Now a day crime rates are going up exponentially. Crimes such as drug usage, terrorist attacks, shootings, police violence, and more. Many people are losing their lives for no fair reason and can’t defend their selves because their lives are lost in so abruptly. Many contend that it's the absence of government intercession that is making our equity framework flop in the assurance of our nation. Others say its racial pressure among white cops and African American’s. I for one say it's the absence of instruction on the two sides: the police compel, and the community.
In the TED talk "Death Penalty on the streets", Jelani Exum states that police officers are using unnecessary force and denying victims of their trial process. Exum begins by explaining that in recent years there were more than 300-400 police shooting in the United States. Exum expresses her feelings towards law enforcement violence and how it isn’t proper or correct. People are getting shot by law enforcement without proper evidence and officers are just shooting as their first instinct. This does not give individuals their rights to attend court and get their trial process, they basically just face like the death penalty being shot and don't have a chance to continue their life. Jelani Exum's TED talk was effective when trying to state that law enforcement is using unnecessary violence and what they are doing to people is unfair and against our rights.
Exum uses her research over the years to give herself credibility. She explains how she is a "death sentencing scholar and a law professor that teaches, writes, researches and speaks on sentencing issues." The speaker is portraying that she has prior knowledge on this topic and has creditable opinions based on her prior knowledge. Exum says she looks at the world with sentencing on her mind. She explains that if we take some time and think of all the protection that we give in a punishment context and move those to some of the social issues we are encountering we can discover and learn something. “We are all supposed to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, but we have over 400 reasons a year to question whether we really are,” Exum explains. She states this because so many crimes occur a year that are cruel and unusual and don’t get the correct punishment.
People who do not deserve to get killed do. For example, Exum uses ethos to give examples of unfair punishment such as speaking about Michael Brown. Michael Brown was suspected of stealing cigars from a store. Mind you cigars aren’t expensive so his crime would have been a misdemeanor and the most at least 1 year in jail. This was not the reason Brown was stopped though. He was stopped because he was crossing the street and he was delaying traffic. Most people don’t really get punished for that, but it is considered a misdemeanor. Under Missouri law it would be just 15 days in jail and that is it. According to the officer he killed Michael Brown because Brown was attacking him and threatening his life. Exum explains “So if we take that version of events, at a minimum that’s aggravated assault of a police officer, at the most, attempted murder, well under Missouri law, and the law of most states in this country, for a first-time offender, even the most serious felony assault with intent to kill, would carry up to 15 years in prison because the officer wasn’t injured. Even if the officer had been injured, that can carry life imprisonment, but what it can’t carry is the death penalty.” She explains this to show that getting charged with the death penalty is very uncommon and people are rarely punished in that way. She explains “I was frustrated as I heard discussions on both sides about whether Michael was surrendering with his hands up, or whether he was attacking the police officer.” Michael Browns punishment was death, “a cruel punishment disproportionate to his suspected offense.” Exum calls it suspected offense because the suspect never got the chance to have a trial and have these offenses proven in court. Regardless the way she felt was very disappointed that another young man was killed by police officers and very sad that another young life got lost.
Exum speaks about the different laws and the courts laws to prove that this action is incorrect and technically against the law. There are consequences on everything you do and the judge decides based on the severity of the crime whether to take the offenders life. She explains “Punishment is when the government takes our life, liberty or property as a response to our objectionable behavior.” (2:49-3:17) One form of punishment is known as the death penalty. The death penalty is when the government punishes someone by taking away their life. The constitution says that the “government cannot take our life, liberty or property without due process of law”, which means fair court proceeding. She gives us an example of taking away someone’s life, liberty and property. Exum explains if someone commits a minor crime they can fine you and that is considered as taking your property because they are taking your money. If you commit a more serious crime you can be imprisoned which is considered as taking your liberty. And if someone commits the worst offense of all they government can take away their life. Which that last example is the death penalty. Another thing on the constitution is we are all free from cruel and unusual punishment. Which means it has to respect the rights of people and their lives. “The death penalty according to the Supreme Court can only apply in the most narrow of cases where the offense is so serious that the offender is not even deserving of life,”(4:37-5:57) states Exum. The reason for that is because the death penalty is the most serious offense and it is very real so they only apply it to the absolute worse situations. Exum personally feels we are going against the law because law enforcements are not obeying the constitution and performing unusual punishment by killing these people on the streets.
This all shows that Jelani Exum's TED talk was effective when trying to state that law enforcement is using unnecessary violence and what they are doing to people is unfair and against our rights. Exum explains exactly the horrible behavior portrayed by police officers to the community and how it is not fair the punishment they are receiving. She gives examples of all the government laws and explains how everything they are doing to the individuals is against our laws and not fair punishment. She explains being a police officer is a dangerous job, but they are still part of the government and have to act within constitutional limitations. At the end of the day we are all supposed to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, but there are many reasons to question if we really are.