On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was brutally beaten by multiple Los Angeles Police officers after pulling over following a high speed chase. Despite the footage of the beating being caught on film, the police officers were acquitted of any wrong doing on April 29, 1992 at 3:15 PM. By 5:15 PM, in response to the verdicts of the police officers, the Los Angeles riots began (Linder, 2001). The riots were a strong reaction to the injustice that was felt in the community and did not incite a social change, but did bring a lot of media attention to the issue of police brutality against minorities (Hollowell, 2009).
The city of Ferguson in Missouri is one of the most recent sites of civil unrest due to the shooting of an 18 year old African American …show more content…
Yet, most of the portrayals of African Americans in the media typically use negative personality characteristics such as being disrespectful, sexual, immoral, uneducated, comical, and etcetera (Dates, 1990). These negative portrayals only reinforce stereotypes already set in motion. Thus, theoretically, any person exposed to mass media depicting African Americans in such a state, would internalize the negative information and unknowingly project their feelings through speech, action and thought. This translates into a systematic mistreatment and outlook on an entire race, and can be seen by the treatment of African Americans by society, government and the police. Of course, the reinforcement of stereotypes is subject to the preconceptions of the viewers (Wober & Gunter, 1988); but it does not change the damage that is being done to African Americans on an individual and community …show more content…
Police culture, within criminology, is comprised of the overarching occupational philosophy and the individual officer personality type. Throughout the decades, the occupational philosophy of police culture has been molded by ‘core characteristic’ labels such as mission-oriented, suspicious, pessimistic, masculine, isolated and conservative. These labels have created an ‘ideal-type’ of culture that has lasted through time. What has risen through these molding characteristics is an occupational philosophy which includes concepts such as the thin blue line, an ‘us versus them’ mentality and the cop code of silence (Reiner, 1985). Recently there has been a shift outside of criminology, realizing that the idea of police culture has shifted from being “an internalized set of values which motivates people’s decisions and actions” to being a “resourceful tool on which people rely to make sense of situations they navigate in everyday life” (Campeau,
The city of Ferguson in Missouri is one of the most recent sites of civil unrest due to the shooting of an 18 year old African American …show more content…
Yet, most of the portrayals of African Americans in the media typically use negative personality characteristics such as being disrespectful, sexual, immoral, uneducated, comical, and etcetera (Dates, 1990). These negative portrayals only reinforce stereotypes already set in motion. Thus, theoretically, any person exposed to mass media depicting African Americans in such a state, would internalize the negative information and unknowingly project their feelings through speech, action and thought. This translates into a systematic mistreatment and outlook on an entire race, and can be seen by the treatment of African Americans by society, government and the police. Of course, the reinforcement of stereotypes is subject to the preconceptions of the viewers (Wober & Gunter, 1988); but it does not change the damage that is being done to African Americans on an individual and community …show more content…
Police culture, within criminology, is comprised of the overarching occupational philosophy and the individual officer personality type. Throughout the decades, the occupational philosophy of police culture has been molded by ‘core characteristic’ labels such as mission-oriented, suspicious, pessimistic, masculine, isolated and conservative. These labels have created an ‘ideal-type’ of culture that has lasted through time. What has risen through these molding characteristics is an occupational philosophy which includes concepts such as the thin blue line, an ‘us versus them’ mentality and the cop code of silence (Reiner, 1985). Recently there has been a shift outside of criminology, realizing that the idea of police culture has shifted from being “an internalized set of values which motivates people’s decisions and actions” to being a “resourceful tool on which people rely to make sense of situations they navigate in everyday life” (Campeau,