A Structural and Permanent Solution to Police Brutality (original) (raw)
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Sworn to Protect_Police Brutality_A Dilemma for America_s Police Vol 23_No 3-4 2016 _156_185.pdf
Abstract Police abuse is the purposeful practice of unwarranted coercion, frequently physical, but potentially in the form of verbal assaults and psychological intimidation, by police which, constitutes abuse and official misconduct. It may be provoked by contempt of cop (i.e., understood as insults towards police officers). However, occasionally it is a concurrent response by a police officer without any incitement. Police brutality is a grievous form of crime done by the police hired to be prevent the crime itself. The use of force may be judged necessary or excessive depending on whether it was determined to be legitimate under the circumstances to fulfill the police duty (Kania and Mackey, 1977). The media has focused like a laser on the racial divides in the U. S. sparked by the deaths of young African Americans (i.e. Michael Brown in Fergusson, Missouri, Eric Garner, NYC, Oscar Grant in California and Sandra Bland in Texas and many others at the hands of cops with dubious use of force. (Edwards, 2016, Khaleeli, 2016). These deaths lead ultimately to an activists group, ‘Black Lives Matters’. Originally, a loosely confederated group of Black activities that has since Ferguson, MO, (2014), gown and morphed into a solid expansive organization whose mission is now to protest any form of police abuse and brutality. The influence of social media provided a rough transition for counter sentiments such as ‘Blue Lives Matter to ‘All Lives Matter’. The new labels provide a means for those who want to laminate an oppositional side to identify with. According to FBI statistics, African-Americans represented 31 percent of all shooting victims by police while representing 13 percent of all U. S, inhabitants according to Grochowski, R., & Gabrielson, R. (2014, October 10). Approximately 50 percent of the 14,800 police agencies do not report police involved homicide statistics to the FBI - UCR. This is quite distributing considering that 175 Black males were shot Police Brutality – A Dilemma for America’s Police and killed by police since January, 2015. Black’s males represent six percent of the population and 40 percent of victims of police shooting incidents.
Hands Up at Home: Militarized Masculinity and Police Officers Who Commit Intimate Partner Abuse
2015
The deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the almost daily news stories about abusive and violent police conduct are currently prompting questions about the appropriate use of force by police officers. Moreover, the history of police brutality directed towards women is welldocumented. Most of that literature, however, captures the violence that police do in their public capacity as officers of the state. This Article examines the violence and abuse perpetrated by police in their private lives, against their intimate partners. Although the public and private overlap, the power and training provided to police officers by the state makes them significantly more dangerous as abusers. Intimate partner abuse by police officers is a systemic, structural issue created and fueled by the ways in which police officers are socialized and trained. Police officers are more likely than others to abuse their partners, and as a result of their training and their state imprimatur, police abuse of partners is more problematic and potentially more dangerous than abuse by civilians. Changing the behavior of abusive police officers may be nearly impossible given the interplay of policing and masculinity.
Journal of the Institute for Justice and International Studies , 2013
Large numbers of seriously mentally ill persons are being incarcerated because their disturbed behavior is criminalized. The criminal justice system is struggling to manage the needs of these mentally ill persons in correctional settings. This article examines the problem of the incarcerated mentally ill in terms of whether or not the correctional setting is an ethically legitimate place to house and treat these persons. First, it briefly summarizes how we arrived at this problem in the U.S. Then, it examines the problem today in the U.S. and comparatively in European nations. Finally, it closes with recommendations for establishing treatment outside correctional settings and how to best address the issue of mental illness within correctional settings.
Community Surveillance of Police-Citizen Encounters: Canadian Police Officers in YouTube
This study explores the portrayals of Canadian police officers and the nature of community surveillance techniques of bystanders, by examining a sample of YouTube videos. An exploratory content analysis of these videos allowed for identification of themes in police conduct and police portrayal. Trends in community surveillance, including bystander conduct and influence, have also been identified. Interview research was conducted with four Canadian police officers to compliment previous findings.
Advocating for Justice: Case Studies in Combating Discriminatory Policing
2011
The Center for Constitutional Rights has long been active in the movement to address racial profiling, particularly in New York City. CCR has been combating systematic racial profiling by the New York City Police Department through both litigation and advocacy since the 1990s, and has worked with community groups, attorneys and activists both in New York and around the country on issues of police abuse and targeting of youth, people of color and other minority communities. In the summer of 2011, CCR interviewed civil rights and police accountability lawyers, advocates, grassroots activists and academics across the United States to inquire about their work addressing police misconduct, abuse and racial profiling practices. The Center also conducted background research on successful models for police accountability, transparency and oversight throughout the country. Based on this research, this report highlights strategies for combating racial profiling by police that have been employed by civil society groups in nine different cities across the United States. These strategies include (i) litigation, (ii) collaborations between law enforcement and the communities they police, (iii) legislative and administrative advocacy, (iv) soliciting the involvement of the U.S Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, and (v) grassroots organizing and education. The experiences of the groups in these cities, both the successes and the failures, provide some important lessons for those doing anti-racial profiling work in the U.S.