Excessive Force Theory

Unnecessary excessive force by police officers is how most people would define police brutality. However, everyone can interpret the term ‘excessive force’ differently. The absence of a true definition raises issues between police officers and the citizens of a community (Alpert & Smith, 1994). Violence regarding police brutality is not something that is new. Recently, many cases have been brought forth. Many communities are trying to find causes and similarities between different cases. Researchers are providing theories as to why a police officer may find the need to use excessive force. Attitudes of citizens towards police officers, and media conception all come into play. Behaviors of police officers can be assessed through a sociological theory and a psychological theory. Sociological theories are based on previous confrontations that police officers have had with citizens. Positive or neutral encounters will most likely lead to positive or neutral encounters in the future and vise versa. Negative encounters will more often than not lead to negative encounters in the future. The …show more content…
There is an obvious ‘racial divide’ among the non-white citizens and their white law enforcement officers (Eschholz, Blackwell, Gertz, & Chiricos, 2002). Non-whites are also more likely to be arrested for the same crime as a white person. This is where the sociological theory comes into play. Non-whites tend to be more disrespectful towards a police officer than a white person making the possibility of arrest greater. If a citizen is able to see how another citizen has been treated by a police officer, their attitude about police officers in general can be negative. Videotaped footage has negative influences on citizens (Jefferis, Kaminski, Holmes, & Hanley, 1997). The public perception of the law enforcement as a whole is also influenced by what people see and hear on