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Police misconduct and its effects
Race discrimination in the police force
Police misconduct and its effects
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This question asked which of the groups receive the most and least unequal treatment by the police. This question seems very biased against the police as it already assumes that all police treat people different because of their race, sex, or sexual orientation. I am currently a Patrol Lieutenant at the Knoxville Police Department, where I have been employed the last 18 years, and I take pride that I treat everyone the same no matter their color, age, sex, sexual orientation, or class. My department does not condone or put up with mistreatment of anyone or group and has really been pushing cultural diversity for the last ten years. New recruits spend a whole day with a panel of diverse residents from the community and interact with them. Any …show more content…
So, for the remainder of my answer I will show results from various studies and articles and give a final opinion of them at the end. In the issue of race as a factor in unequal or bad treatment by the police, Walker (2012, p. 585) states, “The role of race in criminal laws was a direct affront to blacks’ freedom and dignity and in today’s society many states continue to impose harsher penalties on blacks for assaults on whites, than on whites committing the same offenses.” Walker (2012) also believes that many think police are always the good ones and minority men are the offenders and when the police killed someone, it had to be for a good reason. This might have been believed in the past, but most sure do not believe this in the present time. Another idea brought up by Walker
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
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
In the videos all over the news and internet we have seen numerous cases of innocent lives of black people in the United States being taken. It was found that “nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in 2015 were identified as unarmed, though the actual number is likely higher due to underreporting” (“Police Killed More”). While about 33% of victims have been unarmed, for some reason these officers’ first instincts were to pull out their guns and shoot. These instincts are likely attributed to these officers’ past experience with violent black criminals; yet, what about their experiences with violent white criminals? Why don’t we hear about innocent, unarmed white lives being taken by the police force? It’s because it’s much less likely to happen. According to 2015 reports, unarmed blacks were killed five times faster than whites (“Police Killed More”). Also, based on a project by The Guardian, “black males between the ages of 15 and 34 are nine times more likely to be killed by police than any other demographic” (Craven). This evidence shows that safe to say that because there aren’t really any stereotypes on white people to be violent, the officers don’t initially think to pull out their guns and shoot. Stereotypes attached to young black males such as being violent thugs and criminals are the only logical explanation or excuse for
There is considerable evidence that minorities and police are not in agreement on many issues, and the blame is being shifted from all parties involved. The police feel that they are fair in their treatment of minorities, but the evidence in many instance prove otherwise. When we view articles on the arrests of minorities versus whites, you will notice a variation in how various nationalities are treated. When reading the newspaper, you will see the photograph of a minority with previous criminal history and other issues outlined. This to me is done to paint a picture that shows the accused is already known for violating the law.
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...
Undoubtedly race and ethnicity plays a key role in whether perceptions of law enforcement is positive or negative. Most of the research presented finds that police contact with white’s vs blacks shapes their attitudes. Although contact with police plays a role, it is not the only component. Perceptions of police not only come from contact with police officers but from hearsay and media portrayal. As stated by (Callanan & Rosenberger, 2011) “most citizens are probably not likely to establish their opinions of law enforcement solely based on an occasional encounter, but also from other sources of information about the police, which for most members of the public is chiefly derived from the media.” Also, minorities are more likely than whites to believe that minorities are treated worse by police, and minority communities receive inferior police services (Graziano, Schuck & Martin 2010).
The justice system is in place in America to protect its citizens, however in the case of blacks and some other minorities there are some practices that promote unfairness or wrongful doing towards these groups. Racial profiling is amongst these practices. In cases such as drug trafficking and other criminal acts, minorities have been picked out as the main culprits based off of skin color. In the article “Counterpoint: The Case Against Profiling” it recognizes racial profiling as a problem in America and states, “[In order to maintain national security] law-enforcement officers have detained members of minority groups in vehicles more than whites”…. “these officers assume that minorities commit more drug offenses, which is not the case” (Fauchon). In relationship to law enforcement there has also been many cases of police brutality leaving young blacks brutally injured, and even dead in recent years, cases such as Michael Brown, Dontre Hamilton, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Freddy Gray just to name a few. Many of these young men were unarmed, and the police involved had no good justification for such excess force. They were seen as threats primarily because of their skin color. Despite the fact this nation is trying to attain security, inversely they are weakening bonds between many of its
To illustrate, majority of blacks are stop by police more than any other racial groups. Police brutality is base on ethnicity. Officers seem to target black communities for many reasons. Racist cops might view blacks as less innocent compared to whites. Growing up as an African American you witness hearing your parents telling your male siblings to respect officers and to interact with them differently than they would do their families and friends. After the fatal shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The public wanted justice because the incident was not handled properly. The people wanted to express their concerns. After this incident I remember more allegation from black communities begin surfacing that the police use excessive force against them,
Disparate treatment is a form of discrimination that is prohibited by laws in which all employers must comply, including fire and emergency services. Disparate treatment in the workplace is applicable to many functions of the workplace, including, discipline, promotions, hiring, firing, benefits, layoffs, and testing (Varone, 2012). The claim of disparate treatment arises when a person or group “is treated differently because of a prohibited classification” (Varone, 2012, p. 439). In the 2010 case, Lewis v. City of Chicago, six plaintiffs accused the city of disparate treatment following testing for open positions within the Chicago Fire Department (Lewis v. City of Chicago, 2010). The case is based on the argument that the Chicago Fire Department firefighter candidate testing, which was conducted in 1995, followed an unfair process of grouping eligible candidates, therefore discriminating against candidates of African-American descent.
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
In today’s society, police officers are very cautious on how much force they can use on a suspect due to the police brutality going on right now. Police brutality is defined as the use of force exceeding what is necessary, many people argue that there should be new policies to determine how much force a police officer can use and also have laws that will convict officers who have killed people by using too much force, so that there is less incidents in the future.
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
Weitzer, Ronald, and Steven A. Tuch. "Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct." JSTOR. Aug. 2004. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
“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.
A complaint is a criticism or accusation expressed by someone who has experienced a particularly adverse happening, thing or fact. Any such aggrieved person may submit a complaint to the Station House Officer under whose jurisdiction the police station of the locality where the incident has taken place. A complaint may be of a public or private nature. Anyone can walk into a police station and lodge a complaint, and it is not true that only an aggrieved person can file a police complaint. In certain cases, such as those of Rape & Accidents, the victim is often not fit enough to personally come to the police station to lodge the complaint due to trauma, stress and fear. In all such cases, any individual having the information of