Police Brutality Law - Research Paper Example

Besides, various states and regions have come up with their own police brutality laws. For example, in Minnessotta, Police brutality not only entails excessive use of force by police, but also entails; unnecessary gun use, beating civilians with fists, using batons to beat civilians, choking, unnecessary and inappropriate use of pepper spray, using police dogs inappropriately, body slamming against hard surfaces, abuse of the rights of a prisoner, and the unnecessary and inappropriate use of tasers by police (Johnson 26).

Police brutality laws Police brutality laws not only apply to police officers, but also apply to sheriffs, detectives, security guards and many deputies. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denotes that violations by law enforcement officers may be categorized under use of unwarranted excessive force, verbal abuse, racial-profiling, harassment and discrimination; however, all these subsections denote police abuse and brutality. Any police officer in the US who uses undue excessive force on civilians violates the 5th and 14th Amendments of the US Constitution.

The Fifth Amendment is used by US courts when guarding against unreasonable searches and seizures in various police brutality cases. The 5th Amendment guarantees that civilians have freedom from any unreasonable searches and seizures. Using this amendment, judges and advocates have argued that law enforcement officers need not cause harm to citizens. The US Supreme Court states that the word ‘reasonable’ implies that various situations need various amounts of force, and as a result of this excessive force should in all circumstances be avoided.

Apart from protecting against police brutality, the 5th Amendment also requires that no individual should be compelled to be one’s own witness in criminal proceeding (Mary 47). The Fourteenth Amendment requires that no state in the US shall enact and enforce laws that are repugnant to the privileges and immunities of American citizens. The 14th Amendment further states that no State has the right of depriving American Citizens liberty, life or property without following lawful procedures. This implies that all citizens are required to appear before judicial bodies whenever they are suspected to have contravened the law.

Therefore, use of excessive force by police violates the 14th Amendment because it is a way of punishing civilians before they are actually tried before judicial systems (Walker, Spohn & Delone 49). Apart from the 4th and 14th Amendments, there are other laws that have been passed in the past, and these have ensured that police brutality should not be condoned. The 6th Amendment stipulates that people accused of criminal activities are accorded rights to an attorney, rights to speedy trials and impartial jury and right to confront or even cross-examine accusers.

The 6th Amendment is helpful where the accused is beaten or forced to make a confession so that he can be prosecuted. This amendment also protects individuals who are accused by use of evidence that culminated from illegal searches and seizures. The Eighth Amendment is important in that it protects all inmates from excessive force and unusual punishments. Therefore, whenever one is convicted of a crime, police brutality invokes the application of