Due to this problem, Scarman Report suggested to reform ‘recruitment and training’ because of racism in young police officers. Bowling and phillips (2002: 128-9) mentioned that in the 1970s and 1980s police officers widely practiced using ‘oppressive policing techniques’ in the ethnic minority’s communities, such as ‘ mass stop and search operation, the use of riot squads using semi-military equipment, excessive surveillance, unnecessary armed raid, and police use of racially abusive language.’ For example, Willis (1983) mentioned that black males, adult and young, double to be stopped rather than white. Not only for black people, but also West Indians tripled and Asian five times higher on foot. Smith (1983) also mentioned that, many West Indians have experienced to be stopped ‘for almost any reason and very often for no reason
Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Racism has evolved throughout the years. From the Los Angeles Rodney King beating to the slaying of Michael Brown in St. Louis, law enforcement officials continue making racism an issue within the world. People don’t always understand what the officer faces, though. Police Officers must make quick determinations of wrong doing in most situations.
Usually if not always the people who deserve to be held accountable by the brutal violation of human rights getaway from the due punishment and continue to do their foul crimes (Collins 1). The brutality of police officers believes that the Sean Bell case was just another case that could be included in the long list of the murders that were carried out by these people who are supposed to be serving and protecting human rights (Collins 1). The murder of Sean Bell stirred the rage of many people, especially the Black community against the New York police department. Sean's case was more evidence of the system that denied justice to the rightful people. Everything started in the early morning hours on Saturday, November 25, 2006.
Victimization is a consistent theme that is first demonstrated through the character Tom Robinson. Tom Robinson faced a great amount of abuse by the citizens of Maycomb. During his rape trial, Tom Robinson was discriminated against while he took the stand. “ ‘Strong enough to choke the breath out of a woman and sling her to the floor?’ ” (Lee, 196). Mr. Gilmer, the prosecutor, used Tom’s race and physical strength to imply that Tom was just another stereotypical black man who targeted a fair skinned female.
The Sandford Police department is faced with many ethical issues since the shooting death of a young black teen in February. The department is facing racial issues in the community that are fueled by the mass media coverage of the case. The police chief has been forced to step down, the community is in a rage, and the news outlets are only reporting information that keeps the community thinking that this case is about the defendant being Hispanic and the victim a young Black man. The Sanford Police department is facing high racial tension among the members of its community. The shooting of Trayvon Martin a young black teen by a Hispanic male; has sparked many protest by the black members of the Sanford community among others.
It’s like the police are racist towards the black community. And that’s where injustice comes in. When blacks got their freedom from the civil rights movement, it sparked fear in the criminal justice systems, so they hired more police officers, and cracked down on black communities. It’s no justice, its racism. Whites are involved with the war on drugs, but it’s one out of five who are caught.
Whites began to lynch blacks due to the belief that they were the superior race. In the years between 1882 and 1968, as many as 3,440 blacks were lynched, including men, women, and children. Some whites saw lynchings as offensive, but they supported them in order to keep order among the blacks. Whites believed that if blacks were not in constant fear, they would rebel. The belief of stereotypes played into the lynchings a significant amount.
In all these cases, those who have died were black while the officers were white. The main job of police officers is to serve and protect the community however the majority of minorities suggest that confidence in law enforcement is relatively low, and large portions of these communities believe police are likely to use excessive force on suspects a big reason for this is that Americans for all races collectively give low marks to police departments around the country for holding officers accountable for misconduct, using the appropriate amount of force, and treating racial groups equally. In other words, police officers who commit murder by killing a suspect are excused by the government simply because their actions were reasonable. A gun and a badge are an excuse to fatally shoot someone even if there was no need for excessive force because most of the police officers do not criminally
Hate Crimes Hate crime, are directed against different types of people that poses a challenge toward the public enemy, organizations, groups. Such hate crimes are anything from arson, harassment, personal assaults to killings. American society views hate crimes as being bias such as the killings of African Americans. The first recorded hate crime came back in 1922 and still goes on as of today. The hate crime can be brutal such as lynchings.
Racial Profiling is when a single group or race is singled out and watched closely because the police feel that they are more likely to commit crimes. The example that is most common is “driving while black”. This means that black people are pulled over and searched more often then others. Racial Profiling is currently illegal but it still happens. Racial Profiling is a violation of the people’s civil rights.