Did you know the annually cost of police misconduct to taxpayers is 1.8 billion dollars? Police brutality has been a continuously debated topic for decades in America. The commonly use of police misconduct is the Unnecessary force of handling a situation, which in most cases leads to physical form such as beatings or even getting killed. In 2015, Unarmed black people are killed by police five times more than white people. The rise of killing of unarmed blacks by police officers struck an outrage throughout the country, causing massive protest which leads to movements like Black Lives Matter. Being interested in this topic I found Scholarly Journal, Interviews, Articles and documentaries about police brutality and the controversies within it.
This paper explores police brutality and the use of deadly force across our nation and the racial tension that follows and the people that have suffered from it. There have been several of cases of police brutality witnessed over the years. Although it has been noted as something that has been going on for decades, it seems as though recently it has been put back in the forefront and causing a huge controversy all over again as the media has begun to report it. It seems there has a flood of assaults on young African
When hearing the phrase “police brutality,” many people imagine batons cracking skulls, tasers electrocuting bodies and bullets penetrating innocent teens. While police officers have been known to use violence, police brutality does not occur as often as many believe. In many situations, officers have to act on impulse and curiosity, despite the backlash the media may create.
For many individuals, police brutality is a non-existent matter because it does not directly affect them or the community in which they live. Yet for others, this is an everyday occurrence and few limitations have been set as to what is unjust and malicious behavior of an officer towards the public, therefore, several officers are rarel...
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers
Police brutality is the considered use of unnecessary force, usually physical, carried out during law enforcement activities with the population. This type of behavior also includes verbal attacks and psychological intimidation by a police officer. Police brutality has an adverse effect on society, and it has lead to critical injury and even death. There are three different was to explain police brutality: the history, the reason, and the solution for it. The history, including the beginning or the first case of police brutality, the different police brutality through the times, and present day police brutality. The reason, including laws for police brutality, the cause of personal emotions or reaction of officers. The solution, involves protests,
Police misconduct is as rampant as ever in America, and it has become a fixture of the news cycle. Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. The media is inevitably drawn toward tales of conflict, hence why there are so many crime and police stories on the news. Despite the increasing frequency of misbehaving cops, many Americans still maintain a high respect for the man in uniform. Still, police misconduct is a systemic problem, not just an anecdotal one. Here are some reasons why it is a problem. First, many departments do not provide adequate training in nonviolent solutions. With this, police are unfamiliar with what to
Police corruption, misconduct, and brutality in the United States have been issues since the creation of watch system in the United States (Grant& Terry, 2012). New policy and training is now in place and the corruption, misconduct, and brutality has gone down since the beginning of policing. This is a huge issue that impacts all police organizations in the United States. The extent of police corruption, misconduct, and brutality is hard to track in the United States. A lot of these crimes go unreported, tossed aside, or the officer responsible gets little or no punishment. This is huge issue in the United States criminal justice system.
Police brutality remains one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States. The excessive use of force by police officers persists because of overwhelming barriers to accountability. This fact makes it possible for officers who commit human rights violations to escape due punishment and often to repeat their offenses. Police or public officials greet each new report of brutality with denials or explain that the act was an aberration, while the administrative and criminal systems that should deter these abuses by holding officers accountable instead virtually guarantee them impunity (Williams 45).
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.
Police brutality against minorities has been a problem over the years. Police brutality is the use of excessive physical force including beating citizens with hands or batons stun guns, teargas and even lethal weapons (Walter, 2014) Police brutality has caused severe physical harm over the year but it may also involve psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedures. Police brutality has been a major problem in many areas among law enforcement officers through the mistreatment of unarmed citizens. Although police brutality is illegal in many areas, many incidents of police brutality go unreported and prosecuted. The Police Misconduct Provision
Police brutality is one of the most serious human rights violations in the United States and it occurs everywhere. The reason why I chose this topic is because police brutality happens all the time in the United States and still remains unrecognized by many. Additionally, the public should be knowledgeable about this topic because of how serious this crime can be and the serious outcomes that police brutality can have on other police officers and the public. The job of police officers is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crimes. They are involved in very dangerous and stressful occupations that can involve violent situations that must be stopped and controlled by any means. In many confrontations with people, police may find it necessary to use excessive force to take control of a certain situation. Sometimes this makes an officer fight with a suspect who resists being arrested. Not all cops in communities are great cops. At least once a year, the news covers a story about a person being beat by an officer. The article “Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities” by Malcolm D. Holmes from the University of Wyoming, uses the conflict theory to explain why officers go after minorities sometimes causing police brutality. It explains the police’s tension with African American and Latino males. Those minorities are the ones that retaliate more against police officers which causes the officer to use violent force to defend themselves.
Chaney and Robertson, (2013) stated that “The Department of Justice office of Civil Rights has investigated more than a dozen police departments in major cities across the country on allegations of racial discrimination or police brutality”. Police brutality is defined as the use of excessive physical force or verbal assault and psychological intimidation. White police officers who grew up in the south and were raised to see African Americans in a negative way have a lower opinion of them. However, not all white police officers are from the south, some say that police officers are just abusing their power. When we look at what is going on around the country, it appears racism plays a part in police brutality. Even during this new digital age, there are video cameras in police cars facing the front of the vehicle, but that still does not hinder police using excessive
Law enforcement officers hold a unique position within society. Granted by laws, police officers are given authority to use force at their discretion to keep the communities they serve peaceful and safe. The severity of force at the disposal of law enforcement officials can range from minor actions such as restraint, all the way to terminal force with the use of an officer’s service weapon. It is this authority and the responsibilities that come with it that make the law enforcement profession highly visible and often scrutinized. This scrutiny and criticism has increased in the last 15 years, in large part due to an increase in police power and authority, as well as to social media (Waxman, 2009). For instance, technological advances in cell phones, citizens have the ability to video record their and others’ interactions with police. It is often the instances of force used by police that end up on the evening news or distributed through social media. One such example is the use of pepper spray and bullying tactics by University of California, Davis police during the Occupy movement in late 2011. These acts were inflicted on non-violent, peaceful protestors and could be viewed not only on television, but through the internet as well (Rodriguez, 2012).
Walsh & Conway(2011) suggested standards of police should be to implement transparency be responsive and maintain professional, human rights. The black people and lower class people face this violence in form of deadly force and shootings. In the 2011 publication, Gabbidon, Higgins & Potter suggested police to be more corrupt, unfair , harsh and cruel against black people.The police needs to be accountable to its community and department but by doing these kind of acts they are felt to be unsafe in the smaller communities. The brutality lead to push the black people to slavery in many countries by enforcing racial discrimination on them. In the past brutality was done by police in situations of racial discrimination which is still going on at many places to preserve power of upper class white people and for political purposes. This practice of brutality has a strong effect on minority groups like the blacks. If it is observed in a legal context police brutality is an abuse in law enforcement where a police officer has an upper hand because of the uniform they are wearing and the firearms they use which cannot be used by an ordinary individual. Examples of police brutality can be taken from the United States of America where in reality the black people are being discriminated by violating
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.