Deadly Force Research Paper

The perception of deadly force has been viciously debated for the last two to three decades. American police officers are taught to use deadly force if they reasonably believe that an individual appears to be an imminent danger to themselves or others. However, what makes someone look like they are a great threat to others? Is it their race or the clothes they wear or even the way they present themselves?
Everyone knows that young African American males are most likely the ones to die due to the use of deadly force. According to Ryan Gabrielson from ProPublica, "The 1,217 deadly police shootings from 2010 to 2012... blacks, age 15 to 19, were killed at a rate of 31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males in that age range died at the hands of police". In my opinion, I think that it is simply berserk. If the statistics were the other way around we would be in a completely different situation. I am not saying that all police officers are racist or will kill an innocent young black male just to do it because I know only a minority of officers are making the mistakes that are giving the rest a bad reputation. Plus, we do not know the full truth, we only know what the media tells us. …show more content…
According to Olevia Boykin and Christopher Desir from The New York Times, “all races in America perceive black people as more aggressive and dangerous than white people. Studies show that black people are seen as being physically stronger and less prone to feeling pain than people of other races”. The fact people think that really shows their lack of common sense because the only difference between black people and people of other races is complexion. However, these racial biases that people contain can affect the way they think, judge, and act. So, the use of deadly force may seem unreasonable when dealing with a white person but may seem completely “reasonable” when a black