrender to police authority. When citizens challenge it instead, some officers view such behavior as the unofficial crime of disobeying a police officer and use physical force to gain compliance. So what can be done to help prevent police brutality around our
Fairness when seeing an officer on the street. Not be quick to judge. Just because they see an officer on the street in uniform does not mean that he is bad and out to hurt them. They need to use clarity. Yes, Wilson shot and killed Brown but they need to know all the facts before making a decision on the situation.
A police officer is a law enforcement official whose job is to protect and serve all people, not to ignore racial equality. Because the U.S consists of many different races and ethnic groups, the ongoing conflict between police officers and citizens of color is constantly rising. Although police officers today are no longer allowed to have racial bias, which can be described as, attitudes or stereotype used against individuals of color to define their actions and decisions, officers sometimes abuse their authority going around racial impact tools and policies. This results in citizens viewing it as discrimination and mass criminalization. By changing the way laws and regulations unfairly impact Black and Brown communities can improve the justice
In order to have effective policing I believe integrity and ethics play a huge part in helping build trust within communities. Sound conduct by police improves community interactions, enhances communication, and promotes shared responsibility for addressing crime and disorder. There are three ways that police departments can strengthen community relationships just by training officers about procedural justice, bias reduction, and racial reconciliation. If we implement these concepts, we can create an environment in which effective partnerships between the police and citizens can flourish.
Police brutality is an act that often goes unnoticed by the vast majority of white Americans. This is the intentional use of “excessive force by an authority figure, which oftentimes ends with bruises, broken bones, bloodshed, and sometimes even death” (Harmon). While law-abiding citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been revealed that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve. According to the National Police Academy, in the past year, there have been over 7,000 reports of police misconduct; fatalities have been linked to more than 400 of these cases (Gul). Police brutality is often triggered by disrespect towards the police officer.
We see many accounts of police abusing and misusing their power. The corruption that it brings throughout the world is what starts an uprising. The corruption someone feels when they are given too much power is what is causing all of this dramatizing police business and creating an issue that no one can ignore. Yet, people are ignoring it all the same. There are small groups of people creating riots and acts, trying to put a stop to the abuse but they just fizzle out because they are overpowered and undermanned. The misuse of police power is a serious issue throughout social media and the world, police officers are wrongly abusing innocent people under the impression that they have committed some kind of crime and