Police brutality is one of the most serious human rights violations in the United States and it occurs everywhere. The reason why I chose this topic is because police brutality happens all the time in the United States and still remains unrecognized by many. Additionally, the public should be knowledgeable about this topic because of how serious this crime can be and the serious outcomes that police brutality can have on other police officers and the public. The job of police officers is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crimes. They are involved in very dangerous and stressful occupations that can involve violent situations that must be stopped and controlled by any means. In ...view middle of the document...
Verbal attacks by an officer can also be viewed as excessive force. Some officers feel like they won’t get in trouble for verbal abuse because no physical damage is done, but what they say may mean a lot. In some cases police officers have killed suspects out of anger or nervousness. An officer is allowed to use force against a person when they are needed to or when they feel very threatened. Some of those beatings happen when the citizen is handcuffed and not able to defend themselves. Every year, a good number of officers are accused of police brutality. Some victims file for civil lawsuits and most of those lawsuits favor the victim.
In the article “Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities”, Holmes states that “It is hardly surprising that many minority citizens distrust the criminal justice system, just as many criminal justice agents distrust them and that nowhere is that tension more apparent than in the relations between minorities and the police” (Holmes, 2000, p. 343). The severe beatings, rough treatment, and unjustified shootings have all contributed to the present police brutality in the U.S. Most of these incidents stay un-reported or un-
noticed which is not good at all. The type people that officers commit police brutality the most on are minorities. Some cops see minorities as animals that they could treat however they feel like.
Even though police brutality could happen anywhere, it takes place more often in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Atlanta, and Philadelphia. This article uses the conflict theory to describe the police brutality that occurs in the U.S. “The conflict theory of law stipulates that strategies of crime control regulate threats to the interests of dominant groups” (Holmes, 2000, p. 343).
Police officers become loyal towards each other due to working in the same place for a long time. They become close, almost like family. They do not want to hurt each others’ reputation by telling on one another. Another reason for the lack of information to the public is that police departments have the rights to hold information that would bring negative problems to their force. They prefer to keep all of those types of things private. Even if an officer is caught using excessive force, the bill of rights limit the abilities of a police commissioner or chief to suspend the officer that is being accused , and requires that the suspended officer continues to get their benefits and pay. Most of the time there’s nothing that can be done to properly punish an officer who abuses their power due to the fact that the...
