One possible solution to improving Florida’s stand-your-ground law would be to clarify what acts can define the aggressor vs. the victim. More support of my argument can be found in the article, “Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground Law’ Needs Work” by Florida’s member of House of Reps. Perry E. Thurston Jr. In Thurston’s article, Thurston expresses how he believes that having self-defense laws are important to society and how he feels that Florida’s stand-your-ground law needs to be improved. “Florida’s law is not clear to those who must apply it as to what constitutes provocation by an aggressor. If law enforcement does not know when following someone, using harsh language or physical contact arise to the level of provocation, they have no way of knowing who is the aggressor and who is a victim in a situation where both parties eventually resort to force.” (Thurston Jr.) Thurston’s statement suggests that having self-defense laws work more effectively when law enforcement officers can decipher what caused the situation at hand to escalate to a violent level. More support from an argument similar to Thurston’s can be found in the article, “Sometimes There’s No Choice but to ‘Stand Your Ground’ by Executive Director of Gun Owners of America Larry Pratt. Throughout Pratt’s article, Pratt discusses the stand-your-ground law and how he believes having self-defense laws are critical to our government. “The SYG laws are an important tool in protecting the right of self-defense. Asking a potential victim to flee could expose his or her back to an assailant. And that could be very dangerous. Victims should be able to defend themselves before they have run out of options” (Pratt). Pratt’s example reminds us how important stand-your-ground laws ... ... middle of paper ... ...lorida’s stand-your-ground law has done more damage in the communities than been a service to the community. Florida’s stand-your-ground law has taken the life of an innocent, unarmed African-American teenage boy who was on his way home when he was gunned down for looking suspicious because he was wearing a hoodie. Now why should a law that presses intolerance continue to be used as a self-defense law? In conclusion, it is extremely critical that one keeps in mind that the intolerance of African-American males has been an issue in our society for a number of years. This is an issue that will not be fixed or will go away overnight until society truly comes to a point where the color, gender, or class of a person has zero value. Until society fully comes to that understanding self-defense laws like Florida’s stand-your-ground law will not be able to fully flourish.
Individuals’ right to keep and bear arms in self-defense should be further restricted. For example, George Zimmermann – neighborhood watch citizen responsible for the teenager Treyvon Martin’s death
Earl G. Graves said, “Fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King expressed his dream that African Americans would someday be judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character, the line between the suspect is a black male and black males are suspect remains dangerously thin.” Our nation needs to follow the five-step plan outlined by ACLU to allow our members of society safety and equal rights for one another.
Zimmerman was asked by a dispatcher to stop pursuing Treyvon Martin. The “Stand Your Ground”
As a result of the discrimination within the criminal justice system traffic stops are composed of mainly African American and Hispanics. These minorities are targeted within the streets as criminals by police officers. A video from The Orland Sentinel showed major evidence of racial profiling by police. Within the video there more than one thousand people’s roadside stops shown. With watching one hundred and forty-eight hours of video, statistics acquired were that “Almost 70 percent of the motorists stopped were black or Hispanic. More than 80 percent of the cars that were searched were driven by blacks and Hispanics. Although deputies contend they stop cars only for legitimate traffic violations - as required by the Florida Supreme Court
Many people claim that racism no longer exists; however, the minorities’ struggle with injustice is ubiquitous. Since there is a mass incarceration of African Americans, it is believed that African Americans are the cause of the severe increase of crimes. This belief has been sent out implicitly by the ruling class through the media. The media send out coded messages that are framed in abstract neutral language that play on white resentment that targets minorities. Disproportionate arrest is the result of racial disparities in the criminal justice system rather than disproportion in offenders. The disparities in the sentencing procedure are ascribed to racial discrimination. Because police officers are also biased, people of color are more likely to be investigated than whites. Police officers practice racial profiling to arrest African Americans under situations when they would not arrest white suspects, and they are more likely to stop African Americans and see them as suspicious (Alexander 150-176). In the “Anything Can Happen With Police Around”: Urban Youth Evaluate Strategies of Surveillance in Public Places,” Michelle Fine and her comrades were inspired to conduct a survey over one of the major social issues - how authority figures use a person’s racial identity as a key factor in determining how to enforce laws and how the surveillance is problematic in public space. Fine believes it is critical to draw attention to the reality in why African Americans are being arrested at a much higher rate. This article reflects the ongoing racial issue by focusing on the injustice in treatment by police officers and the youth of color who are victims. This article is successful in being persuasive about the ongoing racial iss...
This paper was written to discuss the hot button topic, “Black Lives Matter.” Specifically, in regard to law enforcement. This has been an ongoing and controversial issue ever since the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. This is when the movement “Black Lives Matter,” was born, with the belief that blacks are treated unfairly by law enforcement. I, however, do not believe that blacks are treated any more unfairly by law enforcement than any other race.
Even though racism has always been a problem since the beginning of time, recently in the United States, there has been a rise in discrimination and violence has been directed towards the African American minority primarily from those in the white majority who believe they are more superior, especially in our criminal justice system. There are many different reasons for the ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system between the majority and the minority, but some key reasons are differential involvement, individual racism, and institutional racism to why racial disparities exist in
The “Stand Your Ground” law was first adopted in the state of florida in 2005. This law did not gain national attention until the shooting death of unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, in Sanford, florida, where the shooter, George Zimmerman used the “Stand Your Ground” law as his basis for defending himself against Trayvon Martin to the Sanford Police Department. However, George Zimmerman’s legal defense team did not utilize the law to argue his innocence during his trial. But the damage had been done because soon after other cases in florida began to sprout up with “Stand Your Ground” as the driving force.
The Tennessee v. Garner case impacted law enforcement agencies today by utilizing the Fourth Amendment right of not using deadly force to prevent a suspect from fleeing unless the officer is in imminent danger of their life. Consequently, before this was set into place, an officer had the right to use deadly force on a fleeing suspect by all means.” The first time the Court dealt with the use of force was in Tennessee v. Garner, in Garner, a police officer used deadly force despite being "reasonably sure" that the suspect was an unarmed teenager "of slight build" who was running away from him” (Gross,2016). Whereas, with Graham v. Conner case was surrounded around excessive force which also has an impact on law enforcement agencies in today’s society as well. “All claims that law enforcement officers have used excessive force deadly or not in the course of an arrest, investigatory stop, or other “seizure” of s free citizen should be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment and its “reasonableness” standard” (Doerner,2016).
The movement BlackLivesMatter have outed hundreds unlawful officers and victims that never got the justice needed. The same characteristics (color and style) that emulates strong, noble people can backfire. Black people in this country who actively resist dehumanization makes a call to action and a response to anti-Black racism in our current society. (Cullors, 2015) The growth of the movement has moved country-wide, first starting in the south; the south had always had history of racism and anti-black impulses. This movement is continuing to carry up north and west, and is projected that any officer can be the next one to unlawfully kill another black individual. These immoral police officers are no different from the rest of the police force, their uniforms are no different color or style they do not have different titles, there is no distinction between the these two types of officers. African Americans are persuaded to be more cautious and angry towards police officers; anyone with a cop uniform can be considered a threat to their life. Innocent cops were murdered in retaliation to the unfair judicial systems that are not punishing these cops. Once a police-like uniform is worn it not only once symbolizes honor and power, but t too many communities
“Their best defense against injury is to put no defense and give them what they want” (Kates). Critics may argue that concealed handguns are not an effective form of self defense. To the contrary, robbery and assault victims who used a gun were less likely to be attacked or suffer injury, “Neither a martial art skills nor chemical sprays provide a real option for victims faced by attackers who are stronger or armed” (Kates). People feel safer when they carry a concealed weapon because they feel that criminals will avoid attacking them. Citizens want to conceal carry a handgun because every day there are dangerous individuals who prey on the weak. In addition to that, concealed handguns are an effective non-lethal form of self defense a majority of the time. Gary Kleck from the Federal Bureau of Investigation “estimated that, 2 million to 2.5 million victims annually use handguns to repel criminal attackers” (Kates). The surprise of being armed is the advantage for the victim, which the victim has the disadvantage of knowing the time and place of being attacked. Concealed carry actually provides protection to citizens that do not carry because the criminals are not sure who is able to defend themsel...
Mr. Rodriguez called 911 to report loud music from his neighbor’s house. He then walked to his neighbor’s house with his firearm and a video camera. After the confrontation with his neighbor, he called law enforcement once more to tell them he felt threatened and that he was standing his ground. While Paul Rodriguez waited for law enforcement to arrive at the scene, he used deadly force against Kelly Danaher. In this case, Mr. Rodriguez initiated the confrontation and there was no proven evidence that he was in danger (Flatow,
“There will be no free rides, no excuses. You already have two strikes against you: your name and your complexion. Because of these two strikes, there are some people in this world who will assume that you know less than you do. Math is the great equalizer... When you go for a job, the person giving you that job will not want to hear your problems; ergo, neither do I. You're going to work harder here than you've ever worked anywhere else. And the only thing I ask from you is ganas. Desire.” Ramon Menendez (Stand and Deliver)
Police officers primary responsibility is to protect and serve citizens and communities, not to abuse the laws by hurting innocent people. In most states Stand-Your-Ground laws allows innocent citizens the right to use deadly force to defend and protect themselves. But what if they were protecting themselves from police brutality. Police brutality has been going on for many years; they can cause riots, injuries, and even mistrust for the police.
My first year of junior high, (in our school that was seventh grade) I was not spending all my time trying to be popular like all the other people in my grade. I was just being me how I always had been. One day at I was sitting at the lunch table with a bunch of people I would hang around with sometimes. Some of them were talking about there weekends.