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The impact of civic engagement in society
Violence in us
Violence in America
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Civil society is a crucial component for adjusting the degenerating structures of the West. As Ferguson illustrate, the problem comes from “within it: the legislature, the regulatory agencies, and the legal system itself”. Elites inside these institutions are unable or unwilling to reform. Similar to the “violence trap” proposed by North, Weingast, and Cox, institutional change requires elite to change, but they are constrained by the state of those structures. Thus, breaking that cycle requires an outside force and in this case, the power must come from civil society. In agreement with Ferguson’s argument, citizenship goes beyond voting and following the laws, it is also about becoming part of the “wider group” of people that has the capabilities
Police brutality is becoming more and more apparent in the news today because it seems to be occurring more than before. In 2012, the NYPD killed 21 people that year which was an increase by 7 from the previous year (W.A.T.E.R, 1). The numbers are rising in the big cities where more crimes are likely to happen. Toronto isn’t as big as New York City, but it comes to show that police officers are killing more individuals each year. In 2009, in the little city of Cabbagetown near Toronto, two Toronto officers severely beat a man who was allegedly drunk in public. The two police officers were later found guilty of assault causing bodily harm, which shocked much of the public because rarely do police officers get charged after incidents like this. This case ended up bringing up the ethical issue of whether police officers use excessive force on people because they are law enforcements. Police officers seem to usually get away with the actions they do, which sometimes result in death, because they are law enforcements and they’re just looking out for their own safety and of others. I believe that police officers do sometimes use excessive force on people and that they get away with the consequences because they have a free pass because of their job title. To defend this judgment, the arguments that I will use are the statements of both police officers, the test results that proved that the police officers attacked a man who didn’t deserve it, and the decision of the SIU.
Civil disobedience has its roots in one of this country’s most fundamental principles: popular sovereignty. The people hold the power, and those entrusted to govern by the people must wield
The change in policies orient the Richmond Police force into a manner in which they are able to interact with individuals without being overtly and overly aggressive. Richmond officers are oriented to defuse high-tension situations and be reminded that the person they are dealing with are indeed human, a person like anyone else. One of the reasons why Richmond Police officers deal with situations with the least amount of force, is because of the new training regime that was that instated in 2008, according to Mercury News (2014), by Chief Magnus. Chief Magnus instated a very rigorous and diverse training segment based on solely dealing with the use of force at the training facilities and the streets of Richmond. Every utility a Richmond Officer
The underlying problem at the event that took place tagged Black Lives Matter at ETSU is one that is a result of societal influence that has helped fueled the animosity towards people of color.
The little things never bothered me; the little things never phased me. Watching the news and having my father make a comment about the “Porch-Monkey” that was shot by police in downtown Minneapolis. Walking down E-Block with my mother and noticing how she clutches her purse as we go by the tall black men on our side of the street. My cousins making a snide remark about a white girl at their school dating the “Nigger with the sweet dunk”. It was all just a normal day with nothing new, it wasn’t until I realized how embarrassed I had become. I wasn’t embarrassed solely because of their words or actions, but I was embarrassed at my own lack of action, my own lack of a voice. Those little things never used to bother me, those little things never
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.
William Smith, Democracy, Deliberation and Disobedience (Paper presented at the UK Association for Legal and Social Philosophy Annual Conference, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, April 2003).
■ Past progress in history had only occured when people acted and created tensions with those in power—> civil disobedience, as opposed to violence
Laws are implemented to enforce civil proceedings in society, thereby enabling individuals to operate and function within a morally stable population. But there is a delicate and uncertain balance between doing so and restricting personal freedoms--for though individuals should not be wholly free to conduct themselves as they please (for fear of anarchy), neither should they be confined to a level by which they are unable to direct their life’s course and pursue personal betterment. When citizens feel this to be the case, they have the right to peacefully display their grievances with enacted law for the advocation of positive change in the society. For if a society is truly free, the government
As humans are imperfect and irrational, they throughout history have formulated governments to deter and prevent crime, organize communities, and act in the best interest of the ruling group [majority or minority]. Since governments can be irrational and humans are emotional, disobedience to authority has and shall always exist in civilised society. True civil disobedience according to Erich Fromm and Mr. Thoreau is against an irrational authority and the focus of protestation is irreconcilable with oneself. Civil disobedience by citizens is intended to evoke change but is drastically different in methodology depending on the government type. The consequences of civil disobedience in mind, in this essay I hereby advise civil disobedience solely
In today’s society, police officers are very cautious on how much force they can use on a suspect due to the police brutality going on right now. Police brutality is defined as the use of force exceeding what is necessary, many people argue that there should be new policies to determine how much force a police officer can use and also have laws that will convict officers who have killed people by using too much force, so that there is less incidents in the future.
Police brutality against minorities has been a problem over the years. Police brutality is the use of excessive physical force including beating citizens with hands or batons stun guns, teargas and even lethal weapons (Walter, 2014) Police brutality has caused severe physical harm over the year but it may also involve psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedures. Police brutality has been a major problem in many areas among law enforcement officers through the mistreatment of unarmed citizens. Although police brutality is illegal in many areas, many incidents of police brutality go unreported and prosecuted. The Police Misconduct Provision
According to Oxford Dictionaries, race relations are "…Relations between members or communities of different races within one country" (Oxford Dictionaries, 2017). Race relations are based on differences an individual possesses (physical and genetic traits) in comparison to other people. The traits explained by G. Edwards "are important in contributing to the observed ecological, economic, social, and political which constitute the subject matter of race relations" (Edwards, 2008). Therefore, the way in which a person differs from a certain racial group will lead to the same differences in cultural characteristics. Additionally, many critics claim race relations have seen a positive shift since the end of WWII and brought about a change in the composition of racial minorities; members within a group who appear less powerful in comparison to a larger group
Citizens questioning the law is a positive reflection of civil disobedience. Had it not been for citizens questioning the law, millions of people would still be segregated by race today. A truly free society allows for its people to have say and question what is set in place to govern and rule them. Jim Crow Laws were unjust but the government still had them set in place. Change did not occur until honorable citizens began to question how these laws affected the afflicted citizens in a supposedly “free society.” When citizens exercised their right to
...it from protecting the rights of minorities and from becoming a true proponent of social change. In conclusion, the Court is a somewhat constrained institution in that it only responds to the demands and whims of society. The Court's dependency upon society for case initiation as well as case enforcement prevents the Court from rendering decisions entirely opposed to societal opinion, thus why the Court can never fully lead social change within the United States. This is why, “at its best the Court operates to confer legitimacy, not simply on the particular and parochial policies of the dominant alliance, but upon the basic patterns of behavior required for the operation of a democracy” (Dahl 295).