Sample Essay On Police Brutality

Minority communities in the USA have long been the subject of violence known as police brutality. Inexcusable assaults, shootings and beatings by policemen in law enforcement are an issue to be dealt with.

Police brutality has a long history. In the past, violence against African Americans was used for 5 main purposes.

First of all, it was done to force African Americans into slavery. Secondly, violence was a means to steal lands. Thirdly, a social control was gained through violent behavior of white people. A fourth purpose was to eradicate conflicts in different spheres of life: political, social and economic. Finally, the fifth purpose was to bring white people from all over the world closer and unite them. The violent deeds even included lynching at some period of time. Lynching was used as a means to put fear into African Americans and gain control over them.

In the mid 1900’s, lynching was replaced by race riots and lawful executions. Minorities were harassed and discriminated, as this became a new way to control them and strengthen white supremacy.

Today, violence against the minorities is performed in the form of police brutality. Police brutality is abuse and offence by law enforcement, where a police officer uses their power to discriminate other individuals, often resorting to physical violence. Let us have a closer look at the issue in this police brutality essay.

This behavior is a violation of human and civil rights. Police brutality is seen nationwide to the minority and police officers are not punished for their deeds. It causes the strong hatred towards whites in America, as the minorities are being the subject of such violent behavior.

Many innocent people from the minority communities become the victims of police brutality. For instance, an African American or Latino can be stopped because of driving a luxury car. It is assumed that they are either drug dealers or criminals who stole the car.

One of the most common forms of police brutality is racial profiling. It is the violation of the fourth amendment that prohibits searches and seizures without a warrant. Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping a person because of their skin color. Young African Americans and Latinos are often the targets of racial profile. What is more, it is considered to be a justified tactic that, in fact, is nothing but racial prejudice. Still, it is difficult to prove that racial profiling is any violation. Usually, there is no evidence that a person was stopped because of the racial prejudice. Police officers often claim that the stop is a routine traffic stop and has nothing to do with a person’s skin color. As a result, harassment takes place but there is no evidence to prove it but for the words of a victim and a police officer.

Racial profiling also occurs as a form of security. For instance, taxi drivers and security guards use this prejudiced judgment when refusing to pick up a customer late at night or to search for suspects. Racial profile is used by law enforcement officers to find suspicious criminals. There is such a profile as the CARD system. CARD stands for class, age, race, and dress. This system is used to categorize people into those who seemed to be suspects. It turns out, however, that mostly minorities fall into the category of violators of the law. Nevertheless, as long as profiling is not used as a form of racism, it is a great tool to determine signs about people and criteria used to detect criminals.

Police brutality is also an issue in prisons. Despite the fact that humans can express their rights, police officers violate these rights and often resort to physical violence. In the majority of cases, the officer is white and the target is African American or Latino.

There are several causes of police brutality. Police officers who encounter disrespect from a person or a group of people of particular race, sex or religion, tend to develop negative feelings towards certain minorities. Another thing that causes police brutality is considerable stress law enforcement officials suffer from.

Those officers who are accused of police brutality are to attend a civil court hearing. However, in the majority of cases the jury finds the officer not guilty, or lessens the punishment. For example, there was an incident with a twenty year old Puerto Rican who was killed due to the force of the chokehold. The officer was found not guilty.

Today the issue of police brutality is treated under careful supervision. There are trainings of police officers on how to act appropriately in arrest. Racially integrated departments are created to end the hatred towards minorities. The strict measures such as suspension and verbal reprimands are also taken.

Even though, police officers are educated and trained, and a racially integrated environment is created, the issue of police brutality is still to be solved. The law still needs to move towards the justice of minorities. By doing so, this type of abuse will lessen, and the way to social justice will be paved.

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