Preview

African American Police Shootings

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1736 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
African American Police Shootings
Introduction

From the early days of slavery, through segregation during the fight for civil rights to the seemingly recent gain in officer involved shootings, which may be attributed to advancements in technology, African Americans have a long history of experiencing police brutality in America. The rise of social media coupled with new technologies allow us to view many of these incidents for ourselves, often causing social unrest amongst other issues in many minority communities. However, many fail to realize that this violence may have a lasting negative effect, particularly for young adults and may even affect the way in which they view the police. Youth are negatively affected by the violence within African American communities and the
…show more content…
Research Question/Hypothesis
For the purpose of this study, the following questions were addressed:
Based on the Critical Race Theory, what is the effect of police brutality and/or exposure to police brutality on African American youth? In addition, what treatments, if any do these youth receive to help them cope with the effects?
Does police brutality affect African Americans general perception towards police officers?
As part of this study, investigation included two research hypotheses:
African American youth exposed to police brutality, when left untreated can encourage psychological effects and violent behavior that may persist well into adulthood.
Police brutality towards African Americans may cause African Americans to be distrusting of police officers.
Theoretical
…show more content…
Unfortunately for African Americans and other minorities the exposure and effects of violence are even more prevalent. In the article, “Effects of Crime and Violence in Neighborhoods and Schools on the School behavior and Performance of Adolescents”, the authors found that males, African Americans, high school students, school lunch recipients, and urban students reported higher exposure to environmental danger. Unfortunately, it is also these same communities which often lack the required resources needed for help them to successfully cope with these situations, resulting in underlying issues which may persist well into adulthood. According to the journal article, “African-American Youth and Exposure to Community Violence: Supporting Change from the Inside”, there are a series of high level stressors particular to African Americans, they include: exposure to violence, a lack of coping strategies and adult support for handling

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Adetiba and Almendrala’s article details the traumatic side effects to viewing videos of police brutality, focusing specifically on its impact on Black people. While discussing the side effects, which are similar to that of post-traumatic stress disorder, the authors explicate the reasons as to why the Black community is particularly vulnerable to these symptoms. Citing a psychologist, the authors explain that since the majority of these videos feature Black victims, Black viewers see themselves as the victims, resulting in feelings of anxiety and danger. Although this article presents the downside to these videos, the authors offer an opposing viewpoint, explaining the political benefits to the videos of police brutality. The author notes…

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is getting more and more popular especially to African Americans, and more specifically African American males. It is making the world and community a more dangerous place than it already is. It is making this society a very destructive and violent place. In order to stop the violence there has to be some leadership and control. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said, “Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come” (5). Getting assaulted by a police officer should never be understood or viewed as okay. Although racism and discrimination may completely be gone, it can reduce if there were more leaders. Harmon argues that “defensive force justification defenses arise when individuals threaten interests that are weighty enough to justify protection” (1147). Harmon always justifies that “the common law connection between justification defenses and police use of force may not be surprising in light of the development of law enforcement in the country” (1149). In other words this means that when someone speaks out and decides to have a voice about needing protection they will not stop until they get what they need. In this case, they get all the resources they need in order to get justice. Police brutality is not right and is making this society weak. The justice department needs to take control and breaking the law should not be acceptable for anyone, not even the police department. There needs to be consequences and the consequences need to be the same for a police officer as it is for a citizen who breaks a…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Not only that but blacks had a higher chance of being stopped in the streets through suspicion. Those who have experienced being stopped by the police, most of the time, the police himself was not behaving properly (Davis). From these statistics, we can tell that the police himself sometimes cause these incidents of brutality. No one triggers such aggression; it’s the just cop himself that decides to be aggressive.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In recent years throughout the rise of media attention on police malpractice and inner conflicts of racism in the force a campaign for Black Lives Matters has come to exist. The foundation of this group was built on racially based shootings and arrests. Many people have come to the belief that the police force is racist against those of the black community. In recent history the black community has felt that there have been a great number of injustices against them. These injustices have caused a major distrust of the police in the African American community.…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is much debate in the United States surrounding the causes of police brutality. Missing from this debate is the question of what types of individuals choose to become officers of the law. Are these individuals prone to behave in a violent manner once placed in positions of authority? Do some police officers possess a psychological profile that encourages such behavior? Further, what role does group socialization play in the issue of police violence against Blacks and Browns? Research suggests that authoritarians, individuals that favor strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom, self- select into police work. Criminologists, psychologists and other social scientists have found that authoritarianism is a by-product…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The social perception of race has systematically changed police-community relations, considering time and time again, black and brown bodies have been perceived as worthless during police confrontations.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Do Police Brutality

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page

    Police brutality for many decades has plagued society. It is the abuse of physical force, intimidation or coercion that some officers feel that comes with the badge, and it is inflicted on society. Among the umbrella of police power there are many racial and ethnic minorities, by large believe that police officers will use unauthorized procedures against them. This goes back to a long history of police and their job to track down slaves and keep a social divide between black and white societies (Cooper, 2015 p 1189). This can result in violence, false charges, and or having to pay higher fines for minor crimes. The majority of the time when seeing a patrol officer they are on patrol (Fritsch, Liederbach, Taylor & Caeti, 2009, p17)…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although police, who work in towns with high crime rates in relation to the African American population, have statistics to back their actions. Often there are circumstances where they profile an innocent young boy or girl. For example, if you are a young black man out late to go for a jog due to your busy schedule at work all day today, and you are suddenly harassed by multiple police officers, bombarding you with questions while simultaneously yanking your limbs into unnatural knots, you will feel that you have been profiled solely based on the color of your skin. Even knowing that approximately a block away from where you are jogging a suspect fled the sight of a violent mugging, this is a major problem. Given that the job of the police…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Police brutality is the excessive use of violence against people in different areas of the United States by police. Police brutality is something that is talked about a lot by different people: people of different races, genders, and age groups. This is a big problem that is happening in the United States and has been happening for a while now. There has been many issues of police brutality in the past few years. Police brutality issues seem to happen the most within the African American community because there seems to be more deaths under police surveillance in the African American community. There has also been a number of people in the African American community that have been victims of police brutality such as Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and many others. According to statistics…

    • 1595 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Police Brutality

    • 737 Words
    • 22 Pages

    Police work is dangerous. Sometimes police put in situations that excessive force is needed. But, because some officers use these extreme measures in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed. The use of excessive force may or may not be large problem, but it should be looked into by both the police and the public.…

    • 737 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Starting with the slave trade in the mid-1600’s and evolving into laws being erected in 1954, racism has been prevalent in the United States for hundreds of years. Now, its 2017 and even after slavery and Jim Crowe laws have been abolished, and Brown vs Board has been appealed, racism still rears its ugly head in the lives of the masses. This particular plague has unfortunately spread into the hearts and minds of civilians, government officials, and those holding immense amounts of power and influence. With that being said, it is no surprise that among the bodies in which such gross injustices occur, the police force comes into question. Seemingly more so than ever, police brutality as a whole has been happening at an alarming rate. Flip on…

    • 1873 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the year 2015, 400 plus years after slavery, America still struggles with the thought of racism amongst African Americans. To name a few, African Americans experience racism through racial inequality, racial profiling, and police brutality. The Black Lives Matter Movement in particular brought the attention to police brutality in America. Known to be the new Civil Rights Movement, Black Lives Matter was created because of the injustice amongst people of color when it comes to police killings. According to the Guardian, blacks killed by police this year were more than twice as likely to be unarmed as were whites. The Guardian also said wrote 32% of African-Americans killed were unarmed while 15% of whites and 25% of Latinos did not have weapons. These statistics are scary but true. Which brings the question of why? Why are police killing our unarmed black men and women? Why should African Americans trust an institutionalized American system that was never meant to protect black people? I personally believe police brutality stems from the history and origin of American policing and because of bias and malice driven white cops. More importantly, is the black community haunted by historical beliefs, practices, and stereotypes that once deprived them?…

    • 1664 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Throughout the decades, African Americans have been mistreated by the criminal justice system for its teaching to its actual doings. From the lecture halls of universities teaching of criminology has revolved on a bad image of African Americans. That led to those who studied criminology to obtain a job in the field that allowed them to demonstrate what they have been taught. Historians and researchers have come up with a set amount of information that allows us to understand this and how it has influenced the criminal justice system as a whole from its history during Jim Crow to the teachings of the criminal justice system.…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Police Brutality

    • 1584 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I. Police brutality is constantly made known to us all through mass media, but I hadn’t ever taken the time to truly grasp the severity of it until it hit close to home.…

    • 1584 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Recently there have been incidents of police brutality in the United States all over the internet, in newspapers and on TV. Police brutality is a huge problem all across America and sadly, it occurs everyday. The Dictionary of American History defines it as the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3401803303.html) Most cases of this type of brutality are also racially motivated, which I will go more into detail about in this research paper, in addition to some general information, possible causes, specific incidents that have occurred and also the public reaction to police brutality.…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays