Racial Bias In The Report Of The Ferguson Police Department

Shortly following the shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, the Department of Justice conducted an investigation. On March 4, 2014 the report of the Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department was released to the public, where they uncovered a pattern of racial bias, excessive force, and constitutional violations. One of the key findings of the report is the prevalent racial bias within the FPD. The report provides multiple examples of discriminatory behavior, with African Americans disproportionately targeted for traffic stops, citations, and arrests. This pattern can be seen through the language used by the officer in official statements and from the DOJ’s observation of the police

The report notes that these officers had inadequate training, supervision, and accountability mechanisms. Officers at the department are never held accountable, therefore they feel as though they could act in any way, with no regard to the individual or the impact it has on the community. In response to these findings, the DOJ issued a series of recommendations to help reform the department in hopes of rebuilding the trust within the community. Some of the recommendations include: implementing bias-free policing practices, enhancing officer training and supervision, improving accountability measures for officer misconduct, and restructuring the municipal court system to prioritize fairness and justice. This report paints a clear image of the systematic racial bias and institutional failures within the Ferguson Police Department. It was written to serve as a wakeup call for accountability. By looking at this report through an ethical lens, the patterns of racial bias and constitutional violations are

Black drivers were also twice as likely as whites to be searched during vehicle stops. Additionally, the report discussed the focus on generating revenue for the state, regardless of how unreasonable the practices are. The ideology the city officials have followed the criticism of this theory perfectly. Many claim that Rawl’s theory does not take into account the veil of ignorance that cannot counteract human selfishness and self-interest. When city officials encourage generating revenue despite sending people who did not receive notice of citations to jail, they are acting out of selfishness. Another aspect of ethics in the criminal justice system that can be applied to the FPR is learning theories. The overall premise is that all human behavior is learned; therefore, ethics is a function of learning rather than reasoning. Specifically looking at modeling and reinforcement theories, we can see that the Ferguson Police Department is a direct result of learning theories. Modeling theory’s central idea is that individuals learn by observing and imitating the behavior of