Criminal Justice: Excessive Use Of Force

Tulsa, Oklahoma, on July 5 at around 11:45am in the north side of the city, former Marine 33 year old Craig Wingard was transported to the hospital in critical condition. Craig had been shot by a man that went inside the house that Craig was in front of, came back out to started to shot. After shooting Craig, the shooter fled the scene in a dark vehicle with paper plates, this according to witness. Craig was shot four times in his chest, hand, and legs.

Use of force is the amount of force used in a given situation during police work. The police are supposed to follow the continuum when it come to using force. This continuum is known as the “Use of Force Continuum”. Despite this, use of force is still a constant problem in policing. There are many cases where a cop are sued for using more force than necessary, sometimes on purpose and sometimes by accident. It can be hard to prosecute a cop for these actions due to the constant state of threat a cop’s life is at while doing their job and the unpredictability of their job.

On February 26,2012, a seventeen year old by the name of Trayvon Martin was walking home from the store. As he was headed home a man spotted him from his window his name was George Zimmerman. Zimmerman called the cops and told them it was a suspicious guy walking through the neighborhood. Trayvon was wearing a hoodie he was slowly walking because of the rain and he was black. Zimmerman then told the police that Trayvon was looking around at all the houses and hes looking at him. The dispatcher that they were going to send an officer over. Zimmerman became impatient he went outside and started following Trayvon. Trayvon who was on the phone with his friend told her "that there was a man walking behind him" she told Trayvon to run which he did. Zimmerman who is still on the phone with the dispatcher tells them that hes running the dispatcher tells Zimmerman to not chase him but Zimmerman does. Zimmerman chases him down and Trayvon confronts him. "Why are you following me" Zimmerman asks Trayvon " What are you doing around here" Based on the reports there were two different stories. Next thing that happened Trayvon and Zimmerman were tassling on the ground. Zimmerman than shots Trayvon which a neighbor witness. Zimmerman says it was in self defense. An officer arrived at the scene in less than a few minutes where he seen Zimmerman standing by Trayvon 's body. Trayvon

Many states have Peace Officer’s Bill of Rights and it is argued that the Peace Officer’s Bill of Rights makes it very difficult to discipline or remove bad officers; only other officers many times judge officers, and it makes an investigator’s job of

In today's society, it is not uncommon for police officer misconduct, including brutality, to gain everyone's attention. When one officer shoots and kills a suspect, that officer is investigated in order to ensure there was no intentions to harm anyone but to try and keep the peace. Intentional harm to citizens is considered police brutality and can escalate into something more serious such as riots and protests. The kind of misconduct that some police take when arresting a suspect cannot be taken lightly to prevent any sort of riots or protests such as those after Rodney King as 50 people were killed and hundreds more were injured (Katel). Cases, as well as investigations after accusations, need to be dealt in a serious as

Police brutality will be an issue until a solution is created. Many individuals are victims of this form of assault on daily basis. The liberties held by law enforcement are challenged each time they perform their duties. Police officers should abide by the same laws that each citizen is expected to abide by. Although police officers are granted with the right to determine laws as constitutional, civilians are sometimes treated in ways that are beyond unlawful.

A career in policing requires an individual to meet a high standard for character and demonstrated behavior, in order to be developed into an effective officer. Succeeding in a police academy requires the candidate to display and apply integrity, a skill which must be developed before receiving admission. Integrity demonstrated through a police officer’s personal life, provides the foundation for a respected career. When presented with the opportunity to leverage a peace officer’s position for personal profit, an individual who has previously made selfless choices, is more reliable for operating within the law.

Police Brutality is an ongoing problem and existent concern in the United States and should be resolved immediately. Law enforcement must function as an element that consists of organized and civilized officers. The presence of police brutality is becoming more of an issue as society grows. The problem posed by the illegal exercise of police power is an ongoing reality for individuals of a disfavored race, class, or sexual orientation. Police brutality must be stopped so that police do not forget who they are serving not themselves, but the public. This means that even the criminals, who are a part of the public, have certain rights, particularly, civil rights. Police brutality causes a major concern in America. These racial prejudices are

Police officer misconduct has been a publicly controversial topic for many years. Many people are familiar with the infamous “Ramparts” division of the LAPD where they committed acts of beatings and extortion and the “Riders” of the Oakland Police Department in their brutality against suspects (Criminal Law, n.d.).These examples are just a few of the problems that have occurred and occurring within our criminal justice system. The examples previously described also provide a connection of one familiar form of police misconduct and that is brutality. Police brutality is just one of the many forms of police misconduct and the types that follow under misconduct include theft/fraud, bribery, sexual misconduct, use of excessive force, domestic

There are numerous issues that deal with the American criminal justice system, but the two I found most prominant that occur on a daily basis is the abuse from police officers and clear racism shown by the American criminal justice system. To begin, racism as we know is a prejudice directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior. In the criminal justice system African Americans are directly targeted and punished in a higher more aggressive way, than say someone who is caucasian and committed the same exact crime. Racism is more often than not, the motive for official misconduct. There are examples of racism from every known region in the United States, spanning across centuries from slavery to

Police officers have vowed their life to protect and serve. They risk their lives every day for their communities. As the last few years have sped past us, police officers have been very aggressive with the force they use when arresting a suspect, or even people in general. According to a Texas article on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights, “police officers typically use force offensively rather than defensively and do so with at least some degree of premeditation.” (Gross,2013, page 167). Many police officers get off easily because they call it as self-defense, but it’s not. People being brutally beaten or killed, riots breaking out, mourning of neighborhoods, lawsuits against police departments all can be at stake of police officers using excessive force. This is part of the reason our country has been in an uproar. In the last few years’ police brutality has been at an all-time high. Because of it, movements have been started and protests have broken out. As most should know there has been a split in the diversity of the nation because of it.

Over the past three and a half years I have spent my life studying in school. I have studied for hours and hours about the field of criminal justice; the reason it exists, its history and development, theories that are used to explain topics in criminal justice, and cases that have been monumental in changing the way that criminal justice works. While all of these are great to learn about the field of criminal justice itself cannot be learned from reading textbooks and memorizing theories. This is why I am interested in an internship with the Griffin Police Department. I want to learn how the criminal justice system is in action, how things actually play out outside of the scholastic setting. It is easy to learn about a subject from a book, but it is an entirely different matter to learn about a subject through real life experience. I hope to learn how to serve and protect while implementing the law correctly, especially in today’s world when the level of support for police officers is very low and the level of misconduct cases concerning the police are very high. It is not easy to know what to do in every situation, especially when some reactions are needed with very little or no time to think about. It is one thing to hear about a crime happening and the response that would be best to give, and another thing to need

Police work is unpredictable and is very dangerous. In some situations, officers may have to utilize use-of-force tactics in order to gain control of a certain situation. This essay will focus on the discussion of polices discretion to use force limited to a suspect who is being “uncooperative” and what mitigating factors may escalate or de-escalate force response by an officer.

A video footage recorded by Keith Lamont Scott 's wife moments before he was killed by police in Charlotte was made public on Friday.