Category: Police Brutality

There are many contemporary social justice issues that we are experiencing on a day-to-day basis amongst communities across the globe. These issues include poverty, racism, immigration, ecological destruction, incarceration, socioeconomic relations, and more. One social justice issue that truly grabs my attention anytime it is brought up is the uprising of police brutality across the United States. Police brutality lies under the scope of understanding in which police officers are unwarranted or use excessive and often illegal use of force against members of a community. The concept of social justice and humanity are at risk if solutions are not formulated and expressed to suit the betterment of our people. By standing together, hand-in-hand, we can make a difference and strive towards achieving these goals and others alike.

There are many forms of police brutality, ranging from assault and battery to turmoil, torment, and even officers going as far as committing homicide. Many people find police brutality to also embody feelings of provocation, extortion, verbal and emotional abuse, and other forms of maltreatment. Police brutality has seemed to follow a trend since its uprising, targeting minority groups of a given community. Minorities belonging to different races, ethnicities, and other specified classes have felt that police brutality has targeted them at some point in time. There have been many prior events that have highlighted the topic of police brutality in the United States over the last century (Moore, 2016).

To touch base on past events; in the early 1900’s poor white men and women, as well as members of Judaism and other immigrants, felt that they were experiencing brutality. Members of Italian-immigrant communities in the 1920s within the largest cities in America experienced tactics by police officers that were specified to them. In 1943, the LAPD attacked Mexicans during riots that were taking place across the city. Homosexuals felt that they were facing police brutality in 1969 during the Stonewall riots in which police officers raided a gay bar that ultimately gave rise to the gay rights movement. On September 11th of 2001, Muslims across the globe were violated by police officers that were falsely profiling and wrongfully harassing them for reasons unknown (Moore, 2016).

After witnessing different levels of police brutality in the United States over the years, the minority group that has experienced the worst of this social justice issue has been African Americans. Many people believe that the reason behind the prevalence of police brutality against African Americans is racism, but this is but a small fraction of the foundation of the issue. Many officers believe their peers must accept them or their department by taking on tasks that they feel take precedence. They utilize their self-proclaimed power in order to gain that respect and acceptance from their peers by subconsciously aiming at minority groups because it is what police officers in the past have deemed normal.

Many victims of police brutality come from poor and low-grade socioeconomic ranks. Members of humanity that fall within this scope have found themselves lacking any influence in politics, finance, society, etc. Anti-brutality acts and campaigns have risen in all of the major cities in the United States, especially those with a high minority population. The actions of these campaigns and activists include picketing, boycotts, and monitoring all police actions for any potential violations and mishaps that may come about. In 2014, an unarmed young black man named Michael Brown was shot and killed in the streets of Missouri. The police officer that committed the crime was not indicted and never faced the consequences of his actions. After this occurred, activists across the country formed a movement that is more formally known as the Black Lives Matter movement. Just recently, the Black Lives Matter movement has led protests in over 15 major cities in our country after the police killing of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. During a protest in 2016, five members of the Dallas police department were shot and killed, and three more were gunned down in Baton Rouge just days later (Moore, 2016).

Anti-brutality has been on the rise year after year up until today. A new study found that shootings, chokeholds, and other levels of force that young men experience in America, are the sixth highest cause of death for men whose age ranges from 25-29. This study, conducted by researchers at Rutgers University, found that African American men are two and a half times more likely to be killed by law enforcement than African American women, American Indian men, and women, and Caucasian men and women throughout the span of their lives (Andrews, 2019). Until 2014, many police brutality stories were under rocks and never scratched the surface until later on. Having social media platforms and videos being taken of episodes containing actions of police brutality sheds light on this topic and gives viewers a sense of enlightenment. In 2018, there were more police killings than there were in the previous five years combined. In the year of 2014, when the activism of campaigns and rallies began, members of society thought that police brutality was at its worst, but that was only the case because of the fact that at this time people began to publicize and grant access to resources in order to become knowledgeable on the matter (King, 2019). There are important statistics to learn and understand when understanding the uprising of police brutality in America. At the beginning of 2014, 293 people had been killed by police in the United States. By the end of that year, there were 1,114 people in America killed by police (King, 2019). In the year 2015, police officers or other government officials killed an additional 1,222 people in the United States. In the year 2018, the number at the beginning of the year had increased by 378 casualties and ended up with over 1,300 people killed by police officers that year (King, 2019). The numbers have continued to increase and will continue to increase if this social justice issue is not recognized and admonished.

I believe that this social justice issue really violates all of the Franciscan values that are taught to us at the University; from respect for the dignity of each person, peace and justice, and reverence for creation, to the education for truth and service. The one that I feel is most violated in relation to police brutality would be peace and justice for all. The actions that have been conveyed by police officers and other government officials across the country violate the rights that human beings have to live a peaceful life of integrity. Every member of humanity has the right to live in peace and justice by being respected by government officials. We should feel a sense of safety and compassion from police officers and should feel that they provide a peaceful environment full of equity and justice. With police brutality, the sense of peace and justice is stripped from an individual, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness and defeat. In the future, there are many things that can be done to put an end to police brutality. I believe that some interventions include educating members of a community and police officers on the roles that each should take in providing a safe environment. They should each know what it takes to be a good person that brings justice to the table at all costs. I believe that we can also create organizations that coordinate a feeling of understanding between the officers and community members, allowing them to participate in activities that give rise to education, compassion, care, and a sense of brother/sisterhood amongst all mankind.

When delving into the ideologies of the monotheistic religions, you see that they have the same viewpoints on peace and justice and particularly about issues that relate to police brutality. As citizens of this world and this country, we are obligated to welcome our strangers, combat discrimination, pursue peace, and promote justice for the common good. Catholic social teachings strive to practice these virtues and offer these morals and ethics in order to shape our lives and the lives of others. This society that we are supposed to build will lie a foundation of respect for human life, economic and environmental justice, cultural diversity, and global solidarity (USCCB, 1998). In Islam, peace should be introduced to the world at every level and should be given and spread between all of mankind. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) stated, “You will not enter paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I indicate to you something that will surely lead to your mutual love? Spread the greeting and spirit of peace between yourselves.” (Shakir, 2008). This statement sheds light on the teachings of this Prophet and Jesus as well to teach all of mankind about peace, justice, and all of the stepping-stones to a successful life and hereafter.

After reviewing the foundation of police brutality, it is clear to see that there is an ulterior motive behind the actions that fall within the scope of this social justice issue. All may not see it, but many social justice activists put their best foot forwards in providing the necessary information to enlighten all members of humanity on the matter. Citizens of all communities must take advantage of the knowledge that we are obtaining by standing for what is right and fighting injustice in an appropriate fashion. Police brutality lies under the scope of understanding in which police officers are unwarranted or use excessive and often illegal use of force against members of a community. The concept of social justice and humanity are at risk if solutions are not formulated and expressed to suit the betterment of our people. By standing together, hand-in-hand, we can make a difference and strive towards achieving these goals and others alike.

Many different conflicts arise throughout the world. I wanted to focus on one that takes place in the United States. Police Brutality is a major issue in America and I feel most passionate about this topic. There have been many incidents that have left America in shock. Creating division in our country because of the different stances on this issue. We ask ourselves why is police brutality still prevalent in today’s society. Is it the blatant racism existing in the police force or officers who just weren’t trained well? Many excuses are made to back police officers, but no excuse can make up for the unneeded violence. I will be using the OODA loop to analyze police brutality.

When observing police brutality we have to take into account all sides and all the factors. Police brutality is the use of unnecessary and excessive force against another individual. For example, the victim could be complying with the cop’s orders but the officer may use excessive force and throw the victim to the ground, punch, kick, or choke the individual. This ends up leading to distrust in our law enforcement officers and makes the citizens question their safety. Although this is a major problem today, police brutality has been around forever. Police brutality was mainly seen back during the civil rights movements where African Americans would be beaten by cops. This excessive force was to suppress African American voices and preserve the power of white people. The police are given too much power and then feel they can act, however. Officers should use their power to serve and protect the citizens, instead of taking advantage of their power and using it to brutalize innocent victims. It seems almost as if police brutality is causing more harm to the public than actual criminal perpetrators. People then feel the need to get that power back which causes an uproar. We live day by day obeying the law that police officers enforce but some are using this power violently. One thing we all know is the media’s portrayal of police brutality which is much different from reality. Nowadays, we turn on the TV and can immediately tell which party the news channel supports. Spreading information through biased and deceitful ways is an easy way to spread misinformation. We constantly see new videos of police brutality popping up on social media outlets or news channels which then shows us that it is very real and could happen to anyone.

Officers already work in an environment generating hate towards all criminals, no matter how big the offense may be. This causes officers to act on their emotions rather than in a professional manner. Acting on emotions leads to unnecessary excessive force in times not needed. We have officers who go as far as lying, hiding evidence, or not telling the whole story, making us question just how efficient our justice system is. We were taught at a young age that law enforcement officers are here to protect and serve and that they are to be respected. For the large part, this is true. Because we are humans with different DNA and emotions, there will be bad apples in every facet of our society. We should, therefore, not apply the actions of these bad apples to all of society. Everything should be evaluated on an individual basis.

If we consider cultural influences and internal factors, there is a certain targeted group associated with police brutality. It seems many African Americans are victims of police brutality especially because of racial profiling. Racial profiling is assuming a certain race may act a certain way and is usually seen in a dark light. Officers usually have a set notion of what type of age, race, and class usually perform criminal acts. The problem with this is that many minorities fall under that category. Minorities then always become the primary suspects even when doing nothing wrong. Police shoot and kill African Americans twice as much as any other racial group. This shines a light on the corrupt justice system bias. This then leads to movements and discusses the position of “Black Lives Matter.” Black Lives Matter is a movement started to protest police brutality. This movement was made to show that Black Lives do matter. Not that they matter more but that they simply should be treated the same as every other single person. It’s crazy how we have protested against a group performing criminal acts, that should be protecting us from such. You also have individuals with larger platforms pushing for a solution to this problem or simply for the rest of America to recognize this conflict. For example, Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the pledge of allegiance. This was to raise awareness of police brutality, and while Colin Kaepernick caught a lot of heat, he still got his point across.

Some statistics include that in 2015: 1,307 Americans were killed by police. That is a huge amount considering that there are only 365 days in a year (Petrohilos). “In that number, police have killed at least 104 unarmed black individuals. That makes up about 35% of unarmed African Americans who were killed by police while African Americans only make up about 13% of the population in America. This number also could be much higher due to underreporting.”

Currently, some officers who use excessive force end in little punishment. We need to make a change in our system that won’t allow police brutality to happen anymore. To restore the trust in the American police, they must be routinely and randomly drug tested along with being tested for racial bias. There is no reason why there should be racist cops. All officers must wear body cameras and no exception for turning the cameras off. Communities of color need less policing. Start by decriminalizing addiction and petty offenses. We must also start to diversify our police departments. Hire more women and more minorities. These are simple and reasonable adjustments that should be in effect now.

Citizens should be able to have trust in the officers that protect their community. Police brutality and the inability to stop it shows that the government is drawing out the racial suppression prevalent in today’s society. As a result of the public eye, this makes officers reluctant to do their job because of the criticism. Subsequently, causing communities and officers to feel threatened by each other. We need to make a change now, there are no exceptions or excuses that can make up for the violent behavior officers have been performing. We do not live in a utopian society. Our views and beliefs are different from the world as well. The one universal constant is our “humanity”; and as such, each human being on the face of the earth is not alike. Our human emotions sometimes dictate how we may act or react to certain situations. Our humanity encompasses the good, the bad, and the ugly. There will be conflict and dissension. It seems the bad and the ugly are what’s being prominently portrayed around our country and the world. We must acknowledge that we are a nation of rules and laws. Without these, we are barbarians. 

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, born in Compton, California is an African American whose music highlights the social injustices faced by the African American society.

Lamar’s album “DAMN” was released on April 14, 2017, by Aftermath Entertainment and was the first non-classical or jazz music to win the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 which is a great milestone because it is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States (Wikipedia). The Pulitzer Prize Board called ”DAMN”, a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life’ (Pulitzer Prize Board). The Pulitzer Board was overall impressed with the totality of the album. The album also won the Grammys on 28th January 2018 for Best Rap Album of the Year.

Usually, Lamar’s writing is confessional and includes references to racism, black empowerment, and social injustice. His language and style convey the ideas of social injustice in the forms of brutality, wickedness, discrimination, and violence. This paper will investigate Lamar’s unique language and style to explore these ideas. This brought a rise to the research question: How does Kendrick Lamar’s language and style explore social injustice and its effect on society in his album ‘Damn’?

Methodology

I used purposeful sampling in selecting the songs from the album to analyze. I carefully listened to all 14 songs and perused through the lyrics to specifically choose the songs pertinent to my research question. I chose 5 songs that were pertinent to the theme of social injustice. This included aspects of racism, discrimination, police brutality, and violence. I went on to select the lyrics I thought were relevant and touched on the important issues I wanted to explore in the album. I intended to look out for invectives, plosives, symbols, figurative languages, and rhythms that brought out those issues. I also analyzed the album cover art as it was an important aspect of how the themes have affected Lamar and it gives a fair idea of what the listener should expect and should reflect on in the album.

Analysis

Lyrical Analysis

Language

Kendrick Lamar discusses an array of themes ranging from police brutality, wickedness, and racial discrimination. Kendrick Lamar echoes the issues of social injustice within the African-American society and how it affects his society.

Throughout Lamar’s lyrics, an aspect of violence is used to emphasize the wickedness prevalent in society. His choice of words is harsh, offensive language. The title of the album, “DAMN” is an effective use of invectives to call attention to the condemnation he feels as an African- American or to express his anger or frustration on the themes of police brutality, wickedness, and racial discrimination explored. I chose three songs from the album where Lamar utilizes this aspect of language to explore social injustice: “FEAR”,” FEEL” and “DNA”.

“FEAR” is based on Lamar’s fears throughout his life from childhood to adulthood. These fears include the fear of being beaten up or corrected for a mistake by his mother as a toddler; the fear of dying in a street of high crime rate and violence as an adolescent and the fear of losing his newfound fame and life.

The use of invectives highlights the severity of the punishment he may have been threatened with at a young age by his mother. This can also be interpreted as the violent behaviors that persist in the community he grew up in. It signifies a reflection of how the gang members may have interacted with one another in Compton which exudes a sense of wickedness in their relationship. Kendrick indicates that there is no peace in the black community because the offensive language he uses is a violent reference to the black community and this distinction reveals some form of discrimination. In effect, how will the white community respect or make peace with the black community if the black community is already divided?

I beat yo’ ass, keep talkin’ back

I beat yo’ ass, who bought you that?

You stole it, I beat you ass if you say that game is broken

I beat yo’ ass if you jump on my couch

I beat yo’ ass if you walk in this house

(Lamar, FEAR)

His exposure to the Compton community and his father’s involvement with a gang exposed him to violence and misfortune when he was a young boy (Woolf). This is what influenced Lamar’s language because he has witnessed this social injustice for a long time now and is venting his anger and frustration.

In Lamar’s “FEEL”, he explores his dissatisfaction with the toxicity that surrounds his fame and race and the stereotypes associated with African- Americans. In Lamar’s “FEEL”, he explores his dissatisfaction with the toxicity that surrounds his fame and race and he feels alone and disregarded in those moments. Invectives play a powerful role in Lamar’s song “FEEL” as he explicitly states the stereotypical nouns targeted at African- Americans. The association of these four derogatory words (Niggas, bitches, honkies, crackers) with Compton gives an insight into the manner of people that inhabit that community. The words refer to black people (niggas), degraded females (bitches), low-class white people (honkies and crackers. The mention of lawsuits and subpoenas gives insights into the frequency of investigations into crimes and acts of injustice leveled against those inhabitants of crackers, honkies, etc. of Compton.

Niggas, bitches, honkies, crackers, Compton

Church, religion, token blacks in bondage

Lawsuit visits, subpoena served in concert

His realization of all this negativity and segregation leading up to social injustice and the unfair treatment of African- Americans make him burst out in anger with the line “Fuck your feelings”. Lamar also feels like he is being opposed by all these forces because of his elevation as a black African-American rapper. He shuns all this name-calling and believes that they are most probably associated with “imposters” rather.

Fuck your feelings, I mean this for imposters

(Lamar, FEEL)

In “DNA” Kendrick Lamar celebrates his black excellence and how his character alternates from good to evil because of his exposure to a violent society. Similar to many rap artists, Lamar’s use of the invective “Bitch” in “DNA”, shows his aggression and anger towards his rivals when he switches to “inside your DNA” showing that he is speaking to a targeted audience. Lamar’s sentence structure is affected by his rage and this reflects in his inability to form a full sentence as he rushes to get his emotions and feelings out. The pronoun “your” highlights the presence of two opposing parties and creates a sense of division between them because Lamar distinctly shows their difference by associating them with such a disparaging word.

See, you’s a, you’s a, you’s a—

Bitch, your hormones probably switch inside your DNA

This abusive language used is most probably targeted at Geraldo Rivera for comments he made about Lamar’s BET Awards performance for his song “Alright”. Rivera commented that “hip-hop has done more damage than racism” (Maine) which caused an outburst from Lamar as he believes that he is creating awareness of the social injustice being experienced by people of his race for generations.

Lamar uses short sentences to create an aggressive and violent atmosphere. Kendrick Lamar represents black society as he generalizes social injustice by relating it to himself, “inside my DNA.” Lamar highlights his bad side which is inherently a part of him. This is made evident in his repetition of “inside my DNA”. Lamar emphasizes how alike the past and present are because the traits he possesses now are those of his ancestors which have been passed down from generation to generation creating a vicious cycle of social injustice and prejudice towards the African American society. Lamar highlights the similarities of what he and other African Americans have been through from the exposure to street violence and racism which has been in existence for a very long time and its impact on their mental and emotional being.

I got dark, I got evil, that rot inside my DNA

I got off, I got a troublesome heart inside my DNA

(Lamar, DNA)

“BLOOD” is the opening song of the album and sets the tone of wickedness and ruthlessness for the development of the album. Lamar narrates his encounter with a blind woman whom he politely asked to help. However, he is attacked with a malevolent response from the blind lady and eventually loses his life for a good deed he intended to do.

The introductory lines of the song are posed as questions to bring forth the two main forces that are prevalent throughout the song.

Is it wickedness?

Is it a weakness?

You decide

Are we gonna live or die?

(Lamar, BLOOD)

Lamar explains that he tries to lend a helping hand to the blind woman who seems to be looking for something from the ground. Lamar switches from wickedness to weakness which demonstrates a vicious cycle of the society.

This quote below represents weakness and vulnerability on his part. Lamar connects how in society, being weak or having sympathy for people can lead to your downfall because people tend to take advantage of you. Lamar indicates that if he does not help the woman he is regarded as wicked, but if he does he is regarded as weak.

So after watchin’ her struggle for a while

I decide to go over and lend a helping hand, you know?

‘Hello ma’am, can I be of any assistance?

(Lamar, BLOOD)

The ellipsis used creates a suspenseful mood and we ponder on what the blind woman will do after. The woman shoots Kendrick Lamar in return for his kind gesture. This illustrates how the weakness of an individual in society causes wickedness and a provocation of callous thoughts and feelings in general. This characterizes social injustice as a vicious cycle where doing good or bad will not reap any benefits.

She replied: ‘Oh yes, you have lost something

You’ve lost… your life.’

{Gunshot}

(Lamar, BLOOD)

The gunshot signifying Lamar’s murder at the end of the conversation functions as a flash forward that connects the album’s outro (Duckworth) to the beginning of the album.

Lamar stated his views on police brutality

With that line in the song, quote:

‘And we hate the popo, wanna kill us in the street fo’ sho’.’

Oh please, ugh, I don’t like it

(Lamar, BLOOD)

The quote above is from an extract of Fox News reporters misreporting Lamar’s lyrics as a means to conceal the raw brutality of the police criticize his views on social injustice from his single, “Alright” for his performance at the 2015 BET Awards. The lyrics are originally quoted as:

“And we hate popo,

Wanna kill us in the street fo’ sho”

This highlights the idea of police brutality evident in African-American society. The context of the words “wanna kill us” emphasizes the brutality shown to the black race as in Trayvon Martin’s death. Trayvon Martin was a young teenage boy who died by the gun of George Zimmerman. He was represented as a violent person or ‘thug’ by news corporations in an indirect attempt to justify Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense (CNN). This scenario birthed the Black Lives Matter movement as a “whitelash”(Morgan).

Lamar’s technique of using internal regular rhymes is a way of showing how he transitions from less aggressive to more aggressive as he puts more emphasis.

Loyalty, I have royalty inside my DNA

(Lamar, DNA)

In Lamar’s ‘DNA’, his reference to “Cocaine quarter piece” addresses how his family was in the cocaine business and were making some cash out of it. During an interview on The Arsenio Hall Show, Kendrick Lamar openly addressed a lesson he has learned for life as he grew up in a family that used and sold drugs. Lamar declares that he will not follow in their footsteps and wants to be a quintessential for living a drug-free life (doctor). Currently, he speaks against the advertisement of drugs that are used in song tracks by prominent artists such as Wiz Khalifa who sings about the drug “Molly” in one of his tracks.

Cocaine quarter piece got war and peace inside my DNA

Lamar goes on to associate war and peace with the wickedness and weakness of society. Kendrick informs the audience that he has seen it all; be it good or evil. Lamar’s “DNA” represents the African-American society as a whole and his expression of having “war and peace in his DNA” symbolizes the gang violence and wickedness in the streets of Compton.

I have power, poison, pain, and joy inside my DNA

I got hustle though, ambition flows inside my DNA

(Lamar, DNA)

The repetition of the consonant ‘p’ in the alliteration in the first line exhibits a monotonous mixture of sounds in the tone of the song. The emotional tone and strong language used to describe Lamar’s supposed qualities invoke anger, sympathy, and discomfort from the audience. Kendrick was exposed to things a kid of his age was not supposed to know about. These include gang violence, murder, and drugs. Lamar’s parents relocated from Chicago to Compton to escape the gang culture. However, Lamar’s father had links with the ‘Gangster Disciples gang’ in Compton. Lamar grew up around street violence of the West Coast gangs and witnessed his first murder at the age of five which could leave lingering emotions of trauma and fear in him. However, Lamar did not make these experiences scar him for life. He says “After that, you just get numb to it” (Josh). Lamar rather made meaningful, significant songs with it to acknowledge who he is as a black person. Lamar’s DNA is an acknowledgment of rap’s ability to bring out powerful, vivid emotions which serves as a reflection of his Pulitzer Prize win.

It is rather unfortunate that it took such a long time before black struggles were acknowledged in the form of rap. The ‘power, poison, pain’ of Lamar is a reflection of his life in Compton and how it birthed his gangsta rap style. This raises social awareness within his community and enables listeners to understand the forces that created the environment in which he grew up (Dover & Pozdol). This environment is what he emphasizes to be a part of his DNA or in other words, who he is and embraces. ‘Joy inside my DNA’ is an indication of the true forms of expression of pain and truth explored by Lamar which is now gaining the recognition it deserves as a true art form. The vernacular authenticity of this album is perhaps what made him win the Pulitzer Prize because it reflects the real struggles of black society through Lamar’s lifestyle.

I got hustle though, ambition flows inside my DNA

I was born like this, since one, immaculate conception

I transform like this, perform like this, was Yeshua’s new weapon

…

Bitch, your hormones probably switch inside your DNA

(Lamar, DNA)

Epistrophe is a major technique used by Lamar throughout this song as he repeats “inside my DNA”. Lamar switches from a personalized point of view, “inside my DNA”, to a general and outward perspective later on, “inside your DNA” to emphasize how Lamar is a different and unique being. He hammers on this difference through his repetition of ‘like this’. Perhaps unlike other rap artists, Lamar has “hustle…ambition” flowing through his ‘DNA’ which highlights his black power and resilience in the face of social injustice. Lamar individually praises himself for his “hustle” as he has lived through many struggles and violence from his youth.

As Lamar talks about the police brutality that exists in society in his album, his choice of words as he personalizes it with ‘I’ also suggests that he can relate to the situation and that he has seen it all through his childhood up to now. He personalizes the type of brutality he faced growing up which goes on to emphasize how social injustice through racism, brutality, and wickedness exists within the African American society and negatively takes a toll on current generations and generations to come. Lamar explains how his experiences have shaped him into what he is now. Lamar utilizes alliteration which is evident in the use of the consonant sounds ‘b’, ’d, and ’f’. Lamar uses this kind of rhythm to effectively stress this part of the song. Lamar also employs internal rhymes, which is a way he normally flows in his raps to express his emotions and in this case, the aggression he feels.

I know murder, conviction

Burners, boosters, burglars, ballers, dead, redemption

Scholars, fathers dead with kids and

I wish I was fed forgiveness

(Lamar, DNA)

Lamar begins his album with the track “BLOOD” and ends with “DUCKWORTH”. His album can be interpreted in two different ways, such that when it is played from front to back (BLOOD- DUCKWORTH) it shows a progression from wickedness to weakness which is influenced by choices. The songs at the beginning, “BLOOD”, “DNA”, and “And FEEL” show evidence of Lamar’s aggression whereas “FEAR”, “GOD” and “DUCKWORTH” end calmly. DUCKWORTH ends in weakness because Lamar ends it off with an anecdote about his father and Lamar’s current producer, Anthony (Top Dawg). Lamar narrates a story about how his father offered Top Dawg free food because he knew Top Dawg had robbed his last workplace and sensed that he was up to no good. However, the back-to-front (DUCKWORTH- BLOOD) also reveals an elevated form of his aggression and who he is through the lyrics of ‘DNA’ highlighting a progression from weakness to wickedness.

According to Ambrosia For Heads, in an interview with Kendrick Lamar with MTV, he confirmed the palindromic nature of his album and how it was a thought preconceived in the studio. “It plays as a full story and even a better rhythm. It’s one of my favorite rhythms and tempos within the album. It’s something that we premeditate while we’re in the studio.” (Lamar) Both songs end in gunshots regardless signifying the vicious, cynical cycle of society and whether you do good or bad, it will end up in death or wickedness.

We are going’ to put it in reverse

(Lamar, DUCKWORTH)

Lamar’s outro of his song ‘DUCKWORTH’ is the same as the intro of ‘BLOOD’ which foreshadows the fact that the album can be played in reverse as well or it merely signifies that the song will delve into his childhood story of growing up in a violent community and how it has affected his style of rap. (Ambrosia For Heads)

So I was takin’ a walk the other day

(Lamar, BLOOD)

So, I was takin’ a walk the other day…

(Lamar, DUCKWORTH)

These factors all play together and taught Washington that his actions had no consequences (McIntyre 25). All these factors come together, and using the sociological imagination, it becomes clear why Washington raped and killed Sarah Gould–he simply felt that it was no big deal.

Even though Washington was diagnosed as having a “fragile purchase on reality,” he had a very clear understanding of how the reality of the South Side of Chicago operated. His only “mistake” in his crime was that he left the South Side, where the police were uncaring, and his victim was a white woman of affluent status. Donald Black’s sociological theory of law holds that “police officers are least likely to take legal or other coercive action against lower-status persons–especially the poor and racial and ethnic minorities–whose accusers are also of low status, but more likely to take such action against lower-status persons whose accusers are of higher status,” (Worden 24). This disinterest of police in lower-class individuals creates a nationwide apathy for police brutality and stalls the political rhetoric. The lack of sociological imagination not just from the police, but from lawmakers as well, prevents solutions from coming to fruition.

Differential Association

Differential association is defined as an explanation for crime and deviance that holds that people pursue criminal or deviant behavior to the extent that they identify themselves with real or imaginary people from whose perspective their criminal or deviant behavior seems acceptable (Schmalleger 125). According to Edwin Sutherland in 1939, crime is learned from social interactions. Social pathology, genetic inheritance, biological characteristics, and personality flaws cannot fully explain why people turn to crime. All behavior is learned in much the same way and crime, like behavior, is also learned.

In Elijah Anderson’s article “Code of the Street,” he offers differential association as an explanation for the informal rules governing interpersonal public behavior (75). The ‘code’ allows members to measure each other’s status in the group and influences the overall behavior of a large number of inner-city black youth (Anderson 74). According to Anderson, the behavior of the streets is learned from one another, and the culture surrounding the streets stems from the continuous reinforcement of that behavior. However, the code is not all about rules, as many young black men have adopted a street-oriented demeanor as a way of expressing their blackness (Anderson 85).

In policing, brutality and misconduct are observed and then replicated due to the lack of repercussions associated with that violence. Distinct personalities of police officers can be identified, with the most notable about misconduct being the “tough cop,” (Worden 26). They are most likely to use force improperly, cynical in the sense that they presume that people are motivated by narrow self-interest, conceive the role of police in terms of crime control, focusing especially on serious crime, and they see themselves as a negative force in people; ‘s lives. The “tough cop” believes that the citizenry is hostile toward police, and they identify with police culture (Worden 26). Police learn their criminality from each other. Of course, this implies that police brutality is a product of the police environment and not an innate characteristic of police officers. This directly contradicts the popular “bad apple” defense and instead brings light to the main issue: police culture. Highlighting organizational properties as influences on police behavior would seem to hold the greatest potential as a guide for police reform, as organizational factors are more readily altered than the demeanors of suspects or the outlooks of officers (Worden 28).

Theories

Routine Activities Theory

Routine activities theory is a theory that examines the interaction of motivated offenders, capable guardians, and suitable targets as an explanation for crime and suggests that an individual’s everyday activities contribute significantly to the likelihood of his or her criminal victimization (Schmalleger 187). Routine activities theory offers a “systems perspective” that explains both “criminal behavior and the likelihood of victimization,” (Duque et al. 1224). There are three parts to this: motivation, means, and opportunity.

In explaining active shooters, motivation is “aggrieved entitlement” among working-class white men, where they “see their jobs going abroad, while they are left to compete for the remaining low-paying jobs with an increasing number of non-white citizens and immigrants,” (Duque et al. 1226). This aggrieved entitlement stems from “the deterioration of our manufacturing, economic base, increasing heterogeneous threats to the U.S. – Anglo identity through immigration and diversity campaigns, which are fanned by conservative media and coupled with untreated mental illness have created a dangerous ethnocentric brew enough to motivate some to attack,” (Duque et al. 1227). The means is the physical capital available to active shooters, as there are an estimated 300 million guns on U.S. streets. Finally, the opportunity is the lack of supervision, legal limitations to exclude those with criminal records during recruitment phases at workplaces, HIPAA compliance making it impossible for mental health records to be available to employers, uncoordinated information sharing among law enforcement agencies, and three minute police times – leading to a possible 180 potential deaths. According to routine activities theory, you become a victim simply by following a routine. It is the “routine of activities” that transforms an individual into a suitable target for a motivated and rationally calculating active shooter.

For police officers, routine activities theory can also be used to explain the prevalence of excessive or improper force against American citizens. They have the motivation, whether that is racism or the belief that force is necessary to subdue a perceived threat (Worden 26). The means comes from the authority law enforcement possesses. Citizens are expected to obey every word of police officers, and this power imbalance between an officer and a citizen allows the means to use excessive force. The opportunity comes from a lack of bystanders or witnesses who would speak on behalf of the victim (Worden 33). Due to the “Blue Wall of Silence,” police officers will rarely speak against one another. These three come together and lead to the prevalence of police brutality we see in America today.

Subcultural Theory

Subcultural theory is a sociological perspective that emphasizes the contribution made by various socialized cultural groups to the phenomenon of crime. Culture is a collection of values, ideas, beliefs, and traits that characterize a human group–usually one defined by geographic boundaries, such as a nation. Like the larger culture, or the dominant culture, of which it is a part, a subculture is a collection of values and preferences that is communicated to subcultural participants through a process of socialization. Subcultures differ from the larger culture in that they claim the allegiance of smaller groups of people (Schmalleger 112).

In “Sexual Assault on Campus,” the importance of culture, institutional prejudice, and the normalization of deviance is put on display. There is a cultural expectation that partygoers at college parties will drink heavily and trust party-mates. This culture leads to vulnerability on the part of women, which some men exploit to attract non-consensual sex (Armstrong et al. 484).

Due to this identification with a culture that promotes violence, they learn and adopt the violent tendencies they have learned from their predecessors. Additionally, rookies are quickly led to believe that their academy training is merely a right of passage and that they will learn what they need to know on the street. Thus, according to this line of argument, the police culture is not only the primary reference group for officers but also the principle mechanism of organizational control over the substantive exercise of police discretion (Worden 29).

Conflict Theory

According to Karl Marx, the champion of conflict theory, two fundamental social classes exist within any capitalist society: the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He defines the bourgeoisie as the wealthy owners of the means of production, and the proletariat encompasses the large mass of people, those who are relatively uneducated and who are without power (Schmalleger 153). George B. Void describes crime as the product of political conflict between groups, a natural expression of the ongoing struggle for power, control, and material well-being. According to Void, powerful groups make laws, and those laws express and protect the groups’ interests. American society is a class system of the wealthy and powerful against marginalized minorities who have to be kept in their place (Lyle 7).

In “Left Behind,” profit motive is a cause for corruption. Teachers “young and old did not love to teach, they were just there to get paid” (Left Behind, 52:33). When monetary value is overly emphasized in comparison to other values, there are dangers in any field of work. The children suffer at the expense of greed. Even if they do attend schools, “they are going to be given a hard time, not be given an education, and the teachers are not going to be caring or not going to be there” (Left Behind, 53:44). There is an over-emphasis on trying to gain personal wealth rather than focusing on education and reform. This shows how there are larger cultural and institutional problems. In “Left Behind”, the school board struggled to prioritize the kids.

When looking at who is more likely to be victimized by the police, the answer lies in the lower class (Worden 33). The videotape of the brutal beating of Rodney King was used by those who would propagandize that American society is a class system of the wealthy and powerful against marginalized minorities who have to be kept in their place (Lyle 7). To uphold the laws written by the elite, police are the “instruments of the power elites in the maintenance of law and order,” (Lyle 11).

Cases

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists

In the movie “We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists,” the story of Anonymous, a collective group of Internet activists is told. What started from the imageboard 4chan, Anonymous transformed from a group looking for laughs to “operations” involving attacking foreign governments. As described by Anon, “We stand for freedom. We stand for freedom of speech, the power of the people, and the ability for them to protest against the government, to right wrongs. No censorship, especially online but also in real life,” (We Are Legion 3:49).

The term “hacktivism” has its origins in writing software that people in other countries could use to communicate securely, even if their government was spying on them. It was about freedom of speech (We Are Legion 8:57). The main turning point from online “trolling” to political activism occurred with an attack on the Church of Scientology. After attempting to censor a video of Tom Cruz from the Internet, Anonymous put a video for the first time collectively referring to themselves as Anonymous. In the video, they said, “Anonymous invites you to take up the banner of free speech, of human rights, of family and freedom,” an emphasis on their moral standings, distinctly separating them from the “trolling” they did in the past (We Are Legion 37:17).

After the world drastically changed post 9/11, many online users noticed how government surveillance became commonplace in America. The right to privacy was a privilege only for the rich (We Are Legion 11:05). This was an injustice that many users refused to stand for. According to one Anon, “They don’t care to use the legal system to get you thrown in jail, they care to use the legal system to get you to stop,” (We Are Legion 48:08). This represents conflict theory, where the rich use their vast resources (the police) to go after the proletariat (the “hacktivists”) to keep them in their place. The police, in this example, exist solely not to do their job and follow the legal steps, but to prevent a behavior the elite deems undesirable.

The Newburgh Sting

After 9/11, the War on Terror reached new levels within the United States. In the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the consensus was that the “rules don’t apply anymore,” and that anything goes wrong when looking for potential terrorists (17:02). Unfortunately, part of what the FBI did was treat the entire Muslim community as suspects. It was this attitude that led to the entrapment of James Cromitie by FBI informant Shaheed Hussain.

From start to finish, the plot to blow up cars in the parking lot of a Synagogue and a military plane was entirely started, conceived, funded, and brought into being by Hussain. Led by Hussain, Cromitie, David Williams, Onta Williams, and Laguerre Payen planted a fake bomb constructed by the government in the parking lot of a Riverdale Synagogue to have the appearance of Jihad extremists (56:41). Julian Joslin, a paralegal on Onta Williams defense team, explained the entrapment as follows:

The government did not just choose Riverdale at random. Riverdale is directly above Manhattan, so it’s going to get attention as another terrorist plot being foiled right by the spot where 9/11 occurred. Shaheed Hussain had put a lot of pressure on Mr. Cromitie to find some bodies. From the FBI’s point of view, what they meant was. “We need to get some other people so we can say there’s a conspiracy,” because if Cromitie was the only person there can’t be a conspiracy, because the only other conspirator was a government agent. Shaheed Hussain tells the defendants we have to go pick these weapons up in Connecticut. But the reason was that if they hadn’t driven to Connecticut to pick these bombs up, it wouldn’t have been a federal crime. These guys had to cross state lines (45:50).

This broad overbreadth of law enforcement to convict four poor African American men is indicative of all branches of policing. Police in America will use their power, influence, and authority to keep the lower class out of society (Lyle 7).

Conclusion

In the past, sociologists have attempted to identify the reasoning for police brutality and misconduct in America to offer policy solutions. Despite this, the rate of instances of brutality has remained relatively constant throughout the years (Washington Post). A lack of empathy from the American people because those victimized by police tend to be of lower class contributes to the lack of accountability taken by police officers who engage in brutality (Worden 24).

Applying the sociological imagination and differential association provides different perspectives–the former explaining the lack of empathy of police officers and the latter explaining how this behavior occurs in police culture. Routine activities theory, subcultural theory, and conflict theory offer glimpses of how and why police brutality occurs. With routine activities theory, the police officers have the motivation, means, and opportunity to commit misconduct, and the victims are more likely to be victims due to their daily activities (being lower class or a minority). Finally, connecting “We Are Legion” and “The Newburgh Sting” together shows the wide overbreadth and control the police and by extension, the government has over its citizens.

Past solutions for solving police brutality have not effectively reduced the occurrence of violent events. Therefore, a more intricate and detailed approach needs to be made to prevent more instances of police brutality in America. Instead of focusing on reducing the opportunity via body cameras, more emphasis should be placed on reducing motivation. This can be achieved by focusing on the culture of policing and seeking to eliminate misconduct at the source.

Introduction

Police officers are the individuals charged with the task of maintaining law and order and ensuring the security of the population.

To fulfill these roles, police officers are empowered to investigate suspicious activities and even use force to coerce suspects into compliance or deter aggressive parties from harming citizens.

As a rule, the society expects police officers to conduct themselves in a manner that is above reproach. However, this is not always the case and there have been cases of law enforcement officers engaging in police misconduct which includes any inappropriate behavior by a police that can be classified as either immoral or illegal or both.

Use of excessive force and racial/ethnic profiling are arguably the most problematic misconducts facing the police. Some researchers therefore suggest that more steps should be taken to control offenses such as use of excessive force and racial/ethnic profiling by the police.

They further on propose the use of stronger disciplinary measures to help deter officers from misconduct and also help weed out the offending officers from the forces.

Opponent’s Position

Jost (2012) argues that the racial profiling exhibited by law enforcement officers is a “police issue, not a race issue”. He notes that even in departments where majority of the police officers are White non-Hispanics, blacks and Hispanics are still overrepresented in arbitrary traffic stops.

The racial profiling is therefore the result of the training, culture and customs within the department that ingrains a profiling culture in the officers.

Jost (2012) also suggests that race and class are tied up with crime which results in racial and ethnic considerations being made when fighting crime.

Because of this, police officers are trained to target groups which may be more predisposed to breaking the law. To solve this problem, police officials need to come up with policies that ensure that profiling based on race or ethnicity does not happen.

Jost (2012) declares that police should do more to address the issue of misconduct and in particular to control the use of excessive force.

The author notes that it is only a small number of police officers who engage in the use of excessive force and this abuse of power tarnishes that reputation of entire police departments.

The author notes that the legal standards are loose and the city governments are not doing enough to address the situation.

For this reason, the Federal government should step in and take measures by giving guidance on use of force by police. (Jost 2012) recommends that proper training and better supervision could help in reducing excessive force by police.

Jost (2012) reveals that while the rates of police violence today are less frequent than in the 1960s, the use of excessive force is still present today.

He suggests that law enforcement agencies should adopt stronger disciplinary measures to deal with officers who are guilty of misconduct. The presently employed disciplinary measures are lenient with police officers who engage in offenses being allowed to remain on the force.

In cases where police officers are removed from the force, they are still able to find work within the law enforcement agency.

It is proposed that a system of “decertifying” where an officer found with misconduct is prevented from every taking part in police work should be adopted by police departments all over the country.

My Position

The use of force is sometimes unavoidable as police officers carry out their work. Kaariainen et al. (2008) state that police officers are constantly in interaction with hostile people who may present them with physical danger.

The problem of excessive force comes about since police may not know what level of force to resort to as a situation degenerates rapidly.

Additional training is required to police officers to be informed on the best way to resolve confrontations. Kinnaird (2007) states that an emphasis on non-physical means of eliciting the compliance of the offender would be best suited for to reduce levels of excessive force.

Many policies used in law enforcement agencies are made at the top level of the organization without consulting with the police officers who are supposed to implement.

This results in a tendency by police officers to disregard some of the policies since they are imposed on them without their input. This lack of support for the policies can be reduced by consulting with police officers at all levels at the formulation stage of the policies.

Kinnaird (2007) notes that including the opinion of police officers leads to increased support for guidelines and translates to lower levels of misconduct by police officers

Imposition of stronger disciplinary measures for misconduct might results in fewer reports of misconduct especially by fellow police officers.

Kaariainen et al. (2008) documents that police officers have strong bonds of loyalty towards colleagues as a result of isolation from the surrounding community. Police officers turn to each other for moral and emotional support and they place great loyalty on one another.

The “code of silence” which is an understanding among officers that they should not uncover any misconduct among each other therefore prevails in many departments.

Stronger disciplinary measures will only resort in less reports of misconduct since police officers will not want to jeopardize the careers of the colleagues.

Some police officers are more likely to engage in misconduct than others. With this consideration, better screening mechanisms should be employed when recruiting police officers.

Doing this will ensure that individuals who are predisposed to engaging in misconduct are prevented from joining the police department.

Kinnaird (2007) observes that there are a number of psychological tests which can be employed to identify depressive and sadistic applicants and prevent them from becoming police officers and therefore reduce future police misconduct cases.

The education level of police officers should also be considered when recruiting. A study by Manis, Carol & Kimberly (2008) showed that police officers with a college education were less likely to be reported for misconduct compared with police officers with a high school education.

Police officers with above high school education qualifications should therefore be employed.

Merging the Two Opinions

Racial and Ethnic profiling by police officers is prevalent and as Jost (2012) suggests, this is as a result of customers within police departments. Considering this, the issue would be best addressed by having police officers follower clearly outlined procedures when engaging in police work.

Police officers would be required to justify their actions and an emphasize place on following department policy. In such a scenario, police officers would be less likely to engage in misconduct since it would be easy to flag down those who deviated from procedure and engaged in misconduct.

Jost (2012) agrees that police officers operate with limited guidance and they have a lot of discretional powers especially when handling tense situations.

Coming up with clear guidelines of operation will reduce this discretional powers and result in less misbehavior. However, the police officers need to be involved in the formulation of the guidelines and their input and opinion should be considered.

Some incidents of misconduct are caused by ignorance on polices on the part of the police officer. Manis et al. (2008) report that some officers violate their departmental policies since they are unaware of the right courses of action. Police officers should therefore be kept aware of departmental policies.

As it has been noted, there are some stereotypical views held by police officers. Jost (2012) blames these biases for the high cases of ethnic and racial profiling experienced by some police departments.

These biases should be acknowledged and proactive steps taken to deal with them.

Screening mechanisms employed during recruitment can be used to single out people with extreme biases and stop them from joining the police department.

Conclusion

Our police force is troubled by cases of misconduct which decreases the effectiveness of law enforcement officers. Dealing with excessive force and preventing racial and ethnic profiling should therefore be a priority for our police departments.

This paper has argued that additional training, involvement of police officers in policy formulation and better screening mechanisms when recruiting police officers should be used to help decrease the levels of police misconduct.

It showed that while enacting new policies might be a good step, gaining the support of police officers by including their input in the policies will make them more effective.

References

Jost, K. (2012). Police misconduct. CQ Researcher, 22, 301-324. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/

Kaariainen, J., Tomi, L., Ahti, L., & Joycelyn, P. (2008). The ‘Code of Silence’: Are Self-Report Surveys a Viable Means for Studying Police Misconducts? Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 9(1), 86–96.

Kinnaird, B.A. (2007). Exploring liability profiles: a proximate cause analysis of police misconduct: part II. International Journal of Police Science & Management, 9(3), 201–213.

Manis, J., Carol, A.A., & Kimberly, D.H. (2008). Exploring the impact of police officer education level on allegations of police misconduct. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 10 (4), 509–523.

Introduction

Police brutality is a serious issue that the current society is facing. The problem of police brutality is often associated with other social problems such as discrimination. One factor that makes police brutality such a significant problem is the perception of the public. Members of the public believe that police frequently take part in racial profiling mainly targeting black persons and handling minority suspects violently. However, an article by Steve, Holbert, and Lisa Rose in 2009 differed from this view. According to the article, the public’s perception of police’s use of force especially towards minority groups was wrong since statistics proved otherwise. Related statistics show that the police are more likely to use force towards white males who undoubtedly are a majority group and that the police only apply force to less than 1% of cases. Surprisingly, police force members believe that racial profiling among their workmates is rampant. The public is becoming so intolerant to police brutality to the extent that it ignores situations that warrant the use of force such as self-defense (Holbert, 2015). This paper explores the issue of police brutality and seeks to shed light on the perceptions of the public, especially the black minority.

Discussion of Police Brutality

The purpose of the article by Holbert and his colleagues is to enlighten their audience on the current incorrect perceptions of the public towards police brutality and racial profiling. The widespread beliefs about police brutality and racial profiling are likely to be emanating from people’s memories of bad events instead of focusing on good memories. Why do Blacks view themselves as targets of victimization especially by police when statistics suggest that white males are the most susceptible to police brutality? What makes Black people have a negative view towards police actions when statistics clearly show that police use force in less than 1% of all the incidences? It is not clear why members of the public and especially those from the black community have wrong perceptions of police brutality (Holbert, 2015). Members of the public judge the police likely depending on how the media portrays them. Reports on websites, televisions, and radios are likely to show the Police in a bad light. The main reason behind this is that the negative portrayal of the police is likely to attract greater attention when compared to the positive events. Most reports showing statistics relating to police brutality and racial profiling appear to be biased as they don’t put any effort in explaining the context in which the incidences of brutality took place. For example, statistics from copblock.org only show the ugly statistics but don’t explain why the incidences happened (Dantes, 2011). Since historically blacks were victims of segregation, history likely plays a part in making blacks have a predominantly negative perception of the police and government authority. I believe that the environment, both present, and past, has played a crucial role in shaping how people view members of the police force. This is because before someone forms an opinion about anything, he or she is influenced by the environment and his or her subjective experiences. In this situation, the environment has contributed immensely to shaping people’s attitudes about the police (Paul, 1997).

Intellectual Standards

Important intellectual standards in changing the public perception of police brutality are accuracy, breadth, and logic. If the public insists on the accuracy of factors that led to cruelty before believing released reports, it will be more likely to judge correctly whether the cases of brutality were justified. The breadth of the different aspects surrounding police brutality will allow one to consider all possible points of view before arriving at any conclusions (Paul, 1997).

Intellectual Virtues

Intellectual virtues that are important in resolving the issues discussed are intellectual empathy, intellectual perseverance, and intellectual humility (Paul, 1997). Intellectual empathy ensures that one will consider reasons that may make police use force such as self-defense before judging them in cases involving perceived police brutality. Having intellectual perseverance will enable one to see why the public might be irrational in judging the police based on what their environment dictates. Intellectual humility is important as it makes one slow to judge the public especially the Blacks on matters concerning police brutality. This is because one is likely to consider the possibility that he or she may not know everything relating to police brutality (Linda, 2007).

I applied deep learning in my understanding of the problem by ensuring that the thinking process in discussing the issue was developing step by step (Paul, 1997). The difference between this analysis and that of a minimalist student is that this one encompassed questioning every possible aspect of the problem while maintaining reason (Linda, 2007).

Conclusion

This paper’s discussion shows that it is not easy to grasp all the aspects of the issue of police brutality. As seen, it is easy for one to form wrong conclusions if he or she fails to maintain an open mind concerning the issue. To ensure one understands all the issues involved, he or she must approach the subject with critical and logical reasoning.

References

Dantes, E. (2011). Police Brutality Statistics. Web.

Holbert, S. L. (2015). The Specter of Racial Profiling Obstructs Law Enforcement. San Ramon: Page Marque Press.

Linda, R. P. (2007). The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking. Dillon Beach: The Foundation for Critical Thinking.

Paul, R. W. (1997). California Teacher Preparation for Instruction in Critical Thinking: Research Findings and Recommendations. Sacramento: California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Introduction

The United States continues to experience police violence at an alarming rate. A study in 2018 revealed that the police kill more than three hundred citizens every year (Cobbinah and Jan 995). Another research showed that one in one thousand young African American males are likely to die in the hands of the law enforcement in the country (Ehrenfeld and Patrice 2). This information reveals that much of the brutality has a basis in racism.

One of the effects of police brutality is the harm to people’s health. Study shows that the victims of police brutality soon suffer from illnesses after an encounter (Ehrenfeld and Patrice 3). It is suggested that the effects are especially higher when the law enforcement unevenly applies force on African American individuals in contrast to their White counterparts in a community (Ehrenfeld and Patrice 3). For example, a study discovered a connection between living in minority communities with a large concentration of force utilization by police against the public and a greater risk of obesity and diabetes (Holmes IV 4). Nevertheless, the police using force in such communities was also related to the lower risk of poor health (Holmes IV 4). The findings came before the research accounted for the ethno-racial composition of the community.

Police brutality has been known to be a cause of mental illnesses, for example, anxiety. Individuals who have had an encounter with the police officer using force against them have afterward lived a difficult life (Peeples 22). There are those that have reported that as soon as they see a police car or hear the siren, their hearts beat at a higher rate than normal (Peeples 22). Additionally, there are those who still have flashbacks of what happened to them. For instance, a child who witnessed their parent being harassed to the point of death, will forever have those memories. Others have entered into depression with the majority either having suicidal thoughts or committing suicide.

Another effect of police brutality, apart from health issues, is death. A study revealed that the use of force by the law enforcement is a major cause of death amongst the young African Americans (Peeples 23). The findings showed that over the course of lifetime, around one in every one thousand individuals are likely to die, mostly between the age of twenty and thirty-five years (Peeples 23). The researchers utilized information from an impartial, journalist-led program seeking to establish a nationwide database that involves interactions with the law enforcement (Pillay 317). They accounted in total for about eleven thousand police encounters in the analysis which examined at how race, age as well as sex impacted mortality risk (Pillay 317). They discovered that the greatest levels of inequality in deaths are experienced by African American males.

It is critical to note that the risk of dying in the hands of the law enforcement is twenty times as high for males generally as it is for females of any ethnic group. To be specific, the risk is one in two thousand generally for males in contrast to one in thirty-three thousand for females (Schwartz 3). Moreover, African American males were nearly twice more likely to die than white males, while females from that community too were at the same rate. The same is for the other minority groups (Knopf et al. 460). This is alarming when police brutality is compared with other death causes. Trailing behind cancer, HIV, accidents, homicide, suicide and heart diseases, it is the leading cause of death.

Nonetheless, more young African Americans died due to the police violence than they due to health conditions such as influenza, pneumonia, respiratory illnesses, and diabetes. When examining the same statistics, the ranking remains almost similar with diabetes overtaking the three law enforcement brutality mortality rate (Schwartz 5). According to CD, police brutality still accounts for more death cases every year than chronic lower conditions, influenza, pneumonia and cerebrovascular.

Potential Solutions to the Issue of Racism (Evidence, Statistics, Example)

The issue of racism is one that has led to police brutality that has been witnessed in the American society for a long time. There have been cases of White individuals in the police force using their power to mistreat or harass African American individuals. For instance, in the last two years, there have been more than two cases that received nationwide attention as they were recorded and the videos went viral on social media (Stelkia 2). It has reached a point that even young children have learned words that seek to cause others feel underappreciated. It is possible to stop the issue from continuing through certain measures as explained below.

The first step Americans can take is learning how to recognize as well as comprehend one’s privilege. Understanding racial privilege and utilizing it to dismantle systemic discrimination are two approaches to start this complex procedure. Nevertheless, race is only a single aspect of privilege (Stelkia 3). There are others, for example, religion, ability status, sexuality, gender, socio-economic status, citizenship and language. All these have the capacity to impact one’s level of privilege. For instance, someone who is rich is treated differently from that who is not. Using a privilege to empower one another instead of discriminating or seeking to undermine is among the ways to deal with the issue of racism.

The other measure to take is validating the experiences as well as feelings of individuals of color. This can be accomplished by supporting people of color and engaging in difficult dialogues concerning injustice and race (Holmes IV 7). Americans should not be afraid to discuss discrimination and oppression for fear of hurting others. Rather, everyone should take action and learn the ways that racial profiling continues to influence the society, for instance, through watching documentaries or reading books. One can liken the issue to domestic violence whereby an advocate learns about it through listening to survivors.

Another step of dealing with racism is by challenging the colorblind concept. This is pervasive misinformation that people live in a post-racial society whereby they do not see each other’s skin color. Perpetuating this contributes to racial discrimination more than the majority think. When Dr. King, Jr. stated his hope for being in a world that does not see color, he did not imply that individuals need to ignore race. It is difficult to remove racism without acknowledging it first. Being colorblind means ignoring a major part of someone’s identity as well as dismissing the actual injustices that most encounter due to their skin color. It is important to see color first in order to collaborate for equality and equity.

The other step to take for Americans is calling out statements or jokes that appear racist. It is important to let everyone understand that racist comments are not right to make. If one is uncomfortable or does not feel safe being confrontational, they should attempt to explain their thought process and ask questions. For instance, explaining to someone that their joke might be funny but it means something else to a person of color. People should escape from the fear of having conversations with colleagues, friends and family. Failing to say anything about it means agreement which may be fatal in future.

Another step is finding out how a company or educational institution is working to expand chances for minority groups or treating those from such communities. The AAPF stated that in 2014, a twelve-year old encountered criminal charges and expulsion from her school for writing on the walls of a locker room. Campaigns such as #BlackGirlsMatter address issues of under protected and over policed African American females within the education system. It is essential for organizations to address such matters and foster a culture or equality and equity.

To fully understand how police brutality is affecting the society and how to fix the situation of racism, an interview was conducted, as detailed below, to help confirm some of the information available. The interviewee is a police officer who asked for his personal details not to be revealed for fear of losing his job. He has worked in the law enforcement for about fifteen years. Thus, he is experienced and information he provides is dependable.

Interview

The aim of this interview was to identify the effects of police brutality on the society, racism and the solutions to both. The interviewee detailed that police violence for a long time has been part of the culture in the United States law enforcement. Upon starting to work, one is forced into choosing either to stay with the good side or the bad side. He claimed that not everyone is courageous to say no to the bad side recruiters especially when there are top leaders in that category. At the start of his career, his then boss approached him and asked him which side he chose. He did not understand initially until he went for patrol. His first experience defined his career for the next ten years.

The interviewee shared that for the police involved in brutality, it reaches a point it seems as a sport which explains why the cases continue to increase as detailed in the first section of the paper. They view their victims as preys and they are the predators. The section of the officers that do not allow this to happen in their presence are isolated and can even be denied a chance to enter into certain groups or places such as police bars. Ninety-five percent of those that act wrongly are White officers while the remaining comprises of those from the minority groups. Majority of the latter were forced into that life due to fear. He detailed that they would have meeting s and set target for every one of them on how many people they would arrest wrongfully. If the individuals refused to comply, they would be encouraged to shoot them as the Police Union would defend them in Court.

Upon inquiring what might have been the motive behind all this, the interviewee claimed that the violence stems from racism. He claims that all the wrong acts he has witness, are against the African Americans. In a year, he counted between three hundred and four hundred deaths resulted from violence according to their national meetings they hold annually. This is accurate since a study in 2018 revealed that the police were responsible for the death of more than three hundred people every year (Cobbinah and Jan 995). The interviewer questioned the officer desiring to understand the reason behind his choice away from that life.

He detailed that he has been part of an incident that led to the death of his son’s friend and basketball teammate. This was his turning point as he thought about the situation as if he had killed his child. Additionally, he stated that some of the people especially the youth that they had harassed in the past, do not seem healthy psychologically. He explained of an incident that when he was heading home one evening and a young boy got a panic attack. After abandoning the life involving working against the public, he chose to join a group that deals with social issues. He claimed that he has met many cases of depressed individuals especially from the minority groups. This information is essential as it supports the argument on the effects of police brutality on the society.

Conclusion

Police brutality is an issue that has been affecting the United States for a long time and it seems that the rate of cases continues to rise. It is not right that individuals in power let the situation worsen. It is important that the root causes be understood and solved. For instance, racism, which has been identified as one of the reasons the police officers have been involved in violence against the public, needs to be solved first.

Works Cited

Cobbinah, Stefania Sarsah, and Jan Lewis. “Racism & Health: A Public Health Perspective on Racial Discrimination.” Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, vol. 24, no. 5, 2018, pp. 995-998. Web.

Ehrenfeld, Jesse M., and Patrice A. Harris. “Police Brutality Must Stop.” American Medical Association, vol. 29, no. 1, 2020, pp. 1-4. Web.

Holmes IV, Oscar. “Police Brutality and Four Other Ways Racism Kills Black People.” Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 39, no. 7, 2020, pp. 1-7. Web.

Knopf, Amelia, et al. “A Review of Nursing Position Statements on Racism Following the Murder of George Floyd and Other Black Americans.” Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, vol. 32, no. 4, 2021, pp. 453-466. Web.

Peeples, Lynne. “What The Data Say About Police Brutality and Racial Bias—and Which Reforms Might Work.” Nature, vol. 16, no. 5, 2020, pp. 22-24. Web.

Pillay, Anthony L. “Basic rights caught in the web of racism, classism and police brutality.” South African Journal of Psychology vol.50 (3), 2020, pp.316-319. Web.

Schwartz, Stephan A. “Police brutality and racism in America.” Explore (New York, NY) vol.16 (5), 2020, pp.1-10.

Stelkia, Krista. “Police brutality in Canada: a symptom of structural racism and colonial violence.” Policy Brief vol.10 (72), 2020, pp.1-4. Web.

Introduction

Any expression of violence is negative for the functioning of society. Ordinarily, the task of preventing violence and punishing those who commit it is put on law enforcement. However, classic assumptions of justice and order are severely compromised in cases when police themselves are the source of violence. Such circumstances create moral ambiguity and public distrust of law enforcement. A more worrying implication of police brutality is the growing number of innocent people who are harmed and killed. Understanding what propels officers to engage in excessive violence is essential in ascertaining the most effective solutions to the police dilemma.

Police Dilemma

Excessive use of force by the police is a complicated scenario. On the one hand, officers have the authority and the means to counteract criminals. Any society that has a criminal justice system has at some point surrendered some part of its sovereignty to its law enforcement bodies in exchange for protection. Legally, police are obligated to ensure public order and stop criminals who break the law. Naturally, perpetrators are likely to be adversarial towards law enforcement. While trying to evade justice, they may attack the police, which will inevitably lead to retaliatory use of force. Therefore, it is expected that officers will use weapons to fight off individuals presenting an immediate threat to them and citizens.

On the other hand, the use of force should not be excessive. Society expects officers to use weapons only when there is a direct necessity. If the criminal is armed and firing at the police, the use of force is acceptable. However, when the actions of the police are disproportionate to the committed crimes, the necessity of such measures is compromised. Furthermore, shoot-outs in populated areas are likely to affect innocent people. The public of any country is extremely sensitive, when it knows that citizens who are not involved in a criminal activity are harmed. Finally, the use of force by the police against unarmed people is the most disconcerting event that attracts negative publicity.

As a result, numerous countries have a clear dilemma that has no immediate answer. If police have the authority to use violence, the means, and are not accountable for abuse, there is no proper law enforcement. If the government defunds the police, there will be no bodies to control criminal elements that do threaten the stability of society. Both extremes are undesirable, yet the debate what should be done to reduce police brutality continues, while the number of innocent people dying grows because of police misconduct grows (Goff and Hilary 67). In order to change the status quo it is imperative to analyze the origins of police brutality.

Causes

One of the commonly stated reasons for police brutality is racism. All officers are individuals with their own set of emotions, unconscious prejudices, and attitudes that invariably influence how they approach their duties. In their systematic review, McLeod et al. argue that “black men and women comprise approximately 13% of the US population, yet they account for 23% of people fatally shot by police” (12). Although this statistics does not necessarily imply the presence of systemic discrimination, it does highlight the possibility of racial prejudices being relevant.

However, the most important prejudice police officers have is born out of the constant exposure to criminals. Goff and Hilary write that patrol officers are in frequent contact with perpetrating individuals, which forces them to adopt a negative attitude toward this population (70). While most of the news are focused on the deaths caused by police, Peeples references data that shows the increased death rate of police officers themselves – at least 50 officers were shot in 2018. This knowledge further drives law enforcement people to use force, especially when they are being shot at. If the suspect is of different ethnicity, the officer’s bias strengthens their negativity, which may cause them to use excessive force.

Underreporting

Another reason for the prevalence of police misconduct is insufficient rate of reporting abuse. Not every officer feels content with the current situation, as there are also service members who are against such actions. However, many of them do not report the misconduct of their superiors. In some cases, silence is the result of the fear of losing one’s job or having a reputation of a whistelblower. Regardless of the reasons, the lack of negative feedback from police subordinates is the reason behind the current surge of misconduct.

Availability of Firearms

Naturally, police officers are expected to carry weapons to repel armed criminals. However, research indicates the gradual militarization of police departments over the last decades (Lawson 178). This phenomenon is expressed through the growing influence of military traditions in law enforcement agencies. For example, police has special units similar to special forces, such as SRTs, PPUs, and SWAT teams. Police officers receive training, which is heavily influenced by military practices (Lawson 179). Yet, the most notable expression of militarization is the proliferation of weapons among law enforcement people. Lawson specifically refers to the demonstration, during which “police officers met protesters dressed in tactical riot gear, wielding automatic weapons, grenade launchers, and tear gas, and confronting them with military-style armored vehicles” (177). This event was the result of decades-long process of militarization of police.

The subsequent question is whether the drastic militarization of police leads to a higher occurrence of police brutality. Lawson is convinced that it does while referencing his study of databases of lethal killings by police within the context of law enforcement agencies receiving military weapons, technology, and training. His main conclusion is that “increasing militarization corresponds to more suspect deaths” (Lawson 186). Combined with possible racial prejudices, the availability of firearms propels officers to use violence against ethnic suspects.

Solutions

Combatting racism is a complicated task, since choosing an inappropriate strategy will not yield positive results. For instance, replacing white service members with people of color is likely to encourage more hatred and aggression. This does not imply that law enforcement agencies should not hire non-white candidates. To the contrary, according to the study done by Hollis and Wesley, “racial minorities reported higher rates of use of force”, then did representatives of the mainstream social groups (14). Therefore, the greater inclusion of such people will make the system more transparent, as more misconduct will be reported.

Furthermore, physical presence of minorities in any organization is a positive step towards achieving social acceptance. Relationships between people and groups are shaped by the number of interactions among them. For example, raising African Americans in primarily black communities with minimal interaction with white Americans will likely lead to deeper animosity between them. If the only information about the mainstream social groups that they receive is news of police misconduct and criticisms of white supremacy, they will view white law enforcement people negatively. The same is true for any other social, ethnic or racial group.

Breaking this cycle of mutual distrust is possible trough exposure. This is why hiring black service members is important – they will connect with white officers and convey their viewpoint to them. The more positive interactions between various ethnic groups is accumulated, the less likely service members are to use excessive violence against people of other ethnicities. The most efficient way of accomplishing it is through nurturing empathy.

Transparency and Accountability

If the fear of disclosing one’s identity is the reason why many service members are silent about the misconduct of their colleagues and superiors, then the solution is to create opportunities for anonymous reporting. Currently, there is no official data regarding the incidence of police shooting. The awareness of these events is spread via witness reports and independent journalism (McLeod et al. 12). Instead, a public service that highlights the facts of police misconducts should be established. First, it would allow service members to take action without fearing the consequences of identity disclosure. Second, such a reporting system would also enable ordinary citizens to influence police staffing. Once a database is functioning and well-known, policy makers will have to acknowledge the problem.

These actions empower people to report misbehaving police officers, but they do not influence their motivation to conduct misconduct. Service members should realize themselves that excessive use of weapons is not feasible. Another popular option to increase police accountability is to obligate them to wear body-worn cameras (Sousa et al. 100). It can also contribute to greater police transparency because all interactions between officers and suspects will be recorded. Although it is expensive, combining it with the regulation that obligate service members to intervene in case of another person’s misconduct will be an effective step at preventing violence.

Demilitarization

There is a certain social consensus that police is overly militarized. Not only does it precipitated shootings, but it also allows critics to frame the government as a police state. Removing military practices from law enforcement agencies is a way to regain public trust and lower mortality rate among both police officers and suspects. Some policymakers have already expressed the desire to reduce transfer of military technology and equipment to police departments (Edmondson). The more support demilitarization campaign gains, the more successful the initiatives to stop arming police will be.

Conclusion

Altogether, it should be evident that the ideal solution to police dilemma is to continue funding, while imposing regulations that increase police accountability and transparency. It is important to realize that service members are also under the increased threat of being shot at. Therefore, it is imperative to build rapport by increasing the number of racial minorities in service. Second, greater transparency should be ensured through the installation of body worn cameras. Regulations should be imposed that obligate officers to report misconduct. Greater accountability can be achieved via the implementation of an independent and anonymous reporting system. Finally, demilitarizing police will reduce the number of weapons that are sued to harm innocent people and improve the public image of law enforcement agencies. Combined together, these steps present a complex and multifaceted approach to managing police brutality.

Works Cited

Edmondson, Catie. ” Lawmakers Begin Bipartisan Push to Cut Off Police Access to Military-Style Gear.”The New York Times, 2020.

Goff, Phillip Atiba, and Hilary Rau. “Predicting Bad Policing: Theorizing Burdensome and Racially Disparate Policing through the Lenses of Social Psychology and Routine Activities.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 687, no. 1, 2020, pp. 67-88.

Hollis, Meghan E., and Wesley G. Jennings. “Racial Disparities in Police Use-Of-Force: A State-Of-The-Art Review.” Policing: An International Journal, 2018, pp. 1-37.

Lawson Jr, Edward. “TRENDS: Police Militarization and the Use of Lethal Force.” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 72, no. 1, 2019, pp. 177-189.

McLeod, Melissa N., et al. “Police Interactions and the Mental Health of Black Americans: A Systematic Review.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, vol. 7, no. 1, 2020, pp. 10-27.

Peeples, Lynne “What the Data Say about Police Shootings.”Nature, 2022.

Sousa, William H., Terance D. Miethe, and Mari Sakiyama. “Inconsistencies in Public Opinion of Body-Worn Cameras on Police: Transparency, Trust, and Improved Police–Citizen Relationships.” Policing: A Journal of policy and Practice, vol. 12, no. 1, 2018, pp. 100-108.

Introduction

The police service has been mandated by the government to maintain order and law in the society. By maintaining law and order in the society, the citizens get a chance to live in peace without any fear. The police just like any other citizen are mandated to abide by the law. In the course of executing their duties there are situations which may demand that they use excess force.

This happens when there is a danger to lives, for instance, when there is an exchange of bullets. Use of excess force is only permitted in special occasions. Quite unfortunately, there have been circumstances where the police force has used their mandate in the wrong way.

This has included the use of excess force when the situation does not really call for such a force to be used. Today, police service has been characterized by a lot of scandals including rape, sexual assault, brutality, corruption and much more. This is wrong and is a deviant behavior which ought to be stopped; it is an abuse of office powers.

I strongly believe that there is no reason that can justify some of these acts that are so inhuman. I believe that this topic is very important and is requires further investigation because if no action is taken, we might end up having a society that is too bitter with the police service and the consequences of these will be that the society will be prone to police mercies as justice will become a thing of the past. This essay is a summary of police deviance and measures that could be taken to control this.

Police Deviance

A behavior is considered deviant when it is not within what the society expects. Any society operates within a given code of conduct. When a person goes against the laid down code of conduct then such behavior is considered deviant behavior. Therefore in order to classify a behavior as deviant or not, there is a need to be well versed with the accepted code of conduct because the breaking of this code is what will lead to a behavior being labeled deviant.

A police man/woman is said to be deviant when he/she does not adhere to the police code of conduct. For the sake of this paper, the scope of this paper will only examine the code of conduct in reference to the relationship between the police force and the society. This is to make the scope of the paper achievable.

The Canadian police force has a number of roles and responsibilities but generally they are entitled to:

Act on behalf of the government and society to enforce laws, maintain the peace, detect crime, respond to emergencies, assist victims of crime, and provide assistance in prosecuting offenders. Police are also involved in community support and outreach programs such as drug awareness and crime prevention. Police services receive their powers to search, arrest, and detain individuals from the Criminal Code of Canada and from provincial and territorial Police Acts. (Li, 2011)

It is evident that the roles and responsibilities of the police force as outlined above exposes it to the public when executing its duties. It is obvious that the police force is always in constant contact with the public. There are risks involved in executing some of the police force duties, for instance, there are cases where the force has to deal with hardened criminals who pose some danger to the society as well become a threat to the lives of policemen/women when being pursued.

Such times call for accurate and quick decisions as there are cases where lives can be lost in no time. Police work therefore calls for commitment, accountability and competency in execution. Law and order can not be maintained in the society with the police personnel and therefore they do an executive job of ensuring that the society remains calm and people live in peace. It is quite unfortunate that there are some policemen who are dishonest, lack professionalism and are continuously involved in criminal acts.

Police deviance is therefore not acting in line to the expected laid down roles and responsibilities. Police deviance is actually an abuse of office whereby policemen and policewomen take advantage of their police position to abuse members of the society. Police deviance has been argued to be much more than it seems. It includes all the acts that are not inline with accepted norms, values, ethics and beliefs. It includes all acts that involve financial or material gain or reward (Police Crimes, 2004).

Key Issues in Police Deviance

Cases related to police deviance are on the increase. Police deviance is taking different forms which include: police brutality, police racial profiling, police sexual harassment among others. Logically arguing engaging in police deviance is more of denouncing police duties which a police person is supposed to execute. There were sensitive sentiments aired about police deviance which claimed that some of the deviant actions executed by the police are actually orders from above.

According to an article published by Henry Michaels, some police confrontations are deliberate collaborated efforts by the government and the police service. The use of pepper spray, horses and excessive force has become a common act in police service (Michaels, 2003). Such kind of actions will continuously widen the gap of hostility between the society and the police force. This creates a bad police image in the society. It portrays the police force as a team which is not civilized and lacking professionalism in the execution of their duties.

There have been cases which the general public feels were not well handled. Some police officials have engaged in what can be classified as being deviant and overstepping their mandate in the execution of their duties and yet it seems that somehow they have not been punished in accordance to the due process.

A good example is the case of Stacy Bonds. It is clear that there were huge violation and excessive use of force: “The video shows 27-year-old Bonds being kneed several times, forced to the ground and pinned by four officers before having her bra and shirt cut off with scissors by Desjourdy” (CBC News, 2011).

I call this excessive use of force because I do not see any essence in for policemen pinning down one lady. There is a need to engage more reasoning when engaging people. It would be wise if female officers handled the search. Having a lady’s clothes cut off and leaving her bare naked is quite traumatizing. It reduces the self esteem of a lady to great extend especially when it carried out by men.

Such scenes as that of Stacy causes mistrust issues. The cause of mistrust is poor relations between the community and policemen. Unpleasant and bitter feelings associated with past experiences with policemen may make one hate the police force. Generally, it will not be in good sense if the police force loses trust in public eyes.

Loosing trust in the public eyes will actually undermine some of the most important programs that the police force has initiated; community policing for example depends heavily on the community to give vital information to the police. For community policing to be effective, there has to be a good relationship between the community and the police – the two must correlate well for an interaction to take place and information to be exchanged. Lack of trust on the police will make the community

Types of Police Deviance

Police gratuity; is a form of corruption where the police get a free services or unnecessary discounts in exchange for favors that might be required in future. Gratuity put the police in a compromising situation since the favor that he might be required to offer in future could be illegal (Police Crimes, 2004). Another way that the police force can become deviant is through a police shakedown. A police shakedown is where the police exploit business owners to give them money so as to protect their businesses.

They make threats if the owners fail to comply with their demands (Police Crimes, 2004). The police may also decide to withhold important information for some personal reasons. This is called police perjury. Police perjury is a form of deviance where the police fail to provide some important information and as a result one is wrongfully prosecuted as a criminal.

In other cases, police officer may give false statement to damage the image of the victim. Sometimes this is referred to as evidence planting. They normally do this for financial gain (Police Crimes, 2004). Police perjury and evidence planting are usually covered up schemes to protect the face of the police force or a collusion to help a criminal not to found guilty. All the above are serious forms of injustices and deviate from the basic police roles and responsibilities.

The police can still decide to be blatantly rude and use their powers in the wrong way. Police brutality is where the police take advantage of their power and use excessive force, ridicule and disrespect someone’s rights and privacy. Sometimes they end up killing innocent citizens or even their colleagues which is very wrong.

A good example is the use of taser at Vancouver’s International Airport (a weapon with two wires propelled through air and once these wires strikes the muscles, muscles contract causing immobility) which caused the death of Robert Dziekanski who was an immigrant. Dziekanski was fired at by a taser five times and this caused his death (CBC News, 2011).

Police profanity is when the police use offensive language. This language may reflect discrimination or lack of respect. Use of profane language might take during an arrest but it should be noted that it wrong. Even if the person to be arrested offers resistance, the police are not allowed under any circumstance to use abusive language (Police Crimes, 2004).

Sexual harassment; this is where the police force handles a person in a manner that amounts to be termed as sexual assault. A good example is the case of Stacey Bonds Case in Ottawa where a police officer Steven Desjourdy was charged with sexual assault. A video was released as evidence in this case showing how the 27 years old Stacy Bonds was overpowered by four officers and one of them by using a pair of scissors cut off her shirt and bra exposing her nakedness.

Police misuse of confidential information; policemen may sometimes leak some personal information to their families, friends or even public. This might damage the image or risk the life of the person who personal details are being released (Police Crimes, 2004).

Primary and Secondary Victims

Business owners are primary victims since they are sometimes exploited by selfish policemen. This happens when policemen ask them to give them some money so as to get ‘extra’ protection. They are forced to comply with the police wishes and if they fail the police will probably “pull some strings” to ensure that the business owners comes for the protection.

Minority groups are another set of primary victims. Some policemen target some individuals based on race or ethnicity background as the main reason for suspicion. Such a suspicion may lead to a person from a minority group being detained unlawful and sometimes the victim is harassed and denied his/her rights.

Employees who work in certain institutions are sometimes exploited by policemen. The policemen may ask for favors from these employees thus putting them in a very compromising situation. This has a number of effects on employee which includes; loss of trust in the police service, defamation of character and reputation, extreme stress since one act contrary to his or her own wishes and sometimes loss of a job.

The female gender is the most affected in terms of sexual harassment. Sometimes they are even stripped off their clothes by merciless police men and torture. This shows lack of respect and denial of one’s rights. The victims may suffer from psychological and physical problems as well as getting infected with diseases.

Families and relatives of the primary victims also get affected. This is because of the demoralizing effect as a result of lost trust in police service. Moreover, due to health, psychological and physical problems encountered by one of their own, they might spend a lot of money in efforts to resolve or heal that problem.

Sometimes the victim might not recover forever and this will force the family to continually take care of that victim; such a case may happen if a taser is used on an epileptic person. This may lead to bitter and unpleasant feeling towards the police service.

Organizations where the individual work; though organizations may not be affected directly, there might be an indirect effect through a staff member who is subjected to police misbehavior. Such a staff member will probably be demoralized and this may affect his/her productivity at the organization.

Community and society in general will also be affected by police deviance. The community generally will be angry and bitter about police inappropriate behavior. There is also bad relationship between community and police service since the community will loose trust in police services and view the police service as a body that is empowered to violate people’s rights.

Persons’ and/or Groups’ Response to the Issue

Demonstrations: some bodies have taken to the streets to protest against the police’s unbecoming behavior. However, the demonstrations are not quite successful since the same policemen confront and disperse them using force, pepper spray and horses. This is a clear indication that police are taking advantage of their position since they know that they do not directly report to anyone or rather because they have powers over the common citizens.

The government many times fails to address the public concern thus their efforts are just in vain. A good example was the Toronto demonstration at Ontario legislature in Queen’s Park, this demonstration did not end up well since three anti- poverty activists were arrested and charged with riot offenses.

Another type of response from the community and individual personalities is filling cases against policemen who violate people’s rights hoping that justice will be executed. Some individual files cases against the policemen who abused them. They do this in hope that they will be offered justice and that this will be a lesson to many other policemen who will try to commit same crimes. A good example is Stacy Bonds, who filled a case against the officer who violated her.

Still another way of responding to police deviance is through reporting cases to the relevant authorities so that they can take action. Some victims report cases to other relevant authorities, not necessary the police force, to ensure that justice is not denied to the victims of police deviance. Due to lack of trust in police service one may prefer to go to another relevant body to seek for assistance.

Lastly there are those who just decide to keep quite since they have either lost hope or because of fear. Due to mistrust experienced and reluctance of law courts and relevant authorities, some victims of violence are not willing to report some cases to the authority. Others fear the consequences that might be fall if they report these cases. They therefore hold bitter and unpleasant feeling for the rest of their lives and this may have severe negative effects on such people. Some may seek counseling in efforts to overcome that hatred while others will not.

Studies on Police Deviance

Two perspectives have been adopted to explain the causes of police deviance: popular conceptions and scholarly research.

Popular Conceptions

According to the popular conception, police deviance is a deep rooted in the heart of the police force. From this perspective police deviance is viewed as being part of the police culture which is being passed down generations and has become hard to alter. Some top police officials have however claimed that it is only a handful of the police officers who are deviant.

Such deviant police officers are those who by bad luck filters through the recruitment process and finally end up misusing their powers after official being posted to work. This explanation seems reasonable but then one may question its validity taking into consideration that the few bad deviant police officers are not usually taken to task to properly explain their action implying laxity in the whole system.

Scholarly Perspective

The scholarly perspective offers a wide and reasonable argument on why police deviance has persisted in our society. Expert conceptions have researched into this area and pointed out the following causes of police deviance: “irresistible opportunities, low pay rates, cynicism in promotion procedures, socialization and reinforcement, corruption in the society, citizens’ tolerance, and inadequate leadership” (Police Deviance, n.d., p. 135).

Irresistible Opportunities

The police are constantly exposed to situations which demand them to make hard decisions of which most of them may have major effects of different individuals. Persons may tempt the police with huge bribes once they are caught committing crimes; this especially applies to the “victimless crimes” for instance gambling. The police in such a case may sympathize with the individual, take the bribe and set the person free.

Low Pay

There is a belief that the police officers are not paid well in reference to the risks that they undertake in the course of executing their duties. The police officers have the feeling that they risk their lives always whenever they are in the line of duty. Because of such risking they therefore feel that they are entitled to earn some bonus which may present itself in the line of duty. It has also been claimed that getting a promotion in the police force is a hard thing to come by and therefore one needs to find ways of getting extra money.

Socialization and Reinforcement

The police officers often interact with each other. Through such interaction the officers share their backgrounds thus forming strong bonds. Such kind of socialization often leads the officers sharing their secrets and values. Some of the values shared are deviance behaviors and through such interaction therefore these behaviors passes down police generations.

Extent of Corruption in the Society

The police officers are likely to be tempted to engage in deviance behavior when they see the same happen in other sectors, for instance, in the business, among the politicians etc.

The Way Forward

Some of the ways which have been suggested to act as solutions to the deviance behavior among the police officers include: improved pay for officers, ethical training of the officers, routine transfers of police officers, and using internal affairs department.

Improved Pay for the Officers

It is believed that with an improved pay to the police officers, they will be happy with their work description and will not spend much time looking for extra money. It is hoped that with more payment, the police officers will be satisfied and will execute their responsibilities in the right way. It is likely that they will handle people in a caring manner without any bitterness.

Ethical Training of the Officers

There is a need to train police officers such that they execute their duties professionally. It is assumed that by training police officers on better ethics they will rationalize some of their actions which are considered deviant. Ethical training can be carried out as part of the curriculum in the training academy or they can be introduced as work shop courses.

Transferring of Police Officer more frequently

By engaging in constant transfer of police officers more often than not, it becomes hard for the police to take advantage of some people. Constant transfers will make it possible to destabilize corruption networks of police officers.

Conclusion

Danger consequences of not taking action against police deviance behavior might be experienced if this issue persists. Police service should know that they are accountable to the general society, thus their actions should therefore reflect professionalism, honesty and ethics. Reports of corruption and other deviance behavior should not be tolerated at all. The police service therefore needs to put measure in place to build back its lost confidence.

References

CBC News. (2011). Taser video shows RCMP shocked immigrant within 25 seconds of their arrival. CBC News. Web.

Li, G. (2011). Private security and public policing. Statistics Canada. Web.

Michaels, H. (2003). More evidence of police brutality produced at Toronto “riot” trial. World Sociolist. Web.

Police Crimes. (2004). Police deviance and ethics. Police Crimes. Web.

Police Deviance. (n.d.). Deviance and Corruption. Web.

The police or correction subculture is mandated with the responsibility of enforcing the law whereby the expectation is purely on upholding the law. Therefore, they are expected to keep up with the standards of the law and avoid any form of conduct that may implicate weaknesses when implementing the law.

Quite often, appropriateness and correctness of their conduct in the line of duty has been a subject of debate and at times questioned in terms of validity. In the process of maintaining law and order, controversies and questions have emerged regarding the conduct of the police and correction subculture.

Robertson (2011) argues that even after numerous concerns which led to creation of law enforcement intelligence agencies, there are myriad of accusations that have been leveled at police conduct in the process of law enforcement. Collection and keeping of information by the police has been considered as subject of great controversy in the process of legal ramifications over the years. According to Snell (2009), police intrusion into individual privacy has been witnessed in many instances.

When suspecting certain individuals as either criminals or engaging in criminal activities, the police have been carrying out secret investigations without the knowledge of such people. Constitutional definition of the right of privacy requires that every citizen be guaranteed the right to privacy until court intervention. Secrete police investigations and installations of monitoring devices on suspected criminals have been considered as police misconduct.

Pressure from human rights agencies and other concerned bodies to withdraw from such acts of privacy intrusions have yielded little outcome. Willingness of the police to make such withdrawals has been nonexistent and thus the police have been considered as fuelling misconduct within the law.

In the line of duty, police subcultures emerge when some groups of police develop their own codes of ethics which clash with the clearly defined professional code of ethics. This code leads to a conflict between community service and personal protection. Due to the numerous common features in the police such as culture, batches, guns working risks and other setbacks, the personal code suppresses professional code (Watson, 2010).

This feature leads to creation of strong subunits within the police and thus creation of animosity with outside world, not just criminals but also concerned citizens viewed as stumble blocks in the process of law enforcement. The resultant animosity leads to great ignorance of constitutional rights and the law thus leading to great misconduct in the law enforcement process.

The police also develop a code of silence within themselves leading to great silences within the police. Such silences may lead to gross misconducts in the law enforcement process. For instance, when police perpetrate brutalities to suspects, they conceal vital evidences required in law courts.

Such acts obstruct the process of law enforcement. As known famously from a past case, a lot of Los Angeles police engaged in drug trafficking, evidence faking and beatings among others which led societal reaction through civil unrests. Such actions only continue to heighten police misconduct (Lawrence, 2011).

In yet another code which is usually referred to as “cop code”, there is a tool that enhances police misconduct in the process of enforcing law (Lawrence, 2011). Sometimes police behavior may generate negative societal perception of this institution. The resultant behavior will be elicitation of coldness or implicit rejection towards the police.

When such behaviors emanate, community cooperation diminishes and unwillingness to assist in identifying crime increases. This creates a rift between the community and the police leading to further misconduct in the process of enforcing the law.

References

Lawrence, N. (2011). Police subcultures vs. law enforcement code of ethics. Web.

Robertson, J. N. (2011). How police break the law. Houston, Texas: Wiley & Sons.

Snell, P. (2009). Law enforcement intelligence. London, UK: Sage Publications.

Watson, R. K. (2010). Police malpractice. New York, NY: Cengage Learning.