Combating Police Brutality Against Minority Groups in the US

Abstract

Date Due: [Name] Introduction By definition, police brutality can be viewed a civil rights violation where officers in law enforcement exercise excessive or undue force a against a given subject. The brutality includes but not limited to physical or mental injury, verbal or physical harassment, damage of property and in extremes cases, death. Overtime, police brutality has become prevalent across the world. The term “police brutality” was first used in the mid-19th century in Britain and in late 19th century in United States. In the U.S, it is common for the marginalized to experience police brutality and most of them view the police as oppressors rather than law keepers and protectors a notion that is furthered by the increased incarceration of individuals from the minority groups. Police brutality prevalence varies from one country to another and it is guided by elements such as ethnicity, racism, available policing polices among other social and political factors. This paper aims at exploring various aspects of police brutality and provide recommendations on how this social problem can be remedied effectively especially in the United States. Exploring police brutality is relatively important because it is among the leading cause of death especially for young people in the United States. It is even more prevalent for black men in the country where it is expected about 1 in 1000 young black men is expected to be killed over the course of their life. The risk of been killed by the police is usually at the peak between the ages of 20 years and 35 years especially for individuals in the minority groups (Schwartz, 8). Notably, police brutality has a significant on politics, health, life chances and cohesion of the society. What is evident is that policing is one of the key elements that is intended to bring about social cohesion in United States. Contrary to this notion, it plays a central role in maintaining and propagating structural and social inequalities and oppression between white people and people of color in the country. Recent killing of black people by the police has resulted in sprouting of various social movement such as Black Life Matters (formed in 2012 after the accrued shooting of Trayvon Martin and the acquittal of George Zimmerman) have brought more attention both nationally and international. The objective of most of this movements is to advocate for police reforms that will see less police brutality. Many public health and social scientists agree with the notion that police contact with civilians is a major vector of health inequality and it is a key contribute to the mortality rate of people of color in The United States. Notably, police in United States kill by far more people compared to other advanced democracies. The most vulnerable to police brutality and who are at greater risk of police involved harm are the people of color especially the African American. There is no accurate basic estimates of the police involved deaths prevalence due to the accrued lack of definitive official data (Cooper, 36). However, various involved stakeholders such as journalists have tried to fill the void and have started a series of organized and systematic efforts to track down police involved killings. This notion has made the available data and information richer and people have come to have a better understanding of the demographic and geographic patterning of police brutality and violence and the accrued magnitude of exposure to police brutality of individuals over their life course. In a review the accrued source and causes of police brutality and deaths in The United States, it is evident that the brutality is jointly patterned by an individual’s race, age and gender, regarding race, people of color are the most affected by the brutality in the country and they are at a high risk of being killed by a police. This notion is further propagated by the level of inequality that between the white people and people of color. The associated brutality of police to the people of color has affected the racial stratification of the country and has undermined the central objective of democracy and solidarity. Many people of color especially the African American and the Latinos feel unsafe in presence of the police due to the racial s and ethnical stereotypes that have been adopted by the police. Many of the police view the two groups as violent and criminals even when they are innocent a notion that...