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
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, departments that serve less than 2,500 people are 84.4% white and departments that serve millions are 53.4% white (as cited in Fifield, 2016). Notably, Over the years, a lack of diversity within law enforcement has become a pertinent issue. Notably, the underrepresentation of minorities within law enforcement influences the relationship between communities and law enforcement by engendering distrust with law enforcement. To say nothing of, underrepresentation of minorities have had many people question whether departments mirror a diverse community. Nevertheless, with that being said, underrepresentation of minorities have generated tension and distrust between communities and law enforcement and many believe that police department need to mirror the race composition within their cities. Although some people may challenge that diversifying police officers will not make a difference in the relationship with communities, police departments mirroring the diversity of communities may mend tension.
The actual life of a police officer is spent responding to crimes, interviewing witnesses and suspects, apprehending fugitives, and collecting evidence. They witness and experience many traumatic events, such as having to respond to a murder call or a rape situation. Things, such as the ones mentioned lead to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Police officers (PTSD). PTSD is a disorder that may be triggered by witnessing or experiencing traumatic events. Law enforcement officers’ experience these events at one point while on duty, which is why PTSD is common within this line of duty. A police officer with PTSD suffers social stress around friends and family, and instead of seeking help they turn to unhealthy habits.
Racial profiling and police brutality has become a very common issue in the United States. This is a problematic issue and has become a very controversial topic. It has raised the question are law enforcement officers receiving the appropriate training to do their job. To become a police officer, you are not required to receive a college degree in Criminal Justice. The amount of training the police officers receive depends on the agency requirements. Many people have started to question about having law enforcement officers in the field that have no prior knowledge of the law or law enforcement experience. Many people feel that this has started to create dangerous situations. This is because even though they have been through a training with
Police should be recruiting military veterans and adopting the army 's sensitivity training so officers are more understanding when it comes to the people they swore to protect. Sensitivity training teaches officers how to deal with people from different religions and cultures. Perkins continues on saying that there is a divide between the local law enforcement and their communities. To help further the idea that the police department and their communities are separate, Perkins links readers to The Race Gap in America’s Police Department by Jeremy Ashkenas which presents data and statistics that show that no matter how diverse an area is, most of the police is white. However, Perkins also realizes that most police departments do not have the
Racial profiling is defined as “The use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime”. (Oxford Dictionaries | English, Oxford Dictionaries.) For the long history that is The United States of America and even in present day we still see racial profiling. In the past few years even with large media presence on certain cop related incidence or the unfair sentencing of one due to their race we have started to see a change from those within the criminal justice system as well as the citizens of this country, standing up for what is right and just.
The US Department of Justice has stated that one way of lessening this tension is implementing a system of community policing where police are more involved with the community and work together to lessen the crime and fear of it in a community. (Community Policing Defined, 2008) A goal set fourth by the Community Orientated Policing Services is "Developing effective systems and tools to prevent and respond to bias-based policing can help law enforcement maintain that mutual trust and respect." (Bias-Based Policing, n.d) The trust in officers and the respect of good behavior is needed in this method. The country needs to be able to trust it officers and make them care about the community they are policing. Through caring about the community and being more involved in it officers are able to hold themselves more accountable to their actions. Regardless of the race or ethnicity of the people they are policing. Another way officers may be held accountable to their actions is the implementation of body cameras. The city of Rialto California has undergone this change requiring the entire police force to wear these body cameras. Christopher Mimis writing for the Wall Street Journal stated that "use of force by officers declined 60%, and citizen complaints against police fell 88%." (Mimis, 2014) This data alone shows the effectiveness of these body cameras. If more police forces could implement these body cameras to hold police accountable officers would second guess taking actions against minority groups more aggressively as they are being
The Plague of the United States era, society is insistently assured by police and their apologist, is not the extensive abuse and other frequent misconduct by law enforcements officers, but the expanding “disrespect for authority” that is being encouraged by “liberals” and those more extensive individuals called “libertarians” The widespread media coverage of police brutality has become too common within our societies everyday life, thus causing destruction of the communities trust. Savage treatment is continually afflicted among African Americans as a replacement form of punishment. A substantial number of casualties of police brutality are African Americans, for instance during August 9th within a house of Brooklyn, an African American
There’s a lot going on about the world and how cops use excessive force when it comes to taking down the bad guy.This topic focuses on the black lives matter movement because they are letting cops get away with murder because the color of their skin and they wear a blue uniform with a badge. In many cases such as Michael Brown, Christian Thomas, and the little African American who the cop threw out the chair in SC. where the authority use excessive force to make their position clear in the society, but they do it too extreme and not needed. While sometime the amount of force is needed to withstand the victim , police abuse their authority in many cases because they can and is not needed but racial bias is playing a part.
Racial profiling is a very important issue that individuals in society face every day. This problem occurs in low income or poverty-stricken areas throughout cities and communities across the nation. Hundreds of anecdotal testimonials allege that law enforcement officials at all levels of government are infringing upon the constitutional rights and civil liberties of racial and ethnic minorities through a practice called “racial profiling” (Ward, 2002). So what is racial profiling? According to the National Institute of Justice, racial profiling by law enforcement is commonly defined as a practice that targets people for suspicion of crime based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin (National Institute of Justice, 2013). The
Those of the minority community have been exposed, for a vast amount of time, to violence by those in the law enforcement. This variety of violence is a direct depiction of police brutality, which frequently generates death. Certain races, especially the colored skinned, are considered to be accused in criminal activities as a result of their race, notably when there is no valid proof present to affirm these allegations. In any police department in the nation, many of the officer's intentions is to do the ethical thing. However, the remaining will consciously breach the human virtue of the people in the communities they serve. This habit is a destructive manner of police misconduct that require strenuous, attentive movements to terminate. Regarding
Names like Dontre Hamilton, Michael Brown Jr., Tamir Rice and Walter Scott are plastered on headlines and passionately spoken about on every major news station around the country. They are the names that paved way for the national discussion of police brutality against African Americans. And while these victims of horrific actions deserved much better outcomes than they got, the violence demonstrated by police officers is clearly a product of the social environment in which they parole and the racial stereotypes and discrimination that are deeply embedded in our culture.
In the field of public safety it is important to understand and acknowledge other cultures within our society. By understanding differences among individuals, officers can increase their ability to serve and protect our community through the idea of community policing. However, not everyone is entitled to the same opinion that I have in regard to culture. For my one-on-one interview I decided to interview someone who I did not know in order to obtain an unbiased perspective on this topic. My interviewee’s name is Daniel, and here is how it went.
Culture diversity in police is important , in my opinion, as Australia is cultural diverse country. cultural diversity in police would provide people from many different backgrounds with the equal work opportunity to be part Victoria police. It also offers a chance for police members to communicate with wider communities. However, more important than cultural diversity in Victoria police is to have high standard of education and training to tackle diverse problems.
Technology is everywhere today. Everyone has some sort of technology, whether it be a cellular phone, a smart watch, or a smart television, we are all connected to some sort or technological advancement. This is, after all, the 21st century. Technology has certainly made some astounding advancements, and has come a long way from the development of the first ever super computer that took up a complete room for its transistors and circuits. Nowadays, what used to take up that full room for computing power, is now able to rest on the tip of your fingernail in the form of a microchip. This technology has been used across the globe to help in various aspects of everyday life. In short, the advancements in technology, have made life simple, yet more complex. Technology