Kaylee Dang
Professor Andrews
English 100
18 May 2018
Research Paper
As society grows at an exponential rate, so does the issue regarding police brutality. A considerable amount of policemen have been seen to have wrongful intentions and using unjust tactics that raise concern and propose threats to society as a whole, impacting everyone in different ways. The presence of police brutality and its controversy surrounding it has only continued to expand. Police brutality separates communities all around the world — especially those of color. It is merely in the form of racial, violent matters. “Examples of police misconduct include police brutality, dishonesty, fraud, coercion, torture to force confessions, abuse of authority, and sexual assault, including the demand for sexual favors in exchange for leniency. Any of these actions can increase the likelihood of a wrongful conviction” (“Police Misconduct”). As we evaluate how police show abuse of authority, we see that it consists of threats of violence using guns, tasers, batons, sprays, and more. Sadly, sometimes these threats can lead to a gradual increase in the deaths of many innocent people. Police brutality is an intricate situation that has universal effects on today's society. In comparison to former years, the police have grown to be placed under critical observation for police brutality, and has been emphasized by the help of those recording these harmful acts. Alongside this issue, there are a variety of cases that show how much of an impact police brutality has on a society. Similar emphasis will deepen the understanding and position that an individual plays in situations like these as well. In recent years, police brutality has only continued to be a highlight of interest with the use of videos, provoking the public eye to draw attention towards the injustice of it as a whole. The public has been aware of the unjust, minor charges given to law enforcement, and the likelihood of the unfair system ignoring the right actions to take once again. Police brutality has caused people to become more violent and fearful towards one another — it turned the police and community against each other, people lost all trust in law enforcement, and started violence for the justice of their loved ones — which led to the creation of movements like Black Lives Matter. Police officers must function in a way that consists of persistent exercise for the rights of humans in order for change. The only way that police brutality would stop relies solely on the police themselves.
One of the most important impacts that police brutality has on society today is the growing distrust between law enforcement officers and minorities, and their violation of our basic human rights. Over the past decade, people have questioned whether or not police are doing their jobs right. Some individuals are in favor of the police and what they do for us. However, most individuals have more of an unfavorable attitude towards police officers and what they do that considers their actions to be good or bad. As we are all aware of, in many cases racial profiling is defined as a practice by law enforcement that aim towards generalizing a particular group of people based on race, religion, ethnicity, origin, and more to act on their perceptions. Racial profiling can trigger serious problems. Many law enforcement agencies have been through lawsuits that concern civil rights — our human rights (“Racial Profiling”). It has become a challenging relation between police and citizens in certain communities. According to, The National Institute of Justice, “Racial and ethnic minority perceptions that the police lack lawfulness and legitimacy, based largely on their interactions with the police, can lead to distrust of the police.” (Horowitz, 2016, p. 1). Discrimination and other factors leads to a violation of our rights and distrust in police officers. When we think about police officers, our minds are quick to think about how they abuse their power. People view things according to how they feel about the situation. Racist people could agree with the murder of a black man with no signs of crime. As much as we would like to change the way some people view the world, the truth is that racism will always be around. Racial discrimination makes individuals of color fearful of getting involved with police as they know they have authority over them in most situations. One of the most famous cases was of Michael Brown, 18, in Ferguson, Missouri. Vozick-Levinson states, “..a grand jury declined to indict the police officer who shot unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown to death… and left his body in the street for four hours” (Vozick-Levinson, 2014, p. 1). This is a great example of how fearful individuals deserve to be when the jury releases police officers for murder. Although there is nothing new about this pattern of racism with police, more people are standing along the side of ending police brutality.
Not only has our society been greatly impacted from police brutality by being fearful and untrusting of police officers, there has been an increase in victims killed every year, especially blacks. At a higher rate than other Americans, young black men are nine times more likely killed by policemen at the age of 15-34 in 2016 (Swaine, 2017, p. 2). This research supports the idea that black men are greatly victimized even when there is no crime involved. One of the most famous cases was the arrest of Eric Garner. The public eye made a huge, heated controversy over the death of Garner. The arrest of Garner was due to selling loose cigarettes leading up to him being “taken down and put in a chokehold. He repeatedly told the officers, ‘I can't breathe,’ but his pleas were ignored. Garner died from compressions to the neck and chest from being placed in the chokehold” (D’Onofrio, 2018, p. 3). Although every crime differs from situation to situation, there was a video uploaded showing that the police were violently handling the conflict. The police used an excessive amount of force that led to Garner’s death. Research has shown the amount of deaths of an African American is up to a total of three times more than white people by the police (Sinyangwe, 2018, p. 1). Not only does ethnic background matter, but where you live matters as well. “13 of the 100 largest U.S. city police departments kill black men at higher rates than the U.S. murder rate” (Sinyangwe, 2018, p. 2). One of the most important impacts that police brutality has done to society is the death of 69% of non-violent/unarmed black people compared to 31% of allegedly armed/violent black people. This has made a tremendous impact on our lives as our loved ones have been faced with police brutality, and do not get to return home to those who were expecting them. Not only are the victims harmed, but the victim’s loved ones are too.
Lastly, third out of many impacts police brutality has on society is the amount of controversy regarding this topic ending in violence — riots, outbreaks, protests. Most police brutality conflict involves an African American victim. In today’s society, they make up most of the jails. African Americans are consistently being targeted by the police and under the assumption they are acting unlawfully. In recent cases, social media has been flooded with police brutality videos that show African Americans being abused by officers that are supposed to protect the country. After citizens become aware of the serious dangers of law enforcements abusing their power, it leads to violent riots and outbreaks. These riots become uncontrollable and dangerous for our society. Individuals have been seen to start movements and protest for days to get the justice that the system has failed to deliver. Following the individuals, “thousands of marchers proceeded in waves throughout New York City, with one group stopping traffic as they marched from Manhattan to Brooklyn over the Brooklyn Bridge, and some carrying fake coffins with the names of police shooting victims” (Laughland et al., 2014, p. 1). Furthermore, violent outbreaks consisted of, “.. turned over trash cans and set the contents on fire. A few windows in at least one store were broken and one had "black lives matters" spray-painted on it” (Almasy et al., 2016, p. 1). Society has turned to violence in order to get what they want. Police brutality has changed their perspectives and led them to become violent, because no one would take action for their loved ones. The violent riots will always be remembered for the stand that they took for injustice. However, violence is not the answer.
Police brutality has been around for as many years as I can remember — separating society as a whole from the start. Many law enforcement officers have wrongful intentions and unjust tactics towards the citizens they are supposed to protect. To make a change, they should have officers be placed under special monitoring, training and counseling to prevent them from being in a worse situation in the future. Many different types of conflicts regarding the abuse of authority by a police officer can be found on any social media, and still spreading the word to this day. I have come to an understanding that police brutality is an issue that is negatively impacting the African American community. The lack of consequence that police officers are given are what shows how corrupt and racist the system is. Police brutality negatively impacts us as a whole due to feeling unsafe and fearful of law enforcements that should be protecting us, people losing all trust in officers, and violent outbreaks for the justice of their loved ones
Works Cited
“Police Misconduct.” California Innocence Project, 2018, www.californiainnocenceproject.org/ issues-we-face/police-misconduct/.
“Racial Profiling.” National Institute of Justice, National Institute of Justice,
www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/legitimacy/pages/racial-profiling.aspx.
Horowitz, Jake. “Race, Trust and Police Legitimacy.” National Institute of Justice, National Institute of Justice, 14 July 2016, www.nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/legitimacy/Pages/ welcome.aspx, pp. 1.
Laughland, Oliver, et al. “Eric Garner Protests Continue in Cities across America through Second Night.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 5 Dec. 2014, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/05/eric-garner-case-new-york-protests- continue-through-second-night, pp. 1.
Sinyangwe, Samuel. “Police Have Killed 466 People in 2018.” Mapping Police Violence, mappingpoliceviolence.org/. pp. 1-2.
Swaine, Jon, and Ciara McCarthy. “Young Black Men Again Faced Highest Rate of US Police Killings in 2016.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 Jan. 2017, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/08/the-counted-police-killings-2016-young- black-men, pp. 2.
Vozick-Levinson, Simon. “Black Lives Matter: 11 Police Killings With No Justice.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 4 Dec. 2014, www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/black-lives- matter-11-racist-police-killings-with-no-justice-served-20141204, pp. 1.