Police Brutality in the United States - Free Paper Sample

Introduction

Every year in the United States, police kill hundreds of men and women. Since America has never counted the number of lives lost, no one knows how many exactly have died in the police's hands. Despite this, however, the limited available information indicates that the police's lethal force impacts black American men more. While unarmed Black American men are the most affected by police killings, many Black American women have also lost their lives due to police brutality. Like in every other country, police officers in the United States have the responsibility to uphold the law while respecting and protecting people's lives (Koper, 2016). There is no doubt that they are tasked with a dangerous and challenging job. However, the shouting of people like Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, among others, has significantly highlighted a widespread pattern of racial discrimination by law enforcers.

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Cases

On the 9th of August 2014, police fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri (Wolfrom & Thebault, 2020). Exactly ten days later, Kajieme Powell, a young African American managed 25 years, was shot by St. Louis police officers. Other individuals who have recently been killed by police include; an unarmed 22-year-old Rekia Boyd, shot on March 21, 2012, by a Chicago police officer, 43-year-old Erick Garner placed in a chokehold by police officers from the New York state department on 17th July 2014. Garner had been arrested for selling untaxed cigarettes. 25-year-old Ezell Ford was also fatally shot by Los Angeles state police on 11th August 2014. Ford was unarmed and well known to have a history of mental sickness. On 22nd November 2014, Cleveland also shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was playing with a toy gun. These are just a few of the cases that received media attention. There are many other cases, including Hispanic and indigenous persons from various communities across the nation who have lost their lives in the police's hands.

The use of lethal force by police officers in the United States has raised some serious human rights concerns. These include; the right to life, the right to freedom from discrimination, the right to equal protection of the law, and the right to security. America is obligated to respect and protect each of these human rights since it has sanctioned an international covenant on political and civil rights. In addition to that, the United States has also ratified the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (Lim, 2017). Therefore, means America, as a country, is compelled to protect all forms of human rights abused through police brutality.

Duty of the Government

One fundamental duty of the government, which police as agents of the state, need to adhere to while enforcing the law is to protect citizens' lives. In pursuit of ordinary law enforcement operations, there is no justifiable reason why an officer would use excessive force that causes a person (Perkins & Bourgeois, 2006). International laws have only allowed police officers to use lethal force as the last option while protecting themselves or when they need to protect other people from death or injury.

According to the international law enforcement standards, forces of any kind can only be used when there are no other means likely to achieve the legitimate objective. In cases where lethal forces cannot be avoided, then it should never be more than what is necessary to attain the purpose. International law also requires police officers to only use lethal force in a way that would minimize injury or damage. Law enforcers are required to respect and preserve human life (Nix, 2020). They should provide medical aid as soon as they can to individuals who have been affected or injured.

In the wake of people losing lives through police brutality, many national protests have demanded accountably (Dunham & Petersen, 2017). Today, any case involving lethal force by police officers has to be investigated in an independent, transparent, and impartial manner. If evidence indicates unlawful practice by the police officer, then he/she would be criminally prosecuted.

Use of Firearms

In the United States, there is a lack of accountability of a law enforcement use of lethal force. The officer's police agency would first be expected to investigate before they handle the case to the prosecutor. Depending on the jurisdiction, the prosecutor can either file charges directly against the officer or convene a grand jury. Concerns have arisen in the fact that investigation into such cases is handled internally (Kargin, 2016). This has led people to call for independent instigation in all cases that involve police use of lethal force.

Most deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers are by use of firearms. The availability of guns among the general population in America has made police officers always prepared for anything while confronting suspects. When a person makes unexpected movement, he/she might be mistaken to be reaching out for a firearm even when unarmed. The use of firearms by police officers needs to be regulated by certain laws (Parent, 2006). A significant concern in recent cases has been the number of shots a police officer fires. For instance, in Michael Brown’s case, he was shot six times. Kajieme Powell, on the other hand, was shot nine times. The firing of many shots like this, especially in an urban environment, puts bystanders at risk of being shot.

There are many “Less lethal” weapons that police officers use and carry a lesser risk of injury and death. However, it is essential to note that these weapons can still cause severe damage and, at times, even death. For instance, between 2001 and 2012, 540 people died after being shocked by a Taser ("Annual Report: United States of America 2013", 2020). Recent cases have proved that chokeholds can also be deadly.

Conclusion

As a recommendation to stop police use of deadly force, congress needs to take legislative action to ensure that all local, federal, and state police officers restrict their use of lethal force and follow international law and standards. Secondly, the Department of Justice needs to make sure that there are a proper collection and the publication of statistics on law enforcement shootings (White, 2001). Thirdly, the Department of justice and the president ought to support creating a national commission that would examine and recommend policing issues.

Reference

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https://doi.org/10.1350/pojo.2006.79.3.230

Annual Report: the United States of America in 2013. Amnesty International USA. (2020). Retrieved 9 September 2020, from
https://www.amnestyusa.org/reports/annual-report-united-states-of-america-2013/.

White, M. (2001). Controlling Police Decisions to Use Deadly Force: Reexamining the Importance of Administrative Policy. Crime & Delinquency, 47(1), 131-151.
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Kargin, V. (2016). Police Use Of Excessive Force: A Case Study Of Lethal (Deadly) Force. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 12(1), 488.
https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2016.v12n1p488

Dunham, R., & Petersen, N. (2017). Making Black Lives Matter. Criminology & Public Policy, 16(1), 341-348. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12284

Nix, J. (2020). On the challenges associated with the study of police use of deadly force in the United States: A response to Schwartz & Jahn. PLOS ONE, 15(7), e0236158.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236158

Wolfrom, J., & Thebault, R. (2020). Prosecutors will not charge the police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson. The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 September 2020, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/30/prosecutor-will-not-charge-police-officer-who-shot-killed-michael-brown-ferguson/.

Perkins, J., & Bourgeois, M. (2006). Perceptions of Police Use of Deadly Force. Journal Of Applied Social Psychology, 36(1), 161-177.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00056.x

Lim, H. (2017). Police Bias, Use of Deadly Force, Public Outcry. Criminology & Public Policy, 16(1), 305-308. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12293

Koper, C. (2016). Advancing Research and Accountability on Police Use of Deadly Force. Criminology & Public Policy, 15(1), 187-191.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12192.