Conflict Theory and Police - Case Study Example

Theoretical Critique Name Institution Theoretical Critique Introduction The case study of conflict theory and racial profiling was based on the data analysis of the police traffic stop was conducted by Alex Piquero, Matthew Petrocelli, and Michael Smith used Richmond’s data from the Police Department of Virginia. The article tested the conflict theory’s application within the department of police traffic stop. The article explored the possibility whether the police traffic stop searched, arrested suspects based on their racial and socioeconomic factors. The study also argued their point based on the previous research that used data from multiple cities while determining minority treatment by the police. The previous research used a macro level difference giving the case study to include micro level police practices through the analysis of a single city’s census tract data. Conflict theory has been known to hold the idea that law and its law keeping mechanisms are often used by the most dominant group (rich people) in the society to minimize perceived threats that are considered to being caused by minority groups who are especially the poor. Racial profiling has been seen as an issue of national concern for many years. President Bush in its 2001 speech to the US Congress addressed racial profiling problem and directed the Attorney General of the United States to develop recommendations that will end the problem especially by the American police forces. The paper points out that the empirical data on profiling is not available citing the 2000 Government Accounting Office. The conflict theory proposes that the police often target the minorities especially when they are undertaking traffic checks and interrogations in the field. Description of Case study Conflict is seen a fundamental process in the society as it shapes and models competing interests of the society’s various groups to enact a structure that benefits their systems. Conflict theory suggests that the power that a group has defines the society’s order and controls the lawmakers as well as the state’s law enforcement apparatus. The theory asserts that the laws are made to serve the wealthy, and the police are used to control and suppress the society segments that are seen as threats to the status quo the privileged group. The notion of the term risk in this perspective shows the perspective of conflict where a capitalist economy equates to power. Its interest is in the ascendant class that maintains stratification order while dictating the legal order. Quinnry (1974) stated that dominant economic classes can pressure domestic law through the legal systems that allow interest promotions and maintenance. Economic stratification urges legislators to enact measures that control the dynamic society. The paper illustrates Turk (1969)’s suggestions of dissimilar groups being seen culturally as dangerous groups to those that are dominant. The similar sentiments were given by Swigert and Farrell (1976), Blalock (1967), and Quinney (1970). Therefore, minor races like Black people in a White majority and economic status are viewed as threats to those in power in the society. The theory insists that acting along the threat perception will make the privileged use various apparatus that controls crime inappropriately especially in limiting and restraining those they perceive as threats to their interests. Conflict theory and police The paper has illustrated the relationship between the two concepts as summarized by Chambliss & Seidman (1971). The authors’ process of law enforcement is based on the Marxian’s frame of reference that contains six propositions. Conflict theory proposes that crime control agencies are bureaucrats. The organizations often replaces official goals, norms and policies with other activities that reward and minimize the organizational strain. The substitution is made possible by the lack of motivation to resist pressure towards the process, pervasiveness in the law enforcement and lack of effective sanctions that define agency roles. The theory points out that law enforcement agencies sources allocation from political organizations. Organizations minimize strain by processing the weak and avoiding processing the individuals in power. Finally, the law enforcers processes many politically weak groups and do not violate those in power. Police resources According to Jacobs (1979)’s test of conflict proposition, law enforcers should be located in large numbers in metropolitan locations where the resources are highest. Jacobs used census tract data and found that economic differences is related to the strength of the police that is measures by the number of officers in a given area. Similar results were obtained by Liska, Benson, and Lawrence (1981) who realized that perceived threat drove the police agency. Police homicides The paper supports the proponents of conflict theories who propose that police’s use of force is often influenced by class level and racial stators of perpetrators and as well as victims. The same argument has been made by Fahey, Knoohuizen and Palmer (1972 as well as Tagaki (1974). The studies further add that the police suspect the Whites less as opposed to the Blacks. Many empirical studies have shown that Blacks often fired at and killed by police officers, but the disparity is decreasing (Walker, 1992). Police killed by civilians A higher degree of economic inequality and racial differences also portrays police being killed by civilians. Chamlin (1989) tested this hypothesis that proposed that an increase in population of people who the dominant groups perceive as threats often increase the antagonism level between the civilian and the law enforcers. Increased hostility predicted volatile police-citizen encounters and increased police killings. The analysis showed that economic inequality did not affect police killing as racial minorities did. Civil rights complaints Holmes (2000) tested the hypothesis that examined the civil rights cases that were brought forward to the Justice Department involving police brutality. The researcher found that the results were consistent with the conflict perspective of those perceived as threats being compared to the number of complaints in relation to civil rights. Other researchers shown in the case study with similar sentiments are Lawton, Piquero, Hickman, and Greene (2001) that found charges were high in areas of high rates of unemployment. Critique and Application The paper points out the reason researchers are primarily willing to test the conflict theory against various polices practices. The main reason identified is the unique status that the police hold within the society. The police are often considered as the hammer of the state as shown by the 1975 study of CRCJ (Center for Research on Criminal Justice) that was termed as ‘iron fist and the velvet glove.’ The case study explored its study based on a number of subheadings and examined the theory application as discussed herein. The study found that non-White percentage increase influenced the police size. The findings were consistent with the conflict theory representing the increase of non-White residents showing an increase of perceptions as well as threat. The test of conflict perspective also was found to be racially segregated. The results indicate that the visibility of threats to the Whites is diminished when the races are segregated. In respect to arrests, the paper identified the hypothesis that predicted the percentage of economic and racial minority increase and perceived threats that will enact crime control measures. The theory application is explained by increased number of arrests in such situations independent of actual crime rates. The test done by Liska & Chamlin (1984) identified that income inequality dictates the number of arrests that are made for both personal and property allegations. Use of UCR data helped reaffirm the consistency of the hypothesis with the conflict theory. The current case study found cited literature that showed evidences that poverty and Black Nature was significant predictors of police homicides. The paper hammered the police homicide by citing Jacobs and O’Brien (1998) study that summarized that economic stratifications and racial status predicted police’s use of force. Cities with a higher number of Blacks presents more cases of police killings of Blacks. Conclusion In relation to this topic, the case study pointed out several significant insights. It pointed Chamblis (1994)’s focus on young Black males that affected the families as well as education negatively. The study quotes the effort of the NYPD officers to control crime that also showed under-representation of Whites among the persons stopped. The study found that New York’s minority involved in crimes did not give illustrations as to why Black people were mostly stopped than the White ones. It found discriminatory practices were being done in New Jersey’s traffic stop. The results showed that areas predominantly occupied by Blacks involved police searching at police stops and arrests were likely unlike those of Whites. Since the Richmond, police were likely to seek stopped motorists where Blacks were concentrated showed correlation with the literature explored. The research then concluded that there exist conflict theory and profiling. However, the analysis did not uncover higher percentage of stops and crime rates appeared to be a determinant in stop decisions. References Center for Research on Criminal Justice (1975). The iron fist and the velvet glove: An analysis of the U.S. police. Berkeley, CA: Author. Chambliss, W. J. (1994). Policing the ghetto underclass: the politics of law and law enforcement. Social Problems, 41, 177 – 194. Chamlin, M. (1989). Conflict theory and police killings. Deviant Behavior, 10, 353 – 368. Government Accounting Office (2000). Racial profiling: Limited data available on motorist stops. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Accounting Office. Holmes, M. (2000). Minority threat and police brutality: Determinants of civil rights complaints in U.S. municipalities. Criminology, 38(2), 343 – 365. Jacobs, D. (1979). Inequality and the police use of deadly force. Social Problems, 26, 403 – 412. Jacobs, D., & O’Brien,R.(1998). The determinants of deadly force: A structural analysis of police violence. American Journal of Sociology, 103, 837 – 862. Liska, A., & Chamlin, M. (1984). Social structure and crime control among macro social units. American Journal of Sociology, 90, 383 – 395. Liska, A., Lawrence, J., & Benson, M. (1981). Perspectives on the legal order: The capacity for social control. American Journal of Sociology, 87, 413 – 426. Quinney, R. (1970). The social reality of crime. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. Swigert, V., & Farrell, R. (1976). Murder, inequity and the law: Differential treatment in the legal process. Lexington, MA: Heath. Tagaki, P. (1974). A garrison state in a ‘democratic’ society. Crime and Social Justice, 1, 27 – 33. Turk, A. T. (1969). Criminality and legal order. Chicago: Rand McNally. Read More