Police Brutality in the United States - Essay Example

Police Brutality

Police brutality occurs when the police officers or personnel mandated to carry out the duties of enforcing law use excessive force when dealing with civilians or suspects. In the United States, police brutality has existed as an issue over many years and become one of the leading causes of death among young people. The issue requires more attention and change action since it does not only face American but many Western World countries. The forms of police brutality include battery and assault, physical or verbal harassment, mental injury, damage to property, torture, mayhem, and in extreme cases, murder or death (Khan, 14). However, one area that has been of the central focus on police brutality in the United States is the issue of racial differences that have left many people of certain race being killed more than the whites who are the majority. This paper examines police brutality and how racial differences play a role in facilitating police being more brutal to members of a given race.

In the United States, police brutality is associated with many causes. The habit of police brutality is associated with the fragmentation of the judiciaries to pursue the misconduct by the police due to numerous doctrines such as the burden of proof, discretion, separation of powers, and federalism (Ritchie, Andrea, and Joey, 175). Similarly, sometimes it becomes hard for the courts to see the systematic patterns in police brutality hence lack enough accountability based on internal and external mechanisms. There are factors such as the institutionalized systems of management, police training, culture, and a criminal system that does not encourage prosecutors to pursue the misconduct of the police vigorously.

Similarly, there are other surrounding factors such as police facing pressure to live by the provided aspects of the created culture where they cannot sustain a different culture of criminals as they need to protect the police culture. The police departments have the control and command structures that have a hierarchically rigid foundation. The country’s political system plays a critical role, such as having a political culture that is based on racism. Racial profiling has been one of the leading causes of police brutality (Ritchie et al.175). Racial, political, religious, and socioeconomic status differences exist between the citizenry and the police. From the war model of policing, police view crime as war and make the people enemies thus brutalizing them.

All Americans, regardless of whether they are of different races, classes, ages, and genders have not been spared by the police brutality. It happened in the early 20th century when there were claims of frustrations by the poor and working-class following discriminatory policing in the cities of the northern part. The police brutality continued further in the attempt to crack on the organized crime down. One of the major aspects that have emerged from the incidences of police brutality is the racial differences playing the role in influencing the brutality of the civilians by the police (Khan, 23). The statistical results show that most people who have been shot dead in the US between 2017 and 2020 by police are the African Americans despite them being the minority population. The total number of those shot by police for the four years is about 500 people. The study shows that African American people are about 3 times more likely to encounter police brutality compared to their white counterparts. This increased rate however applies for both black men and women civilians.

Evidence on the high police brutality based on the racial differences has been presented by various researchers. Frank Edwards of Washington University and others used the data on the killings by police between 2013 and 2018. In their findings, they disclosed that at least one in every a thousand boys of African American origin face the brutality by the police and some are killed. The rate is equally significant for white men and boys where at least 39 in every 10,000 face the brutal handle of the police. Most likely people killed by the police indeed are those considered to be people of color unlike the case of whites. Similarly, Edwards, Frank, Hedwig, and Michael (5) in their study revealed that African Americans face the highest likelihood of facing police brutality compared to other races. In many cases, the most affected groups are the young adults and men often for encounters with law enforcement personnel.

Experts have illustrated some of the key factors that lead to the great majority of the police brutality being African American. The antiblack racism that exists in the white police departments is one of the key factors that explains why African Americans are the predominant victims of this violence. There have also been similar prejudices where the police involved in the oppression of the marginalized groups majorly who are made up of African Americans (Ritchie et al.175). Most of the law enforcement officers are racially influenced who thrive in violence against the ethnic groups they dislike or those that are perceived to be marginalized. Often in most cases, the African American people are socioeconomically disadvantaged and would engage in hard activities to make their ends meet. Instead, the police would mistake them based on the economic status and perceived to be criminals and engage in fighting them.

Police brutality in the United States has various effects on many stakeholders. Over the past decades, studies show that the issue of police using excessive force on the people has increased and this has in return caused a lot of misinterpretations of what role does the police play within the community. Though the civilians still have confidence in the police, since 2015, this percentage has been reducing. The Democrats feel that the level of confidence in the police has reduced by about 52% which continued to drop in 201718 to 42% (Khan, 25). Republicans on their part saw the level of confidence in the police to be at 69% while the black people only saw this at 30% in 2018 (Khan, 25). At the average level, the confidence level was at 58% in 2018 and this rate has since been declining as time goes by where police and citizens continue to interact. The reduction in the confidence level of the people against the police has the risk of causing anarchy where people do not trust the police.

The most affected group are the victims of the police brutality. Often these people are inflicted with body pains and may only need medical attention to become normal. Significant research has indicated that the killings of the police against the African American people who are always not armed have something to do with the mental health issues that have continued to occur among the black people in the areas where the killings happen (Moore, 21). These people tend to face emotional and depression issues that make them live a worse life compared to their white counterparts. In extreme cases, the people who undergo police brutality whether assault or battery end up dying.

Various solutions are associated with police brutality that would help address the problem. The measures put in place that can reduce police brutality include the formulation of policies that have been presented to prohibit the use of force by the police when handling civilians or those suspected to have committed offenses (Ritchie et al.175). The policies put in place have seen police officers responsible for brutality sued and convicted for violating human rights. Another solution involves the use of body cameras by the police where they understand that their actions are being monitored hence they will reduce the rate at which they commit their misconduct.

Besides the use of body cameras, other proposed solutions can help lower the rate of police brutality such as using civilian review boards. These review boards involve getting feedback from the public concerning the conduct of the police. The use of the review board makes it easier for civilians to report on any brutality done by the police. The boards are beneficial such that they allow the police to do their jobs at the same time increase the relationship they have with the public. There are also some self-development programs such as training on how to handle civilians can help the police develop technical measures when interacting with the people. In many cases, these programs educate the police on how they can handle themselves in crime areas.