Sandra Bland, a 28-year woman, dead. Trayvon Martin, an 18 year old boy, dead. Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old male, dead. Tamir Rice, a 12-year old boy, dead.…
An Analysis of State v. Steele (2013) for Police Misconduct and Kingsley v. Hendrickson et al. (2015) for Police Brutality Background: In this case evaluation, the overarching problem of police misconduct and police brutality will be examined in State v. Steele and Kingsley v. Hendrickson et al. In the past ten years, there has been an alarming rate of police misconduct and police brutality, which continues to be a problem in terms of prosecuting corrupt law enforcement officials in the field. A vast increase in the use of deadly force and police misconduct was conducted by Bowling Green State University, which evaluated 6, 724 cases in which a police officer was arrested for some form of police brutality, gun usage, or misconduct from 2005-2011…
Police Brutality: When is Deadly Force Justified? On February 4th, 1999 at 12:44 AM an unarmed black man, Amadou Diallo, found himself in a storm of bullets coming from four white New York City police officers. In total, forty-one shots were fired and twenty-one of those found their mark, as the twenty-two year old stood on the balcony of his apartment building. The four police officers never wore uniforms and drove through neighborhoods in unmarked cars looking for occurring crimes or people carrying guns.…
Each year in the United States on duty police officers shoot between 950 - 1000 innocent people a year. According to an analysis by criminologist Philip Stinson, only 48 officers have been charged with manslaughter since 2005. These officers should not be treated above the law and should be held accountable for their actions. Officers try to justify their actions by claiming they were ‘defending themselves’ or ‘fearing their lives’ but what possible defending would you need against a 12 year old boy with a toy gun [Tamir Rice] or an unarmed 17 year old boy buying Skittles at a convenience store [Trayvon Martin].Imagine knowing your child will never return from the store because they were wrongfully murdered and their murderer gets to not…
Because of the numerous violence and deaths of people, predominately minorities, by the hands police officers, people are arguing that the police are using more force than necessary. When cases that involve police brutality…
According to the Huffington Post in their informational article, “Here’s how many cops got convicted of murder last year for on-duty shootings,” “That point is clearly reflected in the number of police officers who were convicted on murder or manslaughter charges last year for fatally shooting a civilian in the line of duty. In 2015, that number was zero” and “Although there are no reliable government statistics on civilians killed by police, data compiled independently last year by outlets like The Guardian and The Washington Post, or civilian tracker Mapping Police Violence, have led to estimates of roughly 1,000 deadly shootings each year” (Ferner). Out of about 1000 shootings, none of them were ruled guilty, this is another reason why these brutal actions against nonwhites keeps happening. Cops with the close minded and stereotypical views that commit these actions never get punished, they know that no matter what, they will get away with it. If justice would be served and these officers would be punished for these actions, the officers may learn that their actions weren’t right and they should change their views, the officers would also learn that they are not allowed to do whatever they want.…
This shows that police brutality can take place when they don’t have any proof that you committed a crime and could beat you until you gave a fake confession just to make the beating stop. A place that has be known for how its police uses force is Los Angeles, California. The LAPD has dealt with many complaints when it comes to its officers and how they conduct themselves out in the field. The Commission has found that “of approximately 1,800 officers against whom an allegation of excessive force or improper tactics was made from 1986 to 1990, more than 1,400 had only one or two allegations”. While one or two allegations may seem to be okay because they could just be accusations without any proof, “183 officers had 4 or more allegations, 44 had 6 or more allegations, 16 had 8 or more,…
Most people believe that the reason of why police officers don’t get convicted is not only because of their position as law enforcement but because their partners, department, and boss will have their back regardless of what happens. Basically the blue code of silence. The blue code of silence basically states that police officers stand together and protect their partners against any allegation of excessive force. Excessive force in my opinion is unreasonable and unnecessary. According to Alpert & Smith, (the writers of “How Reasonable is the Reasonable Man?:…
Ever since police were employed to patrol the cities, there have been people who feel cops abuse their power. There are multiple cases in which a cop clearly abused his power, yet was not punished for it. For instance, on August 9th, 1997, police officers responded to a call from a nightclub in Brooklyn. The reason for the call was due to a large group of people outside the club fighting and causing chaos. Once on scene, the police officers began to separate the perpetrators from each other.…
Officers lie for one another, the department will give false statements and testimonies when questioned. “Normally, a trial decides the truth. But a compelling story rooted in stereotypes may circumvent that” (Troutt 17). The jury and judges fall for the officer’s stories which always include a twisted story and false statements by other officers. Most of all, officers will never give a clear image of what happened unless there is visual evidence such as a video taken by a bystander.…
In the article, ““BUT I THOUGHT HE HAD A GUN” Race and Police Use of Deadly Force” author Cynthia Lee says, “Police officers are rarely prosecuted for murder because most fatal police shootings are deemed justified by prosecutors who decline to prosecute or by grand juries that decline to return indictments.” (Lee 2). This quote is explaining that officers can be tried against a jury and still go on without facing any murder charges. This happens because the grand jury and the judge in most cases won’t want to charge an officer for murder. The jury won’t state a claim back to charge the officer of the accused crime or the prosecutors will have a well enough claim to make the officer seem as if he did everything good in his handbook.…
Police brutality has been a problem for over a century, but it’s always been over looked by the American justice system. According to Mintpress news a Minneapolis newspaper article states “So far in 2015, U.S. police killed 776 people, 161 of whom were completely unarmed at the time of their death.” In the 2012 case of Cleveland police officer Michael Brelo CNN news states that “Judge John P. O’Donnell decided that Brelo was not guilty of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault in the 2012 deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams following a 22-mile car chase.” Looking at this verdict a lot feel that Brelo should have been found guilty, but in my opinion all the officers who fired their guns that day should be found guilty in the…
Police claimed that the individual commenced the struggle, but another witness stated that the officer started the fight, and the other officers joined, and began to kick, hit, and club the victim, while he laid on the ground. This is an example on how several police officers were tried for involuntary manslaughter, and a police department being sued for $1.5 million, and how racial profiling can lead to…
A survey showed results that Hispanics and African Americans are more likely to be expose to force of officers that whites. This brings about problems nationwide within the policing system because the public is being exposed to these situations more each day. It is known that police officers should only use the necessary amount of force that is needed to protect themselves from harm and make arrest, but this is not always the case. There are some cases where officers mishandle suspects and use more force than what is needed when making arrest. The use of force from officers can be categorized into two ways; deadly force or nondeadly…
Police brutality and racism seem to be consistently connected to one another. This has become a serious issue in which circumstances have ended violently or even fatally when involving police officers and African American citizens. In 2014, the United States Census Bureau reported that African American people make up only 13.2% of our population. Anyone can become a victim of police brutality, regardless of their race; but statistics show that African American people are being killed by police at more than twice the rate of Caucasian and Hispanic people. It is also considerably more likely for the African American victims in these situations to have been unarmed at their time of death.…