...Police brutality has been around for decades, gradually creating animosity between both officers and the public. The public views the police force negatively, mostly due to the “1991 videotaped beating of Rodney King by L.A.P.D. officers, and subsequent riots triggered by the acquittal of the officers involved,” which captured the public’s attention and raised troubling questions regarding the limits of legitimate police authority (Gates). Do these events only occur in particular police departments or are they extreme examples of a general problem plaguing police departments across the United States? Does the fact that such abuse often involves minority victims reveal the way that law enforcement officers treat members of certain racial,...
Words: 256 - Pages: 2
...Police brutality “Most middle class whites have no idea what it feels like to be subjected to police who are routinely suspicious, rude, belligerent, and brutal” said Benjamin Spock. Many minorities areexposed to police brutality. Police brutality is the deliberate use of excessive force, usually physically, carried out during law enforcement activities with the population. Police officers are supposed to serve and protect the people in the society. Over the years officers have abused their rights by assaulting citizens, even if they are not guilty. Many citizens, especially minorities, whohave been attacked are left physically scared as well as being emotionally scared. In some instances, police brutality has caused death to other citizens....
Words: 601 - Pages: 3
...Police brutality is widely held to have become a serious problem in recent decades in many countries. It is a subset of unjustified shootings, severe beatings, and abuse. The number of deaths and injuries is getting high from police abuse has directed our attention to the need all reasonable steps to ensure a safe society for people. There are many factors for the occurrence of police brutality. The most common factors are racial profiling, prejudices, and the pressure of work. Government laws try to prevent these factors from endangering the police in the working environment. I believe that police brutality is not only a United States problem, but also a global problem that quickly needs to be resolved. The definition of police brutality is...
Words: 1824 - Pages: 8
...Mikayla Monroe Mrs. Purdie English 3 honors 16 November 2015 Police Brutality On March 3, 1991, four LAPD officers brutally beat an American taxi driver by the name of Rodney King. King was believed to be highly intoxicated during the arrest and the officers believed using extremely excessive force would help. The study of police brutality can be used to help further inform the reader of steps they can take to prevent it. For example, the beating of triggered many riots two years later, resulting in more than fifty people losing their lives. However, the people believed that Rioting would help diminish the aspect of police brutality. This topic is important because it shows how police officers believe that they are superior to citizens and they can do anything they please....
Words: 909 - Pages: 4
...I. Introduction What is Police brutality? Police brutality is the use of “excessive and/or unnecessary force” by police when dealing with civilians. Police brutality can be present in number of ways. The most obvious form of police brutality is a physical form. Police officers can use nerve gas, batons, pepper spray, and guns in order to physically intimidate or even intentionally hurt civilians. Police brutality can also take the form of false arrests, verbal abuse, psychological intimidation, sexual abuse, police corruption, racial profiling, political repression and the improper use of Tasers. Nowadays, many countries have laws which address police brutality. Under these laws, police brutality is seen as a very serious offense and investigated by a commission of district attorneys. Unfortunately, even with the law covering police brutality, many complaints made by civilians about excessive use of force are not investigated. Researchers suggest that it happens because the police have the authority to use force when necessary, and, often, it is difficult to prove that police brutality has taken place. More police officers now constantly record all interactions with civilians. Later on the recorded conversations can be reviewed in the case of an investigation. Even though racial profiling still exists, anyone regardless of race, gender or age can become a victim of police brutality. If a person experienced police misconduct, he or she needs to write down the names of all witnesses...
Words: 3596 - Pages: 15
...Rice, Marlene Pinnock, Dontre Hamilton, Ezell Ford, Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley, Freddie Gray, and Tony Robinson are just some of the many unarmed African Americans killed by the police within recent years. Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between the World and Me, discusses these injustices. He addresses these topics to his son, Samori. He also discourses his memoir towards white Americans so he can bequeath awareness about what it is like to grow up African American. Coates discussed growing up as an African American in the Baltimore projects. He argues about the inequalities of the public-school system and about white Americans stuck in “the Dream” (Coates 11). “The Dream” is the ingroup favoritism of white...
Words: 1552 - Pages: 7
...Police is a very important job. When a police officer does something like beating or just not treating a civilian with respect it make the community think if they are really save. Unethical police officer can affect how the ethical police officer is treated. Police corruption has always existed and most likely will always exist. As well as misconduct, police officers are not always perfect and sometime misbehave because of the stress of their jobs. There are many ways that a person can define police corruptions. Herman Goldstein defined police corruptions as “acts involving the misuse of authority by a police officer in a manner designed to produce personal gain for himself or for others” (Washington DC: The Police Foundation, 1975, p. 3). Police corruptions has two key elements, one is the misuse of authority, the second to personal gain. A gratuity is a type of corruption that police are involved in. Gratuities are the type of corruption in which an officer will receive something free or a discount on purchases. Amazingly there are some police departments that prohibit gratuities and there are others that do not prohibit it. Another type of police corruption is police receiving bribes. An example of bribe is, when a police officer receives money for not giving a traffic ticket. Theft and burglary is yet another type of police corruption. Brutality and corruption is an important issue. An example of brutality and corruption is, when officers would beat and steal drugs from...
Words: 909 - Pages: 4
...“Police Brutality is out of hand” Police brutality is well known across hundreds of nations all over the world. Police brutality has been around for several centuries and has a very important meaning in the lives of many. The definition of police is the civil force of a national or local government, responsible for the prevention and detection of a crime and the maintenance of public order. Yet people have witnessed police taking advantage of their authority and not following the rules a policeman should follow. They are supposed to protect and keep trouble out of the cities. Police brutality needs to come to an end; this has always been a problem. They hurt people for no reason, arrest them when they haven't done anything wrong, and they get away with what they do. Police brutality...
Words: 834 - Pages: 4
...In the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” racism plays a big role. In the 1960’s racism was a huge issue in society and till this day it still is. It is now 2017 and cops play the biggest role in racism because they feel the need to target black people. For example, a young black teenager was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch leader in Florida. This young adult had done nothing wrong and he was unarmed. Trayvon Martin and Tom Robinson both were innocent black men that did nothing wrong and were killed. As shown in the book when the town found out that Tom was killed the people of Maycomb showed sympathy for about two days and after that went back to their daily tasks. For example “ Maycomb was interested by the news of Tom’s death for...
Words: 395 - Pages: 2
...Excessive or unnecessary use of force when dealing with citizens is what police brutality is defined as(Police Brutality). The term “police brutality” has been used since 1872 when the Chicago Tribune reported the beating of a civilian that was under arrest. There have been countless cases where unarmed African Americans have been shot or physically harmed to the extent where they are killed when the citizen is unarmed. The police force is supposed to make America feel protected and should enforce the nation’s law. Officers should be prime examples for the youth of the nation. Throughout the years it seems police has especially targeted minorities. Citizens are being mistreated because of wrongful assumptions made by police officers. Police...
Words: 1377 - Pages: 6
...manipulating race: Perceptions of police brutality in an arrest: A research note. Justice Quarterly, 14(3), 577-586. Levin gather information from Northeastern University. Levin set up an experiment in order to discover the effects of race of the law enforcement on opinions of police brutality. Levin provided three videotapes, each showing a black male suspect being arrested by two different race police officers. One version of the tape then was watched by each randomly assigned subject, 28 white and 33 black Northeastern University students. Both black and white subjects were significantly more likely to see violence and illegality when both arresting officers were white. The outcome points...
Words: 1152 - Pages: 5
...Fernandez PANEL TEAM DISCUSSION RESPONSES 1. Do you believe that the media plays a role in how families and the community perceive law enforcement after highly energized brutality event between the police and a minority member? Explain your answer Yes, the media like any other Television show makes their money when people tune in and watch the broadcast. So how can the media make the story more appealing to the public? They tailor the truth to fit the audience that is tuning in. For example Telemundo, a popular Spanish channel. When dealing with issues of immigration or Border Patrol they paint the Border Patrol as always in the wrong. Any time a Border Patrol agent gets in a shooting and kills a Hispanic member of the community. Telemundo will with holds facts and only puts out facts that will paint the victim as a saint. Why? The majority of people that tune in to Telemundo are Hispanic. Question pulled from the article "Police Brutality in America" at: http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/07/police-brutality-in-america/ 2. Why do you believe minority groups, families, and the community react so quickly and with such a strong beliefs of guilt, immediately after a police brutality event when the facts of the event are not known? Two reasons why this happens. One the past has showed that police brutality did and does happened. In the past due to racism it happened a lot more. The officer received no training in different culture that would allowed them to do their jobs...
Words: 648 - Pages: 3
...Assignment 2 Police Brutality Police abuse continues to be one of the most serious and harsh human rights violations in minority communities. However, it is particularly interesting that such violence and viciousness by police officials has managed to go unnoticed within the justice system and overlooked for so long. Police officers have too much control and power and they sometimes abuse their authority. The excessive use of force used by police officers continues because of barriers of immunity which make it possible for officers who commit such brutal acts to escape punishment and often to repeat their offenses. Police brutality is a serious problem and if this barbarity by police officers is allowed to continue, the citizens in these communities will not only need protection from criminals, but the police that are recruited to protect and serve our communities. In recent months, citizens in urban communities worry about protecting themselves from criminals and now have to keep an attentive focus on those who are there to protect and serve. Police brutality not only affects the officer involved, the victim of the beating and those who witness the incident, but the minority community as a whole. It changes the way communities and the individual citizens view police officers and the authority they uphold. Often these citizens are unsure of the rights they have against such cruel acts of violence which forces them to endure excessive force and the thin line that police officers...
Words: 1268 - Pages: 6
...Police brutality is the use of excessive force by officers against civilians. The word “excessive” meaning more than is actually necessary. In today’s society police brutality has almost become an every month occurrence. It seems as if every month there is a different case of police brutality being flashed across our television screens. Police Brutality is very detrimental in our society today because it start riots, upset citizens, and implement fear of future incidents in the hearts of civilians. Just the thought of police brutality saddens citizens all across the country. There has been many cases where officers who were accused of committing police brutality have been pardoned by the judge. Majority of those incidents resulted in citizens...
Words: 1789 - Pages: 8
...nearly 4000 arrests made that week.On Wednesday August 11th, 1965, Marquette Frye was driving down the road when he was stopped by police officers on suspicion of driving under the influence. Frye was pulled out of his car with excessive force and taken into police custody. Surrounding people noticed this arrest taking place. Word soon spread that yet another black male was taken into police custody with excessive force by police. After these events, from August 11th through August 18th there were multiple riots in the predominantly black Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. These were the most fatal riots in the LA history (before the Rodney...
Words: 1027 - Pages: 5
