Police Brutality Research

Police Brutality is a wrongful crime and people who participated in the violence should

be punished. Many people are victims and are affected by police brutality. People in authority

should not be able to go without consequences for abusing their power.

Police Brutality is the use of excessive and unnecessary by police when dealing with

civilians. Police brutality can be present in physical forms such as tazing, pepper spray, and guns

to intimidate or intentionally hurt the victim. Police brutality can also be false accusations and

arrests, verbal abuse or racial profiling. Many people lose their lives or loved ones because of

police violence. “More than 920 people have been killed by the police in 2015” (UsHistory.org).

Officers are
Many social issues come out of police abusing their power. According to the text, “Our

lives, our homes, our liberties each day are made less secure because of the unrestrained and

unpunished Police brutality.” (National Negros Congress, petition against police brutality).

Police forces abusing their power harms the communities it takes place in. It affects the

communities trust in the police.

Many police officers abuse their power by assaulting civilians or taking action in police

misconduct. According to the text, “Some police officers are shooting unarmed people, sexually

assaulting women, stomping, choking, yelling racial slurs, and giving false accusations.” (Human

Rights, Nelson). Some police officers may get away without suffering any consequences.

Many Americans, both blacks and whites, say that violence against police is also an extremely or

very serious problem in the United States. And half of all Americans, regardless of race, say fear

3

caused by the physical danger that police officers face is a major contributor to aggression

against civilians. For every 1,000 people killed by police, only one officer is convicted of
Butler was later proven innocent in the case and settled a civil lawsuit with the city for

$775,000.

There are organizations that have been created in opposition to police brutality. One of those

organizations is The Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was created

to stop police brutality and protect black individuals. According to the text, “ Black Panthers

monitored the behavior of the police in black communities.” (Huffington Post). Whenever there

was an arrest being made in a black neighborhood, the members would stand, armed, watching

the officers.

African Americans are likely to be killed by the police than any other race. The source claims, “

Police shoot and kill blacks almost as twice as frequently as any other racial group.” (APNORC)

4

and “Black people were four times as likely to die in custody or while being arrested than

whites” . A number of civilians have lost their life while being apprehended. Tamir Rice, a 12

year old boy was shot and killed by a Cleveland officer who mistook his toy gun for a real

firearm.

Excessive force is one of the most common forms of police misconduct. “Excessive force

reports made up more than 23 percent of all police misconduct reports in 2010.”. Out of