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Race discrimination in the police force
Race discrimination in the police force
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Minority groups have always been underrepresented in police forces across the United States. One of the main reasons minority groups are underrepresented in police department is due to the negative interaction White officers have had with citizens of minority groups. According to McNamara and Burns (2008), members of minority groups feel police officers abuse of their authority by overstepping the boundaries of procedural laws, which dictates how the police are to use their powers. The conflicts between minorities and White officers has caused many individuals from minority groups to not be attracted to the police work. Moreover, individuals from minority groups do not apply for police work because they feel they would not be accepted in policing,
When police officers are perceived as being racially motivated, where certain groups of people are being targeted, it undermines the social goals of policing, weakens residents’ cooperation with police and raises questions about the legitimacy of law (Fagan & Davies, 2000). Supporters also back up this claim with statistics that show an association between racial/ethnic groups and crime (Harris, 2003). The arg...
Weitzer, Ronald, and Steven A. Tuch. ''Racially Biased Policing: Determinants of Citizen Perceptions. '' Social Forces 83.3 (2005): 1009-1030. Academic Search Premier. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.
Choudhury and Fenwick (2011) argue that as a result of increased policing and stop and searches, more members of minorities are subjected to prejudice and discriminatory views from law enforcement which has heightend distrust amonst minorities with the police force as laws are seen as being unlawfully implicated amongst members of their minority group as a result of their race of religious
In the line of police force it is imperative to think outside of the box. Many people confuse a police officer’s curiosity as racial profiling and racism. However, this is how a police officer often finds the majority of their evidence. In many neighborhoods, there a dominant races that live within the community. For example, if a wealthy white man was driving around a predominantly minority-based community, it would be acceptable for a police officer to grow skeptical at this situation. It is obvious that man is out of place, and it is the police officer 's duty to further investigate the
In America, police brutality affects and victimizes people of color mentally and socially. Social injustice has become a major issue, which involves 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.
Undoubtedly race and ethnicity plays a key role in whether perceptions of law enforcement is positive or negative. Most of the research presented finds that police contact with white’s vs blacks shapes their attitudes. Although contact with police plays a role, it is not the only component. Perceptions of police not only come from contact with police officers but from hearsay and media portrayal. As stated by (Callanan & Rosenberger, 2011) “most citizens are probably not likely to establish their opinions of law enforcement solely based on an occasional encounter, but also from other sources of information about the police, which for most members of the public is chiefly derived from the media.” Also, minorities are more likely than whites to believe that minorities are treated worse by police, and minority communities receive inferior police services (Graziano, Schuck & Martin 2010).
The term “racial profiling” is used by agencies of law enforcement to describe an individual’s race or ethnicity as a factor in articulating reasonable suspicion to stop, question, or arrest an individual (Racial Profiling 2001: 1). Police officers have the discretion to make decisions regarding whom they stop. However, if any law enforcement employee profiles potential suspects based on their race or ethnicity they violate the civil rights of the individual. If you suspect someone of a crime based on their race and ethnicity you are violating the civil rights of these minority groups. If any officer suspects another officer of racial profiling they must notify their supervisor. When a situation like this comes up an officer who informs on one of his own could result in negative consequences for the whistleblower. He could be labeled by the other officers as a ’rat’ and could lead him to be singled out. There are a lot of gray areas within the issue of racial profiling. The State of Arizona and its political subdivisions cannot tolerate racial profiling if Arizona is to remain consistent and fair in its application of justice (AZ Attorney General, 2001:2). In this article I will discuss law enforcement concerns, private resident concerns, current policies and procedures, and training. I believe that police officers need to stop people they suspect of an offence [it is not the role of the police officer to decide guilt –that is a matter for the courts] to reduce the amount of crime offenders, but they need to be careful that they do not cross the fine line between racial profiling and suspicion. The purpose of this article is to inform readers that police discretion not only encompasses use of force, gratuiti...
Authors of this document had written an evidence that proves the tensions between the minorities and the police. In their article, there were unanswered questions of the behavior of the police. Statistics were involved explaining how characteristics of police and communities affect the incidence of filed complaints on police violence. There were two hypotheses on threatening minorities made relatively to complaints. These authors had made analytical theories behind
How would it feel if you woke up each day fearing for your life, just because of the pigment of your skin or the irrelevant opinion of someone who believes they are superior. since ancient times, Discrimination has been a great issue in our society, it’s always been, and probably will continue to be in the near future. Now that the discrimination among officers have been in the spotlight, the fact that they’re not getting proper punishments are allowing a great amount of people to realize that This is a serious issue; and innocent individuals are losing their lives from the careless opinions of others.However, this is consistently changing depending upon the area in which it occurs in.
The lack of training police officers is causing unnecessary incidents, is it true? Does the lack of Critical thinking, values, Ethics and Understanding the role as a police officer contribute to hire number of incidents? There is a chance that answer to this questions might always be divided, why? Well because officers will tend to defend their side and how the view the problem and the public will also defend their side and how they view the problem, for example most officers would probably say that people do not comply with their orders or the public might outcry because of the use of excessive force, it is most certain that there will never be an agreement on who is wright or wrong. Regardless of the outcome of who is wright
Holmes, M. D. (2000). MINORITY THREAT AND POLICE BRUTALITY: DETERMINANTS OF CIVIL RIGHTS CRIMINAL COMPLAINTS IN U.S. MUNICIPALITIES. Criminology, 38(2), 343-367.
Weitzer, Ronald, and Steven A. Tuch. "Race and Perceptions of Police Misconduct." JSTOR. Aug. 2004. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
While there are different attitudes and views for women and men when it comes to policing, it is different when comparing with minorities as they also share similar struggles and even worse if they are both. According to an article called An Examination of the Workplace Experience of Police Patrol Officers: The Role of Race, Sex, and Sexual Orientation, it has been suggested that diversity in the workforce encourages tolerance in interactions with a diverse citizenry, different styles of policing, promotes trust and fairness in policing, encourages citizen support and cooperation with police and encourages multiple viewpoints and ideas on how to improve as an officer (Brandl and Hassell, 2009). The main problem here is that although there would
“A racially diverse community needs a racially diverse police force . . . [so] one part of the community is not to feel dominated by the other part" (Bergmann 9). This is a simple, yet effective, illustration of the argument. This sentiment is correct in expressing the importance of diversity and that it is something that should be embraced and respected. However, this argument gains fault based on the fact that it places a priority on diversity over equality and fairness. “Americans value diversity. But they value fairness more” (Leonhardt nytimes.com). Individuals should not receive preference when being considered for a position simply based on the diversity that their presence will bring, but instead on their qualifications, experience, and skill. As Supreme Court Judge John Harlan wrote after the infamous Plessy v. Ferguson ruling in 1896, “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens” (14). These are the words that were famously used as a sort of moto by civil rights advocates during the mid-20th century in order to fight against segregation and oppression. Although, now it would seem that affirmative action has brought upon our society somewhat of a devolution, to the point where race, ethnicity, and sex are once again factors when determining one’s
According to Shusta et al., (2011), “Many law enforcement agencies have had difficulty finding qualified applicants; however, which has led to a recruitment crisis. This crisis, although influenced by economic circumstances, appears to be primarily the result of changing societal and demographic trends” (p. 82). As the number of Asian immigrants doubled between the years of 1980-1998, increasing by six million people, U.S police departments across the nation struggles to recruit Asian-American officers to reflect the growing Asian population in the country (United States Commission on Civil Rights, 2010). Similarly, Cox et al., (2013) indicate that the “highest concentration of Asian Americans