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Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system
Racial discrimination in the criminal justice system
Discrimination in the u.s justice system
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Buehler, J. W. (2017). Racial/ethnic disparities in the use of lethal force by US police, 2010-2014. American Journal of Public Health, 107 (2), 295-297. In Buehler’s article, he attempts to disprove a study that found no racial disparities in killings that law enforcement were responsible for.
"Police Brutality and Race." Gale Student Resources in Context, Gale, 2016. Student Resources In Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/ZLECYL059670611/SUIC?u=etiwanda_hsl&sid=SUIC&xid=18f0bfb2 Accessed 2 May 2018. The general statement made by the authors of Gale Research in their article is that police brutality has been around for more than 100 years within the country of the United States.
People need to realize not all police are racist and should not be viewed that way just like how African Americans should not be viewed as thugs, gang members etc. The only way to end police brutality is if we remove these stereotypes from both sides. Overall there are multiple reason for police brutality which are stereotypes of African Americans, stereotypes for police, and the media. One major stereotype is that all African Americans are violent, aggressive, part of gangs, and do drugs.
Almost every year hundreds to thousands of African Americans are killed due to police brutality. Over like a hundred of African Americans were killed this year because of police brutality. Everyone who has been a part of police brutality, their families have to go on with life knowing someone really special to them is not in their life anymore. Many families are devastated this year because they have lost a family member or a spouse due to this situation. Many African Americans think that police brutality is not right.
Police Brutality Police brutality has become a too often occurring event in the United States. The rampant act of police brutality, often killing, is a direct violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments. Breaking and all but destroying the relationship between police and the communities they are supposed to protect and serve. Minorities and the poor are often the victims of a modern militarized zero tolerance police force of modern times. More recent times has seen the media as being a main source of the infringement on rights upon these communities terrorized by police tactics.
In an article written by DePillis, he states “if there was to be an increase of black police officers it will not resolve the issue of police brutality because what people do not know it is more complex than we think” (DePhillis, 2014) . What he concludes saying is police brutality can happen with any officer. Before researchers concluded race has nothing to do with the amount of excessive force used by police officers. In addition, research has also shown that white police officers are not the only ones to use excessive force. Black police officers have also been known to use excessive force against black victims and are sometimes more aggressive and harsh than white police officers (DePhillis, 2014).
Smith & Holmes (2003) confirmed research that stated that minorities are the targets of police brutality. Referring back to Figure 1, you can see that among the other ethnicities, African Americans over the age of 25 have been targeted the most starting from 1968 and now the targeting has been spread out to other ethnicities but a majority of the police brutality cases are involving African American males. From looking at Figure 1, one can see that the African American community has been affected the most with police killings since 1968 up unto now. For example, in the case of Michael Brown, an 18-year old African American male who was fatally shot and killed by Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson a Caucasian male. Michael Brown and friend
However, research demonstrates that often times men of color are treated harshly which leads to negative perceptions of police officers. Police brutality is a crime that is has been surfacing in the news recently. Some people are just starting to realize that these injustices against the black community really occur, while others are well aware. The recent shootings, different run-ins with officers being filmed while doing such harmful actions against African American men is an example of police brutality and, that reminds us that as a society work needs to be done to improve police and community relations. A black male cannot even walk down the street on a cold night because he might be a suspect from something or he may be of danger to the people around.
Police brutality and legal system injustice is an issue that has affected many communities throughout the years. However, the African American communities has experienced these issues for numerous years starting from the times of slavery and segregation, during the civil rights movement, and to the present. The African American Communities has formed protests to challenge and understand the way police officers have been trained to deal with certain situations, and to show the world how dishonest and unfair the legal systems are when it comes to punishing the police officers involved in the deaths of unarmed African Americans. Many people have their differences when asked to describe their definition of police brutality; However, the law dictionary explains police brutality as "the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians"(Danilina).
One of the greatest challenges law enforcement are facing is providing effective policing for minority communities. Some factors that prevent minorities from gaining access to justice or being taken advantage of certain criminal justice services are language barriers, racial stereotyping, and cultural differences. Since the 30 's and 40 's, and even during the 60 's, civil rights activists damaged the police-minority relations in the United States, believing that police only interest are protecting white communities. A big explanation of why there 's a poor police-minority relations in the United States is racism on the part of the individual officers. Many minorities in the United States have continued to complain about being treated more harshly than whites and the Department of Justice believes that racial profiling and police discrimination will continue to be a big problem.
This report is showing light to the communities’ response to police brutality particularly in the black communities and also their encounters with police officers. Police brutality is physical violence and great cruelty demonstrated by a police officer. Police brutality and misconduct have existed for many decades and it even has been broadcasted in news stories over America, but nothing has changed. It has happened predominantly to African Americans in lower-income states. Police officers are given slaps on the wrist for taking a life or injuring an innocent person.
Police brutality remains a common yet controversial topic around the world. Police brutality is “the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians” (thelawdictionary.org). It’s a topic that segregates communities and makes each other their enemy. Specifically, a white officer has been the enemy of the black community. Unfortunately, the tension between police and blacks grew over the past few decades.
Cops around the United States have been accused of racially profiling black people. This topic has been brought up by everyone around the U.S. and is very controversial. Studies have shown that the majority of deaths by police officers have been people of opposite color in America. Police brutality in America is a growing epidemic that has shown no signs of slowing down. Innocent men, women, and even children have been killed by police officers for no reason.
Racism is the number one cause in police brutality. Police brutality is happening everywhere due to racial discrimination where white police officers are shooting or harming an unarmed black person. A main cause of this could be that the officer thought that the person tried to harm him. Racism is a leading cause due to just a white cop shooting an unarmed black person due to the cop thinking that the person had tried to attack them even though the person probably did not do anything. In order to stop police brutality, the police should learn when to use their gun in situations, whether life-threatening or not.
An occurrence observed by the population of Los Angeles, California conveys the existence of racism and police brutality. According to The Polls-Trends: Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward the Police, “…three quarters of blacks, but only 38 percent of whites, continued to view police brutality as a common occurrence” (Tuch and Weitzer
