Police Brutality and Racial Disparities
Introduction
Police brutality against African Americans is a widely discussed topic across the states. However, what cause the police to be so? Why do they use excessive and deadly force against them? And is it really only about African Americans or does the other ethnicities encounter the same problem? These questions are worth thinking about. However, the real question is, why police are brutal and how can we link it to structural racism? Also, what are the increased odds of African Americans or any other ethnicity to encounter the brutality of police? How race/ethnicity affects treatment by the criminal justice system?
Harsh Judgements
As you are the director of the Civilian Police Review Board I want you to know more about how police officers make assumptions about people sometimes based on their race and ethnic identity. According to the Journalist’s Resource article “Excessive or reasonable force by police? Research on law enforcement and racial conflict” in November 2014, “Tamir Rice was shot by police in Cleveland, Ohio.” Does race have anything to do with the incidents? Probably. Tamir Rice was a big 12 years old boy only. He was playing with a toy pistol when he got shot. I believe that the stereotype of African Americans are criminals plays a major role in this incident. What if Tamir was a white boy? Would he got shot? Maybe, but the chance of him getting shot would decrease probably. That is the problem, it is when we keep feeding our citizens with stereotypes that are not real, or at least not real as people think. So when the officer saw Tamir Rice, he misjudged the situation and shot him. After all the police officer is also a part of a community as the other citizens, so we can say that even police officers are fed up with different stereotypes that make them more vicious in their judgments and acts. It is not only about Tamir or Africans Americans in general, even other races and ethnicities such as Latinos they also encounter many problems. …show more content…
Misjudging, and applying harsh judgments to people just because of their race/ethnicity is a type of racial disparities. Racial disparities is a major problem across the state. When people of any race commit a crime of any kind, most of the time black and Latino receive harsh judgments more than white people. ACLU report “Racial Disparities in Sentencing” states that “There are significant racial disparities in sentencing decisions in the United States. Sentences imposed on Black males in the federal system are nearly 20 percent longer than those imposed on white males convicted of similar crimes. And as of 2012, the ACLU’s research shows that 65.4 percent of prisoners serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for nonviolent offenses are Black.” Racial disparities is a real thing and it is not only about the countless victims that were killed by police officers, but even in the daily life of some people they encounter different kind of racial disparities, harsh judgments, and longer sentences for nonviolent crimes. Blacks and Latinos are mistreated and judged unfairly in the justice system in many places across the state. These racial disparities result from disparate treatment of Blacks and Latinos at every stage of the criminal justice system, including stops and searches, arrests, trials, and sentencing. ACLU states “Race matters at all phases and aspects of the criminal process, including the quality of representation, the charging phase, and the availability of plea agreements, each of which impact whether juvenile and adult defendants face a potential life sentences without the possibility of parole sentence.” There are some statistics that shows that Blacks are 20 times more likely to be sentenced to life sentences than whites for nonviolent crimes. Basically, you will probably encounter …show more content…
The George Washington Law Review article “Race, Prediction, and Discretion” states that “Some scholars claim that prediction is partially to blame for racial bias in criminal justice.” Police officers and judges shouldn’t just predict whether the defendant is a criminal or is going to do a crime again, it needs some deep thinking and going through evidence. Otherwise, people of all kind of races and ethnicities will encounter discrimination through every step of the way like: Stops, arrests, parole, incarceration,
Introduction
Police brutality against African Americans is a widely discussed topic across the states. However, what cause the police to be so? Why do they use excessive and deadly force against them? And is it really only about African Americans or does the other ethnicities encounter the same problem? These questions are worth thinking about. However, the real question is, why police are brutal and how can we link it to structural racism? Also, what are the increased odds of African Americans or any other ethnicity to encounter the brutality of police? How race/ethnicity affects treatment by the criminal justice system?
Harsh Judgements
As you are the director of the Civilian Police Review Board I want you to know more about how police officers make assumptions about people sometimes based on their race and ethnic identity. According to the Journalist’s Resource article “Excessive or reasonable force by police? Research on law enforcement and racial conflict” in November 2014, “Tamir Rice was shot by police in Cleveland, Ohio.” Does race have anything to do with the incidents? Probably. Tamir Rice was a big 12 years old boy only. He was playing with a toy pistol when he got shot. I believe that the stereotype of African Americans are criminals plays a major role in this incident. What if Tamir was a white boy? Would he got shot? Maybe, but the chance of him getting shot would decrease probably. That is the problem, it is when we keep feeding our citizens with stereotypes that are not real, or at least not real as people think. So when the officer saw Tamir Rice, he misjudged the situation and shot him. After all the police officer is also a part of a community as the other citizens, so we can say that even police officers are fed up with different stereotypes that make them more vicious in their judgments and acts. It is not only about Tamir or Africans Americans in general, even other races and ethnicities such as Latinos they also encounter many problems. …show more content…
Misjudging, and applying harsh judgments to people just because of their race/ethnicity is a type of racial disparities. Racial disparities is a major problem across the state. When people of any race commit a crime of any kind, most of the time black and Latino receive harsh judgments more than white people. ACLU report “Racial Disparities in Sentencing” states that “There are significant racial disparities in sentencing decisions in the United States. Sentences imposed on Black males in the federal system are nearly 20 percent longer than those imposed on white males convicted of similar crimes. And as of 2012, the ACLU’s research shows that 65.4 percent of prisoners serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for nonviolent offenses are Black.” Racial disparities is a real thing and it is not only about the countless victims that were killed by police officers, but even in the daily life of some people they encounter different kind of racial disparities, harsh judgments, and longer sentences for nonviolent crimes. Blacks and Latinos are mistreated and judged unfairly in the justice system in many places across the state. These racial disparities result from disparate treatment of Blacks and Latinos at every stage of the criminal justice system, including stops and searches, arrests, trials, and sentencing. ACLU states “Race matters at all phases and aspects of the criminal process, including the quality of representation, the charging phase, and the availability of plea agreements, each of which impact whether juvenile and adult defendants face a potential life sentences without the possibility of parole sentence.” There are some statistics that shows that Blacks are 20 times more likely to be sentenced to life sentences than whites for nonviolent crimes. Basically, you will probably encounter …show more content…
The George Washington Law Review article “Race, Prediction, and Discretion” states that “Some scholars claim that prediction is partially to blame for racial bias in criminal justice.” Police officers and judges shouldn’t just predict whether the defendant is a criminal or is going to do a crime again, it needs some deep thinking and going through evidence. Otherwise, people of all kind of races and ethnicities will encounter discrimination through every step of the way like: Stops, arrests, parole, incarceration,