The Rodney King Case: Police Brutality

Abstract

Police Brutality

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

The police department does not reflect the demographics of the town’s residents which has three black officers out of a 53 officer department. The people in the community lost trust and respect for an organization that was put in place to protect and serve their people. Instead they have lost complete control of their society. The Rodney King case is another case that was a problem relating to police brutality. Rodney King was severely beaten in 1991 by members of the Los Angeles Police Department. He was severely beaten with batons and kicked and punched by a group of officers. He was also hit with a stun gun, received over fifty baton blows, and kicked several times (Walter, 2014). The officers were acquitted in state court on excessive force charges which led to riots in the city causing multiple deaths and injuries. Researchers have discredited the idea that police brutality is simply an individual problem, which is certain officers are just bad cops, while others are good cops. The videotaped beaten of Rodney King was not a tragic enough lesson for the police departments across the country, police beatings and killings of African

The control balance theory was developed by Charles Tittle, a sociologist and professor at North Carolina State University. The control balance theory states that control ratio imbalances are associated with deviance (Tittle, 2004). These imbalances lead to an imbalance between motivation towards deviance and constraints on behavior. The result in deviance is less likely in situations where controls exercised and controls experienced are equal because the form of deviance that would be used to gain more control would be offset by control to void the potential gain (Tittle, 2004). This makes deviant behavior more likely in situations where control surpluses and control deficits are evident and an individual acts out to gain more control or deal with feelings of humiliation and worthlessness. The theory assumes that all people can be characterized globally and situational by control ratios which represent the total amount of control they can exercise, relative to the control in which they are subject to have (Tittle, 2004). When the control balance is upset, the probability that one will engage in deviant behavior increases. Accordingly, when the control ratio is balanced, the probability that one will act in line increases (Kwon, 2012). The overall concept of control is an especially important one in the policing occupation, as officers’ roles in maintaining social