Law enforcement agencies have significantly changed over the past several decades and they will only continue to change as time goes by. The new technological advances that have occurred over the past several years have allowed agencies to adopt newer and more efficient gadgets. One of these new gadgets that many law enforcement agencies have adopted is the stun gun. According to Michael D. White and Justine Ready from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, there are over 8,000 law enforcement agencies that have adopted the stun-gun (pg. 1, 2007). Many of these agencies have adopted the stun gun because they are more efficient and effective when compared to previous methods of less lethal force. Some of the previous methods of less lethal force
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Stun guns work by releasing two electrified darts that attach to a subject in order to temporarily immobilize him /her. The electric charge deployed by the stun gun may vary in power depending on the brand and size of the device. One of the main reasons why law enforcement agencies have adopted the stun gun is because it effectively stops a subject. During the time that the subject is being electrified their muscle movement is disabled, which allows officers to make a clean …show more content…
According to a research study done by Amnesty International more than 300 people have lost their lives after being tased by a stun gun (White, 2009, P.1). Their research study analyzed all stun gun related incidents within a four year period and the results reveal that countless people have been injured, apart from the more than 300 hundred that have died. These numbers are alarming and should be taken more seriously by law enforcement agencies. The fact that people are losing their lives should not be overlooked because of the high effectiveness that stun guns provide when arresting incompliant people. Previous nonlethal devices that police officers used were less effective when compared to the stun gun, but they did not kill as many people as the stun guns has today. If law enforcement agencies continue to use these devices the number of injuries and fatalities will only continue to grow as time goes by. Some research studies have argued that the fatalities are not solely correlated to the electric charge of the stun gun. There are several other factors that play a huge role in the fatalities. For example, Strote Jared mentioned that out of 37 autopsy reports “Cardiovascular disease was found in 54.1%. Illegal substance use was found on toxicology screening for 78.4%; within that group, 86.2% were found to have
Stun guns work by releasing two electrified darts that attach to a subject in order to temporarily immobilize him /her. The electric charge deployed by the stun gun may vary in power depending on the brand and size of the device. One of the main reasons why law enforcement agencies have adopted the stun gun is because it effectively stops a subject. During the time that the subject is being electrified their muscle movement is disabled, which allows officers to make a clean …show more content…
According to a research study done by Amnesty International more than 300 people have lost their lives after being tased by a stun gun (White, 2009, P.1). Their research study analyzed all stun gun related incidents within a four year period and the results reveal that countless people have been injured, apart from the more than 300 hundred that have died. These numbers are alarming and should be taken more seriously by law enforcement agencies. The fact that people are losing their lives should not be overlooked because of the high effectiveness that stun guns provide when arresting incompliant people. Previous nonlethal devices that police officers used were less effective when compared to the stun gun, but they did not kill as many people as the stun guns has today. If law enforcement agencies continue to use these devices the number of injuries and fatalities will only continue to grow as time goes by. Some research studies have argued that the fatalities are not solely correlated to the electric charge of the stun gun. There are several other factors that play a huge role in the fatalities. For example, Strote Jared mentioned that out of 37 autopsy reports “Cardiovascular disease was found in 54.1%. Illegal substance use was found on toxicology screening for 78.4%; within that group, 86.2% were found to have