In August of 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri an 18-year-old black man was fatally shot by a white Ferguson police officer. It started a firestorm of national and self-examination in America. There were protests against abusive police in major cities across the country, and the national government investigated.
Recently Newsweek Magazine published an article titled, "15 Most Outrageous Examples of Police Misconduct in the DOJ Report on Ferguson." The author, Taylor Wofford, reported on the Department of Justice investigation of the Ferguson Missouri police policies and actions. As implied by the title, the article lists sections of the Department of Justice report that show misconduct by the police and the courts. The opening paragraph explains …show more content…
According to the Conflict Theory the class struggle that exists in the Ferguson society is an inequality of the powerful class, the police force and criminal justice system, and the disadvantaged class, the inner-city citizens, which causes conflict (Henslin, p. 10). The social structure of the community is one of inequality between the primarily white police force and the primarily black citizens (Henslin, p. 95). It displays institutionalized racism within hierarchy of the police department and local criminal justice system (Henslin, p. 210). The police assume that the poverty of inner-city youth create values and behaviors that make them fundamentally different (Henslin, p. 281), which allows them to be mistreated and targeted. The Department of Justice discovered numerous emails of a high discriminatory nature insulting the language and intelligence of the Ferguson citizens (Wofford). The citizens of Ferguson regard themselves as singled out for unequal treatment, a minority group, and the police and criminal justice system as the most powerful and privileged social class, the dominant group (Henslin, p. 325). When the separation of the social status is perceived to be race the prejudice becomes even more visible in both groups and the conflict …show more content…
One of the findings by the DOJ was that there was over time given to police officers so that they could hand out more vehicle violations to produce more income, the "traffic enforcement initiative". In another example a judge that had been conplained about by a council member retained his position so that revenue was not hindered or lost (Wofford) . This is an action of an elite few to control, or gain, more of the local resources (Henslin, p. 10) instead of using the overtime to protect and serve. The detaining of suspects, until a warrant search is done is lucrative (Wofford) and was business as
Recently Newsweek Magazine published an article titled, "15 Most Outrageous Examples of Police Misconduct in the DOJ Report on Ferguson." The author, Taylor Wofford, reported on the Department of Justice investigation of the Ferguson Missouri police policies and actions. As implied by the title, the article lists sections of the Department of Justice report that show misconduct by the police and the courts. The opening paragraph explains …show more content…
According to the Conflict Theory the class struggle that exists in the Ferguson society is an inequality of the powerful class, the police force and criminal justice system, and the disadvantaged class, the inner-city citizens, which causes conflict (Henslin, p. 10). The social structure of the community is one of inequality between the primarily white police force and the primarily black citizens (Henslin, p. 95). It displays institutionalized racism within hierarchy of the police department and local criminal justice system (Henslin, p. 210). The police assume that the poverty of inner-city youth create values and behaviors that make them fundamentally different (Henslin, p. 281), which allows them to be mistreated and targeted. The Department of Justice discovered numerous emails of a high discriminatory nature insulting the language and intelligence of the Ferguson citizens (Wofford). The citizens of Ferguson regard themselves as singled out for unequal treatment, a minority group, and the police and criminal justice system as the most powerful and privileged social class, the dominant group (Henslin, p. 325). When the separation of the social status is perceived to be race the prejudice becomes even more visible in both groups and the conflict …show more content…
One of the findings by the DOJ was that there was over time given to police officers so that they could hand out more vehicle violations to produce more income, the "traffic enforcement initiative". In another example a judge that had been conplained about by a council member retained his position so that revenue was not hindered or lost (Wofford) . This is an action of an elite few to control, or gain, more of the local resources (Henslin, p. 10) instead of using the overtime to protect and serve. The detaining of suspects, until a warrant search is done is lucrative (Wofford) and was business as