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Essay on racism in criminal justice
Arguments about the racially motivated police brutality
Racism in the criminal justice system in the united states
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In May 2015, the U.S. was cited by the United Nations for police brutality and racial discrimination. At this major UN event—the Universal Periodic Review—over 100 countries critiqued American legislation and police training methods and recommended ways to end racial bias and use of excessive force in the police (UN Condemns US Gun Violence). Police brutality and institutional racism have been “cite-worthy” issues in the U.S. long before 2015, but what prompted the world to notice?
In February 2012, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, black 17-year-old, was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. After Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013, one of the many indignant responses was a tweet with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
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In his article “Black Lives Matter is Living in the Past,” he argues while the dialogue around racially biased police brutality is important, it is essential that BLM also focus on black lives that are taken by other blacks. McWhorter does compliment BLM’s actions in regards to changing the relationship between black men and cops, but he argues that “a movement cannot make a real difference in 2015 by pretending that it's still 1965” and that their tactics need to change. Right now in the U.S. “black people in poor neighborhoods are in vastly more danger of being killed by young black men than by the occasional bad cop,” and that needs to be addressed as well (McWhorter). In response to the BLM justification that most people of any color are killed by another member of their race, McWhorter argues that “it's the proportions that are important—why do so many more black guys kill each other, numerically and proportionally?” He also criticizes BLM for disavowing to support the Democratic Party despite its adoption of the “gist” of their agenda, by saying “again, is this about getting things done or acting out?” He concludes that BLM needs to realize that "Black Lives Matter When Taken by Other Black People, Too" and start acting to make change rather than
In Malcom’s speech Malcom brings up a riot in New York City caused by police brutality. Malcom justifies the riots of his peers by saying in his speech “but they gave the impression of hoodlum’s vagrants and criminals, but this is wrong. The landlord is white, the merchant is white, and in fact the entire economy of the Black community is white.” Malcolm uses this ideology to justify the rioters breaking windows and causing trouble in their own community because they are not hurting themselves; however they are hurting the white population by destroying the white’s property. Since the time of the New York riots many other riots have occurred based on the same ideology, some of which have occurred within the last few years. In 2014 the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri sparked riots within the town of Ferguson and unrest throughout the nation. In this specific case it was found that the officer did not kill Brown based on race rather out of self-defense, regardless of the findings by the investigation the people of Ferguson continued to riot. In a more recent incident on April 18th 2015 in Baltimore the riots ensued because a man by the name of Freddie Gray was killed by police days earlier. In this instance the investigation found the killing to have been a murder; never the less, riots still ensued in Baltimore for multiple days protesting police
Thousands of black teenage males die in gun crimes every year. Many of the teenagers that are killed aren’t even 18 years old. The children and teen killed in 2008 and 2009 could fill more than 229 classrooms. Gun homicide is the number one cause of death for African American male. Trayvon Martin is a perfect example of gun homicide killing our black males. Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old, who was walking home from the 711 on a rainy night. When he was walking, he saw George Zimmerman who was following him and asking him where he was going. When Trayvon began to run, Zimmerman chased him and shot Trayvon Martin because he assumed Trayvon was doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. “George Zimm...
Villa, Judi. "Incidents Put Police Brutality in Spotlight." Rocky Mountain News. N.p., 2 Feb. 2009. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
Freddie Grey, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Eric Gardner, Jordan Baker.These are just some of the many, many African American people that were killed by the police, all unarmed, all mistreated by the police, all shot and killed, without a crime.. Every twenty-eight hours a life is lost. There are hundreds of innocent lives that are being taken away from their families. Police officers, who are meant to protect and serve, are instead killing and abusing civilians. These outrageous crimes would be avoided through accountability of the police, use of body cameras at all times, and the use of social media.
A father purchased a toy gun as a birthday gift for his young son. His son went outside to play and and encountered a police officer who shot him seven times. This incident occurred in Sonoma County in October 2013. A similar incident occurred in November 2014 when Cleveland police killed a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun. Use of excessive force by police is common in impoverished "black" or "brown" communities.
Jet,”NAACP’S Wade Henderson Testifies On Capitol Hill About Police Over reaction”: v.80 May 20,1991 p.32
One large factor that fuels police brutality is the media. The media is constantly showing the world what police officers are doing wrong. The book “The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police Brutality”, is a book where author Regina Lawrence does an extensive study on how the media ties in with the formation of police brutality. Lawrence analyzed more than 500 incidents of police use-of-force covered by the New York Times and in the Los Angeles Times from the year 1981 to 1991. Lawrence informs readers of the structural and cultural forces that both shape the news and define when police use excessive force. Lawrence claims that police brutality incidents occur in greater numbers than those that are reported. She also explores how media is obtained to the public can see a new perspective on policing policies. Journalists decide whether one story makes it to the news if the issues and events need light shone upon them. If it were not for the media, many issues and events would go undocumented, as police and elected officials would rather leave them unexposed. Lawrence also shows how a news event involving the police can become a tool for isolated social groups to gain access to the
In America, police brutality affects and victimizes people of color mentally and socially. Social injustice has become a major issue, which involved the principle of white supremacy vs minorities. The current police brutality that has been occurring is culturally disconnecting ethnicities from one another. According to Cincinnati Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell, “…the cultural disconnect is very real; you have the weight of generations of abuse on African Americans,” (Flatow, 2016). For example, over the past four years, there have been countless acts of police brutality. The three key deaths of Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling have become the face of police brutality in the year 2016. People knew that it was unequal treatment of black people by police in the United States and they made it known by creating #BlackLivesMatter.
Research Paper Rough Draft: Police Brutality Police misconduct is as rampant as ever in America, and it has become a fixture of the news cycle. Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. The media is inevitably drawn toward tales of conflict, hence why there are so many crime and police stories on the news. Despite the increasing frequency of misbehaving cops, many Americans still maintain a high respect for the man in uniform. Still, police misconduct is a systemic problem, not just an anecdotal one.
Background and Audience Relevance: According to the Human Rights Watch 2012 report on Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States; police brutality has become one the most serious human rights violation. As citizens of the United States it is our duty to make sure that those with authority don 't take advantage of their power.
There were buildings set on fire and stores looted in a cry of anger and the need for social justice. However, these riots caught national and global attention. As King states in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, “.... an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.” With Trayvon’s death a term was coined and for a short time “Black Lives Matter” circled the nation. It was not until another child, Michael Brown, was gunned down by Officer Darren Wilson that the term truly caught fire and spread. Three words, fifteen letters hold so much meaning but unfortunately many people of all races only see the surface value of these words. These words go beyond the black lives that seem to only matter to the media. The Oprahs and Michael Jacksons of the world are of equal importance to little Shaniqua and Tommy in Decatur, Georgia and people fail to see that. Jussie Smollett, actor, stated on a visit to NBCBLK that, “You cannot pick and choose when Black lives
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
Police brutality and racial profiling dates back to the 1700’s in the United States(Rushing). Unfortunately, such treatment by police continues today when police are expected to hold the civic duty to protect and serve. Mistreatment by police is just the start in most cases, when citizens fight back it becomes “brutal”. Police brutality by definition means “The use of any force exceeding that reasonably to accomplish a lawful police purpose.” Police brutality can occur in many different ways with the most common being physical harm. Although that is a big problem, there are other cases of Police brutality that involve acts of false arrest, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, intimidation, etc. An act that can be seen as police brutality could be a criminal running from the cops and an officer shoots a victim with a taser. Many cases of physical harm are police using excessive force to contain and arrest any individual. Since many accounts of police brutality have been directed towards minorities, these cases turn into acts of racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Let 's say for example Trayvon Martin, a simple 17 year old black male walking home from a gas station was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch member. This being one of the many
Chaney and Robertson, (2013) stated that “The Department of Justice office of Civil Rights has investigated more than a dozen police departments in major cities across the country on allegations of racial discrimination or police brutality”. Police brutality is defined as the use of excessive physical force or verbal assault and psychological intimidation. White police officers who grew up in the south and were raised to see African Americans in a negative way have a lower opinion of them. However, not all white police officers are from the south, some say that police officers are just abusing their power. When we look at what is going on around the country, it appears racism plays a part in police brutality. Even during this new digital age, there are video cameras in police cars facing the front of the vehicle, but that still does not hinder police using excessive
Police brutality is an act that often goes unnoticed by the vast majority of white Americans. This is the intentional use of “excessive force by an authority figure, which oftentimes ends with bruises, broken bones, bloodshed, and sometimes even death” (Harmon). While law-abiding citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been revealed that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve.