No one is a stranger to the reality of racial profiling in the police force. Police brutality is not a new topic within American culture but it seems, for the past decade, it afflicts the black community above all else. With the senseless death of black adolescents, black men, and black women increasing and in a highly publicized way, there has to be a solution to the growing problem. But the Jim Crow laws extends beyond the criminal justice system into every aspect of democratic society in America. The criminal justice system increasingly serves as a universal home for punishment and control that focuses predominantly on black and brown and poor people. Black bodies are publicly humiliated in displays of state violence that reinforce unequal
Addressing police brutality must be done with empathy for and awareness of the plight of the African-American community. Historically speaking, there has not been a period wherein the African-American community was not inhibited by institutionalized barriers. American enslavement provided the foundation for later oppressive provisions that are especially prevalent within inner-city, predominantly Black communities, which, incidentally, many of the prominent instances of police brutality have taken place. Political regimes like the “war on drugs,” “school to prison pipeline,” and mass incarceration criminalize and dehumanize the African-American community, and thus affect the collective mindset of the population. I believe that an imperative first step that has not been taken is acknowledging the effects these may have on the Black community.
Researchers and Black people are not the only ones who recognize that racial profiling is a problem — even some government organizations do. A page on the National Institute of Justice’s website admits, “people of color are more often stopped than whites” (National Institute of Justice). Clearly, racial profiling by police officers is an existing issue and something must be done to put an end to this horrible practice. Fortunately, there are several methods for how police departments can reduce racial profiling against Black
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: The New Press. Michelle Alexander in her book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" argues that law enforcement officials routinely racially profile minorities to deny them socially, politically, and economically as was accustomed in the Jim Crow era.
Police Brutality Police brutality has become a too often occurring event in the United States. The rampant act of police brutality, often killing, is a direct violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments. Breaking and all but destroying the relationship between police and the communities they are supposed to protect and serve. Minorities and the poor are often the victims of a modern militarized zero tolerance police force of modern times. More recent times has seen the media as being a main source of the infringement on rights upon these communities terrorized by police tactics.
Humans are programmed to create communities, and communities create institutions. Unfortunately, our American institutions are failing to adapt to the ever-changing world. The ‘community” of America continues to change every minute of every day and American institutions, not only remain the same, but are falling behind. Many institutions in America have failed, but are utilized still.
"Racial Profiling and Criminal Justice." The Journal of Ethics, vol. 15, no. 1-2, 2011. , pp. 79-88. Nclive, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10892-010-9098-3.
There is a point in everyone’s life where they are scared of a police officer pulling them over. The fear is usually getting a costly ticket or taken under arrest; However, darker skinned citizens now have to worry about police brutality. Police brutality is the use of excessive and unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. Over the years, the country has been exposed to the truth about what minorities face when pulled over by a racist police officer. Most of the victims from the police mistreatment are from minority groups, therefore, race plays a key role in police brutality.
In recent years, a spotlight has been placed on innocent black men being murdered by law enforcement through news media. In fact, many times these cases have been spoken about as, “police brutality”, which almost lessens the crisis of black lives that were lost. Whether through beatings or headlocks, the fact remains that black citizens have been taken by law enforcement with no legal repercussions. American voices must be raised against the police brutality against black citizens for the sake of equality, humanity and justice.
Police brutality is a common thing going on in today’s society everywhere around the world. A famous incident that happened that caught everyone’s attention was the Trayvon Martin shooting that happened in Sanford, Florida. He was a teenager that was gunned down by George Zimmerman who was a neighborhood watch volunteer. he feared for his life when Martin was coming from the store with a black hoodie on. In the song Beyoncé uses black kids dressed in black hoodies in the video dancing and police officers surrounding them in riot gear.
Regardless of the decisions made by the courts and the evidence available to the public, it is easy to blame the situation at hand on racism. However, according to the statistics relayed on The Juvenile and Criminal Justice Center website, the stance leaning towards law enforcement bias towards black men, does not hold. These reports state that police killed 123 blacks. On the other hand, these reports also published that the same group of offenders
At what point does enforcing a law with physical or verbal force turn to abuse or just simply go to far? This muddy subject means many different things to many different people. Is it the point when even after someone is captured the beating continues? Police brutality is considered to take place when someone in law enforcement is over enforcing a law or using excessive force? This can come in the form of verbal or physical abuse.
Police brutality is a serious injustice which impacts many individuals in the United States and is an issue that needs to be addressed and resolved. Millions of American citizens interact with law enforcement, “about 1 million of these civilians experience police threat or use of force during these interactions”(Law Enforcement Epidemiology Project). Police brutality against Black people in the US is nothing new; it has existed here for a very long time. Historical evidence confirms that Black people are the victims of police brutality.
Throughout history, disputes and tensions between law enforcement officials and communities of minorities have endured hostility and violence between each other. Racial profiling has become a “hot topic” for researchers as well as for politicians and by now it is likely that most citizens are at least aware of the common accusations of racial bias pitted against law enforcement (Cochran & Warren, 2013). Communities of color are being discriminated against and racially profiled by white police officers for any suspicion of criminal activities. It has been widely assumed by policy makers and citizens alike that allegations of racial profiling are mostly associated with the policing practices of white officers and their treatment of racial and ethnic minorities (Cochran & Warren, 2013). Also, individuals of minority descent will certainly recognize that they are being racially profiled during a stop that is being conducted by a white police officer.
According to “The Washington Post”, Last year 963 African Americans were shot and killed by police. Ever since the 1960s Africans has been fighting for equality; in the Eric Garner case and Michael Brown, it demonstrated how White police officers abuse and misuse their power towards African Americans. Since the increase of police brutality communities has had marches, rallies, and even the Black Lives Matters movements as a response to show that Polices’ abuse of power is unacceptable. The Black Lives Matter movement was created after radical discrimination it is a political movement to inform and protect Black Lives. (Wesley Lowery.
Annotated Bibliography Books Dudley, William, et al., editors. Police Brutality. D.L. Bender, 1991. • Police Brutality gives information on how police brutality is a widespread issue in the United States and explains different controversies and cases that relate to police brutality. • The editors of this book include activists and nonfiction authors who provide reliable information on what happened during different incidences of police brutality and the viewpoints and controversies that come with it.