There has been increased interest in the deaths of United States citizens while in the custody of officers of the peace. The news seems to purport epidemic levels of arrest related deaths, suggesting a dramatic increase in the number of individuals killed by police officers. Furthermore, the news reports appear to insinuate that minority groups disproportionately bear the brunt of the affects of this dramatic escalation. These veiled assertion are not borne out by the data, however the illumination of this issues does warrant further consideration. The foundational question this article seeks to address is this; is the frequency of arrest related deaths contingent upon some external aggravating factor? Alternatively, is the frequency of arrest-related …show more content…
A linear regression model will be utilized for this analysis. Linear regression models assists researchers in understanding the direction of an assumed linear relationship between variables. Simply, it suggests if the relationship is positive or negative. One hypothesis was tested. This hypothesis states that states with higher frequencies of homicides will be more likely to experience increased arrest related deaths. The dependent variable is arrest related deaths, while the independent variable is frequency of homicides. The data expresses that for each additional one unit increase in homicides arrest related deaths increase by .023. We are assured of this value due to a significance score of .000, well below our threshold of .05. Therefore, this hypothesis is …show more content…
However, there are some analyses that were ran that warrant stating. A linear regression was utilized comparing arrest-related deaths and percentage of African Americans within a state. The results were inconclusive due to a significance score well above the maximum threshold of acceptance. However, this raises a question. If the sample size were the actual population, would that reduce the p-value to an acceptable level? Additionally, in retrospect, higher quality variables could have replaced many in this exercise. If this exercise were recreated, variables such as poverty levels within states and frequency of police encounters would be utilized. Nevertheless, there is solace in knowing the ancillary variables chosen exhibit no interconnection with arrest-related
Because of budget constraints, the study only used one beat to collect data on the effects of increasing police patrol. Even though money was an issue, the experiment could have yielded better data by repeating the experiment multiple times to see if the data they collected would be reliable. The experiment also took place during the winter. The report of the study even noted that there was some evidence that crime activity levels declined, just as street activity does, because of colder weather. Although the design of the study contained weaknesses, some of the methods used by the researchers worked well for this type of study. One of the strengths of this experiment was the different methods used to acquire illegal guns in the beat. By using a variation of ways to seize illegal weapons in the “hot spot,” it allowed officers to increase their chances of finding more illegal guns. Using different methods of search also could have led to greater number of potential offenders to know that officers were looking for illegal weapons and refrained from offending. Another strength of the study includes the relatively inexpensive method to try to answer their hypothesis. Increasing police patrol is one of the more inexpensive methods and it did manage to decrease the number of gun crimes and homicide in the
“A report by the United States General Accounting Office in 1990 concluded that 82 percent of the empirically valid studies on the subject show that the race of the victim has an impact on capital charging decisions or sentencing verdicts or both” (86).
For this paper there are many current events in the united states and across the world that directly correlate with my literature I am reviewing. What I was chosen to research, or what my research question ended up being was. In what situation can a police officer use lethal or deadly force. There are many variables and situational characteristics that play into how police officers handle high risk violent encounters. for instance, some variables could be how the police officer was trained, public attitudes towards police officers, psychological makeup of the police officer, previous or current behaviors of the police officer, the police officer current mental state, also previous incidents with police officers having to use lethal or deadly force. This topic is very challenging because there is not as much
According to Dr. Carl S. Taylor, the relationship between minority groups and police in the United States has historically been strained. Some cities have a deep and bitter history of bias and prejudice interwoven in their past relationships. The feeling in many communities today is that the system pits law enforcement as an occupying army versus the neighborhood. Dr. Taylor wrote about easing tensions between police and minorities, but stated “If there is any good news in the current situation, it is that the history of this strain has found the 1990’s ripe for change.
Wodarz, Dominik, and Natalia L. Komarova. "Dependence of the Firearm-Related Homicide Rate on Gun Availability: A Mathematical Analysis." PLoS ONE 8.7 (2013): 1-13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 15 June 2015.
Many people claim that racism no longer exists; however, the minorities’ struggle with injustice is ubiquitous. Since there is a mass incarceration of African Americans, it is believed that African Americans are the cause of the severe increase of crimes. This belief has been sent out implicitly by the ruling class through the media. The media send out coded messages that are framed in abstract neutral language that play on white resentment that targets minorities. Disproportionate arrest is the result of racial disparities in the criminal justice system rather than disproportion in offenders. The disparities in the sentencing procedure are ascribed to racial discrimination. Because police officers are also biased, people of color are more likely to be investigated than whites. Police officers practice racial profiling to arrest African Americans under situations when they would not arrest white suspects, and they are more likely to stop African Americans and see them as suspicious (Alexander 150-176). In the “Anything Can Happen With Police Around”: Urban Youth Evaluate Strategies of Surveillance in Public Places,” Michelle Fine and her comrades were inspired to conduct a survey over one of the major social issues - how authority figures use a person’s racial identity as a key factor in determining how to enforce laws and how the surveillance is problematic in public space. Fine believes it is critical to draw attention to the reality in why African Americans are being arrested at a much higher rate. This article reflects the ongoing racial issue by focusing on the injustice in treatment by police officers and the youth of color who are victims. This article is successful in being persuasive about the ongoing racial iss...
This paper was written to discuss the hot button topic, “Black Lives Matter.” Specifically, in regard to law enforcement. This has been an ongoing and controversial issue ever since the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. This is when the movement “Black Lives Matter,” was born, with the belief that blacks are treated unfairly by law enforcement. I, however, do not believe that blacks are treated any more unfairly by law enforcement than any other race.
In America, police brutality affects and victimizes people of color mentally and socially. Social injustice has become a major issue, which involves the principle of white supremacy vs minorities. The current police brutality that has been occurring is culturally disconnecting ethnicities from one another. According to Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, “.the cultural disconnect is very real; you have the weight of generations of abuse on African Americans,” (Flatow, 2016). For example, over the past four years, there have been countless acts of police brutality.
These authors’ arguments are both well-articulated and comprehensive, addressing virtually every pertinent concept in the issue of explaining racially disparate arrest rates. In The Myth of a Racist Criminal Justice System, Wilbanks insists that racial discrimination in the criminal justice system is a fabrication, explaining the over-representation of African Americans in arrest numbers simply through higher incidence of crime. Walker, Spohn and DeLone’s The Color of Justice dissents that not only are African Americans not anywhere near the disproportionate level of crime that police statistics would indicate, they are also arrested more because they are policed discriminately. Walker, Spohn and DeLone addi...
This year there's been a lot of brutalities. In fact, there have been at least 500 people killed by the police officers this year. In this article, we are going to be talking about police brutality against African Americans. We are also going to talk about the differences and similarities of different cases that have been in the news this year. For example, the Sandra bland, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and the Walter Scott cases. Also, we're going to talk about how these cases have affected the African American community.
Background and Audience Relevance: According to the Human Rights Watch 2012 report on Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States; police brutality has become one the most serious human rights violation. As citizens of the United States it is our duty to make sure that those with authority don 't take advantage of their power.
Although police officers sometimes accidentally take lives, more lives are saved than those mistakenly taken. If officers did not apply some force when opposed, people would have no reason to listen and obey the laws they enforce. Police would gain no respect from civilians, and many officers would end up dead. In many cases, such as Tyron Lewis in 1996 and Michael Brown in 2014, minorities believe that police are targeting certain races when they use a gun as a means to protect themselves. While many people without any law enforcement training think that an officer is only supposed to injure the suspect to stop them, officers are actually trained to use lethal force to stop a threat (Mitchell). Numerous cases of police brutality exist, but just because an officer uses lethal force does not mean it qualifies as brutality. Police brutality is when there is proof that an officer or officers meant to bring harm upon a suspect in custody or anyone in general (Champion). Many cops exist that have bad intentions, but for the most part, law enforcement officers join the force to help protect their communities and families. Lately, it seems that cases are always in the news about some sort of police brutality or riots caused by an officer shooting someone. In reality though, police hardly ever use force; the International Association of Chiefs of Police found that officers use force less than one percent of the time or less than four out of every ten-thousand calls they go out on (Champion). Law enforcement should be commended for their efforts of keeping their communities safe from harm, instead of being under constant attack. Most do this duty while still preventing harm of the
5. U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). 2010a. “Criminal Victimization in the United States, 2008 Statistical Tables.” Table 14. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC. http://www.bjs.gov/ content/pub/pdf/cvus08.pdf.
“People, including police officers, hold strong implicit associations between blacks, and probably Hispanics, and weapons, crime and aggression," said Jack Glaser. Police brutality statistics show that African Americans are three times more likely to be murdered by cops than any other race. Racial disparity in the United States is a coherent reason for the increase of criminal injustice in the United States. Whenever you hear about an African American being killed by the United States police, you never see All Lives Matter supporters protesting.
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.