Institutional Racism In American Law

In all reality, a police officer is not responding to the skin color of the individual but to the environment in which the crime has been committed. The article “Black Supporters of Racial Profiling: A Demographic Profile” by Shaun L. Gabbidon, George E. Higgins and Kideste M. Wilder-Bonner. Gabbidon, Higgins, and Wilder-Bonner explain how demographic areas can affect how black males maybe looked at when a crime does occur. “Black males are overrepresented among perpetrators of violent crime, they may be perceived as a real threat and thus an appropriate target of racial profiling particularly in disadvantaged communities of color where violent victimization is most likely to occur” (11). This is biased-based policing and not permitted to happen in any of the states in America.

The additional burden of racism has made that transition much more difficult for those whose skin is black, brown, red, or yellow. In no small part because of the tradition of slavery, Blacks have long been targets of abuse. The use of patrols to capture runaway slaves was one of the precursors of formal police forces, especially in the South. This disastrous legacy persisted as an element of the police role even after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In some cases, police harassment simply meant people of African descent were more likely to be stopped and questioned by the police, while at the other extreme, they have suffered beatings, and even murder, at the hands of White police.

Para 1.) “After police shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old. The fatal gunshots, fired by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, on 9 August 2014, were followed by bursts of anger, in the form of protests and riots. Hundreds and then thousands, of local residents, had flooded the streets. The killing of Michael Brown created a new generation of black activists, with thousands taking to the streets, and a hashtag used more than 27m times.

So, it has brought attention to unlawful justices against minorities. This has caused a political uproar in the African American communities. The black lives matter movement brings attention to these problems. It also has caused tension on how many African American citizens view of the police. Even though police officers have a body camera it is often released quite some time after the incident has occurred.

Mads 1STE – essay about the movie Crash 2 Lastly, I do also think that the characters in Crash are too heavily influenced by their prejudices, especially compared to the modern US. This is primarily due to the fact that it in many ways feels like the roles are defined by their existing or non-existing bias, which certainly feels unrealistic. This is especially true for one character in particular, which throughout the movie goes from good to bad. Tommy Hansen, a young police officer, ends up killing an African American at the end of the movie, despite showing no racial bias earlier on in the story.

BODY PARAGRAPH 1 Police brutality is a big problem in the United States. Police brutality is a misconduct when police use violence that is not necessary. This includes unjust shootings, which is when whoever was shot did not deserve to be shot because they either did nothing wrong or was complying with orders but was still shot. This is a big problem in the U.S. because it happens all around the states.

Racism is the number one cause in police brutality. Police brutality is happening everywhere due to racial discrimination where white police officers are shooting or harming an unarmed black person. A main cause of this could be that the officer thought that the person tried to harm him. Racism is a leading cause due to just a white cop shooting an unarmed black person due to the cop thinking that the person had tried to attack them even though the person probably did not do anything. In order to stop police brutality, the police should learn when to use their gun in situations, whether life-threatening or not.

Is racism discrimination alone or does power and control must be added to equal to racism? Racism is bigger than personal prejudice. I agree with Reni when she states that racism can only come from a structured society and institution that can negatively affect other people's life choices and circumstances. Black people do not have the power and control to affect the outcome of someone's life therefore we can't be racist.

A grand jury later acquitted the officer which sparked violent protest through the city of Ferguson calling for justice (Mclaughlin). Due to intolerance, Caucasian authorities are racially biased toward Black people. For example, instead of analyzing an African American male from a clean slate, the authorities use prejudice to characterize him or her as violent and aggressive (Hall). A 2012 FBI data report found that US police kill black people at disproportionate rates. However, some people view this data as misleading and blame the black victims being noncompliant as the true reason for their deaths.

Institutional racism is a pattern of social institutions giving negative treatment to a group of people based on their race. Institutional racism leads to inequality; sociologists use the concept to explain why some people face unequal treatment or occupy unequal statuses. 3. Cultural racism: Cultrual stereotypes that allow us to think about groups inappropriately and ignorantly.

The driver did nothing out of the norm and would the police officer have fired a shot and been afraid for his life if the driver was white? There have been studies in neuroscience that show “white police officers may perceive black males to be a threat for behaving in ways that wouldn’t seem suspicious for white males.” This means that they are more likely to see black males as a threat than white males and therefore shoot them. While we can have a positive attitude towards blacks, our behavior on psychological test says otherwise. “In one particular type of classic experiment, white participants are asked to quickly categorize words that pop up on a computer screen as either positive (like “happy”) or negative (like “fear”).

Abstract Police departments face increasing criticism from protesters, the media, and the federal government. Many negative personal encounters and officer-involved shootings have stimulated arguments about American law enforcement. These officer involved shootings have caused racial issues across the country. Is reform necessary?

Stereotypes also play a huge role in the law enforcement. Due to stereotypes that black or latino people are more prone to commit crimes, racial profiling is common among police officers. Numerous cases of police brutality and statistics revealing a biased justice system raises concerns about the reliability of the nation 's authorities. Zillah Eisenstein connects racism to physical bodies in Beyond Borders by explaining that "racism uses the physicality of bodies to punish, to expunge, and isolate certain bodies and construct them as outsiders" (Eisenstein). Many officers tend to convict minorities more often than whites according to this same logic.

There is no doubt that there is police brutality. In the old case of Rodney King, it was a clear case of police brutality the police should be prosecuted and put into jail over something of that nature. There are police who feel too empowered and feel like they gen do anything without.

On February 26th, 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was senselessly shot and killed on his way home from the local 7/11. Despite the massive media coverage this tragedy attracted, more than two years later similar events continued to happen, and unfortunately, it appears as if nothing has changed. Recently, young Michael Brown was shot (over six times) by a white police officer—who was eventually acquitted from his horrifying murder— nevertheless, his dead body would then lay on the street, uncovered, for hours to come. The graphic remains of his corpse were there to be viewed by his entire community (including his grief-stricken family). Brown 's death would soon act as a catalyst for a movement more powerful than any other.