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Essay about police brutality statistics
Police brutality effects
Police brutality effects
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Whether police brutality is increasing in the United States. Short Answer: Yes, police brutality is increasing the United States. According to, Police Brutality is Getting Worse and Shows No Signs of Slowing Down, there were 804 Americans killed by police officers in 2014 and at least 865 Americans killed by police in 2015. So far in 2016, there have been 896 deaths reported to, The Guardian’s Police Killing database. The 896 reported deaths were all Americans killed by the police. Rule: When police brutality occurs, people rely upon the Constitution and the Civil Right laws to help determine whether the police officer is in the wrong or whether the civilian is in the wrong. According to, Police Misconduct and Civil Rights, the …show more content…
Police are rarely held accountable for their wrong doing actions. As I mentioned above only 27 of 80 officers have been convicted, with only one convicted of murder for police brutality. Police are seen as a form of power and abuse that privilege. Officer’s do what they want knowing that they will not be held accountable. Police Officer’s beat people, shoot people and harm people (abuse of power) and blame it on the civilian they are harming. Most of the time the police officer’s will be believed over the civilian. When police officer’s abuse their power this leads to lack of trust between police officers and civilians. This also leads to lack of trust between police officers and communities. This divides us and makes us afraid of one another. Stress in police officer’s also causes police brutality. Stress can come from the civilians and the pressure of the job making officer’s take out all of their anger and aggression on civilians. Police brutality causes people and communities to be vulnerable. People become vulnerable to police officers because they are powerless. The officers take power over us, make us helpless, defenseless and weak at the time of a police brutality attack. In order to stop police brutality, the state and local governments must come together to reevaluate the officer’s code of conduct, enforce new rules and regulations for the officers and hold officers accountable for their actions of wrong doing. According to, Police Brutality is Getting Worse and Shows No Signs of Slowing Down, the only way to stop police brutality is to have officer’s wear body cameras, a complete overhaul on how law enforcement handles mentally ill men, women, and children and truly independent, powerful review boards for all police misconduct. According to others, some of the changes should consist of more community police, more foot patrols and engagement with residents. Police brutality will
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.
Cheh, M. "Are lawsuits an answer to police brutality." Police violence: Understanding and controlling police abuse of force (1996): 247-72.
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.
Police brutality has been a significant issue for many years.. The people affected by this most of all, are people of color. They are subject to racial inequality by the police and the justice system every day. They are being killed everyday simply for existing. The excessive force used by the police specifically towards African Americans is continuous; with the justice system doing close to nothing to change that. This is one of the reasons they continue to kill and harass African Americans. According to Propublica, young black males are about twenty times more likely to be shot and killed by the police than their white peers are. Murderers are walking free, and innocent lives are being taken. Over the past couple of years, thousands of people have been killed on the hands of the police, both black and white.
Police brutality is a civil rights violation that occurs when a police officer acts with excessive force by using an amount of force with regards to a civilian that is more than necessary. Excessive force by law enforcement officers is a violation of a person's rights. Excessive force is not subject to a precise definition, but it is generally beyond the force a reasonable and prudent law enforcement officer would use under the circumstances (“Police Brutality Law & Legal Definition”,2013).
Police brutality is hypocrisy; as the police are meant to protect society from harm, not cause further damage and stress. Police should be trained properly so they do not resort to violence and abuse of power. Many cases of police brutality and not sanctioned and are undertaken by a group of police as a form of "mob mentality". Police are placed on a pedestal of authority and respect by the rest of society. To maintain this image, rules and codes of ethics within the police force should be maintained at all possible times. If police are using brutality to resolve issues, it doesn't set much of an example of dispute resolution between individuals. Over the past decade police abuse remains one of the most serious human rights violation in the United States. Police officers are trusted and expected to respect society as a whole and enforce the law. There is a time a place for aggressive force if needed, apprehending a suspect, however the environment and situation might influence the moment thus resulting in the brutal and barbaric behavior from the cop. The important thing to do is to understand the circumstances when excessive force can be used and times where the use of force has to be abstained. Police officers follow a strict guideline in how to handle encounters from escalating into something much more serious. The use of excessive force, in this case police brutality brings liabilities that cannot be taken lightly with the department and the community. Usually the high crime rates tend to revolve around low-income minority areas and officers tend to assume that minorities living in the areas are guilty. Police brutality that does exist is most likely result of emotional exhaustion.
Police brutality is a very real problem that many Americans face today. The police carry an enormous burden each day. Police work is very stressful and involves many violent and dangerous situations. In many confrontations the police are put in a position in which they may have to use force to control the situation. There are different levels of force and the situation dictates the level use most of the time. The police have very strict rules about police use force and the manner in which they use it. In this paper I will try to explain the many different reason the police cross the line, and the many different people that this type of behavior effects. There are thousands of reports each year of assaults and ill treatment against officers who use excessive force and violate the human rights of their victims. In some cases the police have injured and even killed people through the use of excessive force and brutal treatment. The use of excessive force is a criminal act and I will try and explore the many different factors involved in these situations.
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.
The United State is one of the worst of the countries that experience police brutality. 90% of complaints for police misconducts were not investigated. Over 10,000 police brutality complaints against the US police departments only 19 of them were inflicted by police brutality. Most police departments say “we don’t need a few bad apples or a few rogue cops damaging the good police name that was once there for the police to help the needed people and to keep the communities safe. Police brutality us a nation problem and it is
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.
Police brutality is rising heavily in the United States. Many cases of police brutality are being reported regularly by the media. There have been victims either physically injured, molested, permanently disabled, killed in the process or even die in the care of officers. Ethnic minority groups are major victims of most cases of reported police brutalities in America. There have been more injustice than justice in these cases and if there’s no serious legal consequences against police’s that engage in racial profiling and brutalities against their victims then it may continue to and eventually they will lose the public’s trust and respect for our officers. And in worst cases may lead to the breakdown of law and order as well as the destruction of lives, properties and communities.
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 one of the most serious human rights violations in the United States and it occurs everywhere. The reason why I chose this topic is because police brutality happens all the time in the United States and still remains unrecognized by many. Additionally, the public should be knowledgeable about this topic because of how serious this crime can be and the serious outcomes that police brutality can have on other police officers and the public. The job of police officers is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crimes. They are involved in very dangerous and stressful occupations that can involve violent situations that must be stopped and controlled by any means. In many confrontations with people, police may find it necessary to use excessive force to take control of a certain situation. Sometimes this makes an officer fight with a suspect who resists being arrested. Not all cops in communities are great cops. At least once a year, the news covers a story about a person being beat by an officer. The article “Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities” by Malcolm D. Holmes from the University of Wyoming, uses the conflict theory to explain why officers go after minorities sometimes causing police brutality. It explains the police’s tension with African American and Latino males. Those minorities are the ones that retaliate more against police officers which causes the officer to use violent force to defend themselves.
Walsh & Conway(2011) suggested standards of police should be to implement transparency be responsive and maintain professional, human rights. The black people and lower class people face this violence in form of deadly force and shootings. In the 2011 publication, Gabbidon, Higgins & Potter suggested police to be more corrupt, unfair , harsh and cruel against black people.The police needs to be accountable to its community and department but by doing these kind of acts they are felt to be unsafe in the smaller communities. The brutality lead to push the black people to slavery in many countries by enforcing racial discrimination on them. In the past brutality was done by police in situations of racial discrimination which is still going on at many places to preserve power of upper class white people and for political purposes. This practice of brutality has a strong effect on minority groups like the blacks. If it is observed in a legal context police brutality is an abuse in law enforcement where a police officer has an upper hand because of the uniform they are wearing and the firearms they use which cannot be used by an ordinary individual. Examples of police brutality can be taken from the United States of America where in reality the black people are being discriminated by violating
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. According to the National Police Academy, in the past year, there have been over 7,000 reports of police misconduct; fatalities have been linked to more than 400 of these cases (Gul). Police brutality is often triggered by disrespect towards the police officer.