Essay On Police Brutality

Racial profiling is a very prevalent issue within the criminal justice system that is quite controversial, but there is a significant number of evidence that shows that racial profiling has been present since the 1600’s and continues to be a significant issue. Racial profiling is evident in the criminal justice system in various ways such as in interrogations, jury selection, misleading statistics, stops, and immigration laws. Racial profiling within interrogations and jury selection can be seen with the Brandley v. Keeshan case. Racial profiling within statistics can be seen in instances where the numbers focus on arrests and incarcerations that do not necessarily mean a crime was committed. Stops are seen as evidence showing racial profiling with a personal experience, and lastly, immigration laws are seen as showing racial profiling by the encounter of a Mexican American women had with an officer in Arizona.

Racial profiling is simply, “the unlawful police practice of using race, color, or ethnic background, as the reason for conducting a traffic stop on an individual.” (Michigan Civil Rights Commission) This definition can be extended to any kind of discrimination mainly based on myths and stereotypes towards a certain race or ethnicity. However, the term racial profiling is commonly used when a police officer or any other law enforcer stops, questions, searches or arrests an individual purely on the basis of their race. African Americans or simply blacks have been the major racial group that has suffered much of racial profiling. Much of this is based on the stereotypes against the blacks are perceived as more likely to engage in criminal activities. For instance, in a 2013 Racial Profiling Data from Ferguson Police Department, out of 5384 police stops, 4632 were against blacks. (Ferguson Police Dept. 1) Despite the low population of blacks in U.S. compared to other races, the former continues being subjected to more racial profiling. Racial profiling against African Americans continues to expose the blacks to humiliation and racial injustices, as this paper will expose, thereby calling for the responsible authorities to address and find solutions for the problem.

This paper provides an overview of the problems facing the police in their efforts to improve relations with minority communities in the United States, as well as a survey of previous research and existing literature on cultural diversity

The concern about racial profiling is erupting throughout the nation. Many cities and states have decided to study racial profiling, or how race and ethnicity may play a part in traffic stops by law enforcement in their jurisdictions. There seems to be a generally accepted understanding of what profiling is. Profiling is the law-enforcement practice of scrutinizing certain individuals based on characteristics thought to indicate a likelihood of criminal behavior. Yet there are two variations concerning the application of racial profiling. Profiling either utilizes race as a sole means of directing police attention, or uses race as a part of a larger set of characteristics and behaviors that lead to police involvement (Chan, 2011, pg. 75). Regardless of the definition of racial profiling, the debate over racial profiling centers on two questions. Does racial profiling actually occur? and Is racial profiling being used and is profiling a legitimate tool of law enforcement?

At the core of the stop and frisk policy as utilized by the New York Police Department is racial profiling. Racial profiling has a significant and often controversial place in the history of policing in the United States. Racial profiling can be loosely defined as the use of race as a key determinant in law enforcement decisions to stop, interrogate, and/or detain citizens (Weitzer & Tuch, 2002). Laws in the United States have helped to procure and ensure race based decisions in law enforcement. Historically, the Supreme Court has handed down decisions which increase the scope of discretion of a law enforcement officer. For example, traffic stops can be used to look for evidence even though the officer has not observed

Over the past several years, the use of race by law enforcement agencies in their policing activities has received considerable attention across the country. The controversy regarding "racial profiling" has centered on police departments' practices related to traffic stops—examining whether police have targeted drivers based on their race or ethnicity. Significant anecdotal evidence has suggested that some departments may be treating drivers of some races or ethnicities differently than white drivers. Parties using multiple definitions have complicated the debate over racial profiling. Variation among these definitions means that interested parties are often discussing different types of police practices, behavior,

There is recent controversy over police use of force, especially in minority communities such as in African American communities, Hispanic communities, and other publics with large populations of minorities. Increased levels of force among these communities have created challenges for police departments. These challenges include a lack of trust from the community towards law enforcement officers and an absence of respect creating situations that lead to police use of force. There are already various programs in place that attempt to decrease this challenge by educating the public, respecting one another, and giving those who were on the wrong track second chances. A combination of these solutions and the implementation of more of them would decrease the number of contacts between police and minorities that lead to the use of force (Roberg & Novak, 2014).

Racial profiling and traffic stops are always a hot debate in our country. Recently, race issues with the police have gotten even hotter with the situations in Ferguson and New York. No matter where a person stands on the issue, the numbers that suggest racial profiling and traffic stops are difficult to justify. Racial profiling is described as the use of race as a key factor in police decisions to stop and interrogate citizens (Weitzer & Tuch, p. 435, 2006). A study was done in Baltimore, Maryland where 533 drivers were stopped on I-95, and more than half of the people stopped were minorities. Likewise, 63% of people that were asked to step out of their

Police Brutality against African American people has begun to take a toll on our communities. African American communities cannot even trust the police, because of the way they are being treated unfairly by a police officers of them distract or their state. Which is why the police are being coming more advanced in technology, but still fail to use their powers as an officer correctly. This cause the police officers are using misconduct against African American people when confronted by them. This research leads me to conclude that the police department of many states across the United States becomes more corrupted every day because of the lack of order in our police departments. In this essay, I will argue that the policing between black

One of the most important civil rights facing our nation today is racial profiling. The main source of those accused of racial profiling are police officers. In the eyes of citizens, racial profiling by a police officer can be defined as “any police-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity or national origin rather than behavior of an individual or information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity” (Ramirez, 2000). For instance, concerning traffic stops, the use of racial profiling can be defined as when the race or ethnicity of a person is a

As the Civil Rights Leader and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Benjamin Todd Jealous, once said, “Racial profiling punishes innocent individuals for the past actions of those who look and sound like them. It misdirects crucial resources and undercuts the trust needed between law enforcement and the communities they serve. It has no place in our national discourse, and no place in our nation 's police departments.” Racial profiling is the use of ethnicity as a basis for suspecting someone of having committed a criminal offense, which is both illegal and immoral. Police officers unjustifiably use their power to stop, frisk, and harass minorities based on their identity and appearance. According to statistics, Whites have the most arrests for serious and non-serious crimes yet African Americans and Hispanics are stopped far more frequently than any other race or ethnicity. Police officers need to be restrained from racial profiling because it unfairly disadvantages innocent people due to their ethnicity. As stated by Law Enforcement officials, these stops are described as a “crime-fighting tool” however, are rather a racially oriented tool of harassment. It is essential for police officers to know the difference between racial profiling and criminal profiling to further prevent police brutality from occurring.

The Los Angeles Times editorial, “LAPD’s examination of racial profiling must continue”, written by The Times Editorial Board, declares that police can generally not arrest or search anyone without a reason to believe the person is involved in a crime (4th Amendment), yet 50 years ago, the Supreme Court was able to find a loophole, while still following the restrictions of the 4th Amendment. The author explains that if an officer has a reasonable level of suspicion, they can stop someone, without arresting them, and frisk them by patting them down, since the officer could be in potential danger. The author argues that far more African Americans have been racially profiled and stopped for unlawful searches, by police officers,

In order to bridge the gap between police officers and the community, trust needs to be established. The community needs to feel secure that the officers are there to serve and protect them from harm. Ozkan, Worrall, and Piqueri (2016) article called " Does Minority Representation in Police Agencies Reduce Assaults on the Police?" analyzed the hypothesis that minority representation in the police departments is inversely associated with assaults against the police (p. 402). For this study, data was collected from several official databases such as 2007-2009 Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA), 2000 Census, 2007 Uniform Crime Reports Offenses Known as Clearances by Arrest (UCR), and the 2007 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative

​Undoubtedly, the world in which we live in today is more united in comparison to previous generations. Overall, however, its essential to continually focus upon how we as a society should continually embrace these ambitions in efforts to create equal opportunity to all. Although racial injustice in America has in fact been altered radically in comparison with earlier generations, the aspects of discrimination unfortunately remain. This is particularly true in regards to police brutality. Though the correlation between the infamously brute force law enforcement officials and race continually remains, the fact of the manner is that all races succumb to this type of violence. Throughout the following analysis, the infamous police injustice

The history of American policing has been tainted by legal authorization of biases, disparate service delivery, and tarnished by the enforcement of racially motivated laws and statutes. Consequently, the present-day relationship between minorities and the police in America is one that has been impacted by the historical legacies of slavery, segregation, and discrimination, all impacting  racism at the societal, institutional, and individual levels. The negative perception of ethnic minorities over the past three decades has spread rapidly, researchers suggest that specific stereotypes are commonly used by police officers to classify people