How, Why, and How to Reduce it Police brutality is a growing problem in the United States, and it needs to be stopped. According to Chaney and Robertson (2013) “there were 5,986 reports of misconduct, 382 fatalities linked to misconduct (p. 485). Racism is the main reason behind police brutality, and this is causing concerns in many Americans. These concerns are valid because as Pierce (1986) states, many people who were victims of police brutality claimed that there was a racial factor involved (p. 52). Carter and Corra (2016) state that racial resentment determines how people look at the use of force by police (p. 501). The news media is reporting on cases of police brutality without all the facts and many times, they take the incident
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Tamar Jacoby (1999) explains when police officers see the riots and everything that comes out of a dispute involving race, those police officers are less likely to perform their jobs to the fullest (p. 113). Police officers need to know they are safe before they can do their job and keep other people safe. Police brutality in the United States is a serious problem that in many cases is linked to racism; however, there are ways to reduce police brutality in America.
Incidents of police brutality involving racism Three cases of police brutality that involved racism include Rodney King, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. All three of these cases got covered by the news media at large. Rodney King, African American, was brutally beaten by white police officers in Los Angeles, California in 1991. King survived the beating but was severely hurt and injured. King was not completely innocent, because before the brutality took place, he was involved in a high-speed car chase from the police. The fact that he ran from police does not give them any justification at all for the brutality that ensued. Unfortunately, none of the police officers involved were indicted but were sadly all acquitted. Eric Garner, African-American, was killed by white police …show more content…
There are good aspects of protests and there are bad aspects of protests. One of the good aspects according to Edward Lewis (1999) is that if people come together they can “denounce police brutality and disrespect” (p. 110). Another good aspect of protests is that they call people to action to make a change, more specifically towards political leaders (Lewis, 1999, p. 110). Elected political leaders are the ones who can change the way policing is done, so reaching them is just as important as reaching the police themselves. Through these good things about protests, police can realize that they need to take a moment and examine themselves, to see if they need to change something about them. And political leaders can realize that they need to do something about the way policing is being done in their community. There are also a couple of drawbacks to public protests against police brutality. One bad aspect is that “[t]he police are holding back” (Jacoby, 1999, p. 112). By this Jacoby (1999) means that police are scared to do their jobs to the fullest, because if they do then they will be “[p]illoried by the demonstrators as racists and criticized across the city” and the country (p. 112). The second drawback to protests is that the truth can get distorted. So many people get caught up with the fact that a white police officer killed a black man that “many seem to care surprisingly
Tamar Jacoby (1999) explains when police officers see the riots and everything that comes out of a dispute involving race, those police officers are less likely to perform their jobs to the fullest (p. 113). Police officers need to know they are safe before they can do their job and keep other people safe. Police brutality in the United States is a serious problem that in many cases is linked to racism; however, there are ways to reduce police brutality in America.
Incidents of police brutality involving racism Three cases of police brutality that involved racism include Rodney King, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown. All three of these cases got covered by the news media at large. Rodney King, African American, was brutally beaten by white police officers in Los Angeles, California in 1991. King survived the beating but was severely hurt and injured. King was not completely innocent, because before the brutality took place, he was involved in a high-speed car chase from the police. The fact that he ran from police does not give them any justification at all for the brutality that ensued. Unfortunately, none of the police officers involved were indicted but were sadly all acquitted. Eric Garner, African-American, was killed by white police …show more content…
There are good aspects of protests and there are bad aspects of protests. One of the good aspects according to Edward Lewis (1999) is that if people come together they can “denounce police brutality and disrespect” (p. 110). Another good aspect of protests is that they call people to action to make a change, more specifically towards political leaders (Lewis, 1999, p. 110). Elected political leaders are the ones who can change the way policing is done, so reaching them is just as important as reaching the police themselves. Through these good things about protests, police can realize that they need to take a moment and examine themselves, to see if they need to change something about them. And political leaders can realize that they need to do something about the way policing is being done in their community. There are also a couple of drawbacks to public protests against police brutality. One bad aspect is that “[t]he police are holding back” (Jacoby, 1999, p. 112). By this Jacoby (1999) means that police are scared to do their jobs to the fullest, because if they do then they will be “[p]illoried by the demonstrators as racists and criticized across the city” and the country (p. 112). The second drawback to protests is that the truth can get distorted. So many people get caught up with the fact that a white police officer killed a black man that “many seem to care surprisingly