Relationship Between Police Brutality and Race
Police officers are the only individuals who are authorized to use force when performing their duties of ensuring a safe environment for community members, as long as that force is both necessary and reasonable. However, when a police officer purposely takes advantage of his or her discretion is when policing strategies and tactics began to be questioned. The phrase “police brutality” quickly became popular during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries when media outlets widely reported fatal incidents that occurred involving police officers and minority individuals. This severely affected the relationship between policing and race. Unfortunately, much of the negative attention police officers …show more content…
This is due to it occurring shortly after the shooting of John Crawford III in Dayton, Ohio and just three days after grand jury decision in the Michael. Tamir Rice’s death became one of the most prominent motivators in the Black Lives Matter Movement. Since the formation of the activist movement, society has been impacted greatly in understanding why African Americans are disproportionally victimized through excessive use of force by police officers. Media outlets typically stereotype Blacks to be more aggressive and violent than the average White person. This type of portrayal of Blacks continues to be the motive behind why they are viewed as society’s ideal criminal. Although, it is important to realize that just because someone is Black does not mean his or her race generates them to participate in deviant behavior. The problem is that the highest rates of violent crime are found to occur in minority neighborhoods. Thus the circumstances of these minority groups’ create a disadvantage for them, making it easy to fall into criminality. However, it is these types of crimes that are receiving the most coverage from media
Police officers are the only individuals who are authorized to use force when performing their duties of ensuring a safe environment for community members, as long as that force is both necessary and reasonable. However, when a police officer purposely takes advantage of his or her discretion is when policing strategies and tactics began to be questioned. The phrase “police brutality” quickly became popular during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries when media outlets widely reported fatal incidents that occurred involving police officers and minority individuals. This severely affected the relationship between policing and race. Unfortunately, much of the negative attention police officers …show more content…
This is due to it occurring shortly after the shooting of John Crawford III in Dayton, Ohio and just three days after grand jury decision in the Michael. Tamir Rice’s death became one of the most prominent motivators in the Black Lives Matter Movement. Since the formation of the activist movement, society has been impacted greatly in understanding why African Americans are disproportionally victimized through excessive use of force by police officers. Media outlets typically stereotype Blacks to be more aggressive and violent than the average White person. This type of portrayal of Blacks continues to be the motive behind why they are viewed as society’s ideal criminal. Although, it is important to realize that just because someone is Black does not mean his or her race generates them to participate in deviant behavior. The problem is that the highest rates of violent crime are found to occur in minority neighborhoods. Thus the circumstances of these minority groups’ create a disadvantage for them, making it easy to fall into criminality. However, it is these types of crimes that are receiving the most coverage from media