The main example in this chapter used is the shooting of an unarmed hispanic man in The Bronx by police in 1999. The example used caused a huge uproar in the country prior to its occurrence, protests about police brutality and racist police officers. This…
In the Text reading Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America. Afterword “Making Police Obsolete” author, Kristian Williams, did research on cases of Policing in the United States and overseas, where he says social movements responded to police brutality and abuse by taking on the responsibility of public safety in their community. Williams looked at examples of policing from the labor movement, the civil rights movement, Black Panthers, gang truces, and feminism in the US, and from the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa as well as the independence movement in Northern Ireland. Williams found as whole many countries outside of the United States adopted a more restorative or transformative model of justice, rather than the retributive…
In response to the deaths of Mike Brown (27 August 2014) and Ferguson (09 August 2014), many protests emerged throughout the nation. “The police response to the uprising was intended to repress and punish the population, who had dared to defy their authority” (155). As the daily protests went on, the police brutality of Ferguson increased as a result of “frustration that they {police} could not make the Black men and women of Ferguson submit” (156). The Ferguson rebellion became the “focal point for the growing anger in Black communities across the country” (157). The young people of Ferguson experienced daily harassment.…
Police brutality is becoming a major problem in today’s society. It has been an ongoing issue throughout the world. As society grows, the existence of police brutality become more of an issue. The issue posed by illegal use of power is ongoing reality for people of a disfavored race or sexual orientation. Police brutality remains as one of the most divisive human rights in the world.…
Nowadays, when a police officer gets involve in a shooting, peoples perception is skewed by the media and overall opinions. How many times do we see in the news, police officers shot a 15 year old kid carrying a toy gun? The media tends to focus on the headlines that would give them more viewers instead of the totality of the event. Robert Rangel, author of “The Red Dot Club,” wrote the book on the perception of police officers and what they felt, when they were involve in a shooting. From all the stories in the book, a couple of them stand out.…
Policing in Canada has progressed since the Code of Hammurabi in 1200 BC. The first police force was founded, and organized by Sir Robert Peel, where he came up with nine principles that police officers should follow (Griffiths, 2015). One of these principles were that “police [should] maintain public favour by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service, not by catering to public opinion” (Griffiths, 2015, p. 29). As a result, police officers should not be affected by the opinions of the power groups or the government. However, this is not the case.…
Racism was a massive problem that John Howard Griffin tried to bring knowledge to during the 1960’s. Griffin was a race specialist who realized he had no idea what racism really was. He was a white upper class citizen who’s job included understanding what racism was. Griffin decided to come up with an experiment that could help him understand what it was like to live a day in an African American’s life. Little did Griffin know that this experiment would change his life forever. !…
Police brutality is a very sensitive and controversial topic of discussion in the United States. Police brutality occurs when an officer uses excessive or unnecessary force when dealing with other people. Police have been under a microscope recently to make sure that their actions are necessary and appropriate for the situation that they are in due to the fact that there has been widespread media coverage of police brutality. This media coverage has allowed people to examine how police officers go about their business and determine whether or not they think that the police officer’s actions are just. Police brutality has been the cause for protest and the formation of movements such as “Black Lives Matter”.…
What most people believe about the police forces in the United States were seriously questioned after the LA riots occurred in 1992. The Los Angeles Riots were one of the most famous cases ever of police brutality and abuse of power. When four white LAPD beat Rodney King, a video of the beatings went viral and started a highly public rebellious riot. Many people felt that the police went way overboard and abused their power; it was also believed by many minorities that the beating was racially driven. The LAPD took things way too far in the situation regarding Rodney King.…
Police is a system of public services and institutions aimed at maintaining public order as well as protecting civilians. However, they automatically fail to do so when the legally-given right to use force in certain exceptional circumstances is abused. This paper looks at previous cases of police violence used against citizens of the United States and analyzes different theories that explain the causes of this misconduct. In addition, it discusses whether ethnic and racial minorities are more likely to be subjected to the police brutality. Besides the race and ethnicity, it talks about other personal characteristics that place a regular citizen in the role of a potential victim of the police aggression.…
Racial Profiling Leading to Police Brutality Police brutality is a problem because innocent people are getting hurt and/or killed by the very same people who took an oath to protect and serve the people of America. We need to speak up and tell the district they are working for to let America know that this is not okay. They are regular people just like the rest of us so they shouldn't get special recognition just because they work for the people. Police brutality has and remains to be a really big issue in the United States for many years but many people are barley noticing it because of the media attention it’s been getting over the years. Racial profiling is a problem because in most cases it leads to police brutality and we need to let the…
Policing in America today has grown to become a one-of-a-kind economic, social and political force. In order to recognize how policing in the United States of America relates to the existing relationship between the police and the distinct social classes and ethnic groups, one needs to understand how the history of policing has developed in order to emerge as what it is currently. This paper will discuss the background history of the United States of America police as it relates to the current relationship between police and different ethnic groups and social class. This will help to have a better perception of how the different social classes and ethnic groups relates with the police.…
In the United States, police legitimacy has grown to become one of the most prevalent issues in the national dialogue. With the recent occurrences in the country, research has continuously indicated that minorities are increasingly questioning the legitimacy of the powers of the police against citizens. Indeed, police legitimacy stems from the constitution. In the creation of a Leviathan, the people, through the constitution gave up their individual powers to the government to administer their legitimacy for them. It is from this grand norm that the government deemed it proper to exercise its mandate for the protection of its people against the threat posed by the dangerous elements in the country.…
New York: Urban Institute Press, 2010. Print. The source by Walker offers a comprehensive review of literature of the history of political reformation and public criticism related to police discretion in the United States since the 1960s. It is important noting that Walker, in the source, relies a lot on the research work of Fyfe, and he offers empirical evidence aimed at showing the inadequacy of the conventional approach to controlling the discretion of the police, in mitigating the unnecessary police shooting of racially segregated and unarmed persons. The findings of the study…
However, there are many more factors that contribute to an accidental or intentional use of excessive and sometimes deadly force. One of them is lack of proper training and adequate control in police departments (Lee & Vaughn, 2010, p.193). For instance, some police departments failed to provide their officers with training where they would acquire communication skills regarding mentally ill or emotionally unstable individuals (p.201). Lastly, Bernasconi (2014, p.146) suggested that the media also play a large role in the exaggeration of facts and overrepresentation of certain individuals that can induce police officers’ emotions of fear and leads them to commit thoughtless split-second decisions. All things considered, there are many social,…