They were triggered by micro issues from conflict between members of minority community and the justice system, the violence was initiated by members of the minority community, and the looting and burning of businesses were the major forms of property crimes. In addition to the immediate trigger of the Rodney King verdicts, a range of other factors can be concluded as reasons for the unrest. A micro issue can be the anger over Korean American shop-owner Soon Ja Du's weak sentence for fatally shooting a black teenager Latasha Harlins was pointed to as a potential reason
Police brutality is abuse by law enforcement, where a police officer feels that because he/she has a badge and a gun therefore it puts them above the law and they can use unnecessary force against another individual. Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of his or her skin color. Racial profiling mainly targets young Black and Latino men and is believed to be a justified form of law enforcement. the 1991 beating of Rodney King highlights abuse as one of the most pressing civil rights issues in the United States. It demonstrates that racism is still very real and that people continue to be treated based on the color of their skin.
Looking at the numbers, the statistics are astonishing. The article, “Jim Crow Policing”, by Bob Herbert published the New York Times on February 2, 2010 addressed the issue of Racial Profiling in law enforcement in New York. The author finds racial profiling to be unnecessary and an abomination towards mankind/society. There have been other situations such as Mike Brown who was an unarmed black teenager that was shot and killed in 2014, by a white police officer, in St. Louis. There are other cases such as the movie, 42, which
Final Paper Justin C Lee SOC305 Crime and Society Prof. Ekaterina Gorislavsky October 10, 2014 Overpopulation of our Prisons Prison overcrowding has become a very serious issue within the United States. Throughout the years numbers have grown at an alarming rate and each day our prisons become more and more unstable. Rates are growing for a number of reasons. More people are becoming incarcerated because of changes and improvements to the laws as well as the increase in law enforcement tactics to take crime off the streets. With these improvements comes the fact that our prisons are too small for the amount of people that are being put in jail, this includes county, state, as well as federal.
There are 43,000 inmates in prison for sexual offenses, while each year in this country over 510,000 children are victims of sexual assault. The statistics does not convey the severity of the situation. Each year 510,000 children have their childhoods destroyed, and are faced with dealing with sexual assault for their entire lives. Sadly, many of those assaults are perpetrated by people who have already been through the correctional system, only to victimize again. Sex offenders, as a class of criminals, are nine times more likely to repeat their crimes.
Why are prisons bursting at the seams? According to Joe Romaine of the International Business Times, it is because of America’s “insane drug laws,” which are doing more harm than good (Romaine). Many people may argue that drug offenders are getting what’s coming to them— they broke the law, and therefore it is part of their consequence to suffer through the overcrowded “cruel and unusual” incarceration. Individuals who argue this point are mistaken because although criminals should indeed receive punishment for their actions, there comes a time when a line of propriety is crossed. The ‘war on drugs’ has become a harsh and unnecessary measure that frankly costs American taxpayers far too much money.
According to the CDC (2010), sexual activity between men which constitutes the majority of prison rape, accounts for more than 50% of all new HIV infections in the United States. Rates of HIV and confirmed AIDS cases are more than five times higher among those incarcerated in prisons than in the general population of the United States. Another consequence that is long-term stemming effect of juvenile child abuse in prisons is the emotional and psychological damage that follows them into adulthood. According to the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission (2009), sexual abuse can lead to major depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Juveniles who have been sexually abused may face problems with anger, impulse control, flashbacks, dissociative episodes, hopelessness, despair, and persistent distrust and withdrawal.
These concerns directly impact human rights, the law and everyday life for those affected particularly the young and ethnic minority groups since these are the groups disproportionately represented moreover allegations still exist that despite the Steven Lawrence case of 1993, institutional racism still exists. With stop and search the police deliberately force allegations upon and use the law indiscriminately where certain suspects are accused and the criticisms constantly and inherently labelled at the police are fully justified. What’s more the subsequent police conduct once searched is believed to be unpleasant and discriminatory; additionally the manner of searches can be humiliating and embarrassing for those involved. Overall stop and search is an ineffective method of investigating and disrupting crime for numerous and long standing reasons. One, is that the rate of arrests is extremely poor in co-ordination to the ratio of stops; the stop/search to arrest rate declined from 17per cent in 1986 to just 10 per cent between 1996 to 98, (McConville & Wilson, 2002, pg559).
Police Brutality Steven O’Neal Period 5 There is something that has been on the rise ever since 9/11 and not many Americans know what this is, a sad, but true fact. This is police brutality, where cops abuse their power given to them by law, and mistreat/break rules and regulations. Skateboarders, to wood carvers in Seattle, police around the country have mistreated their power. As many of you know, last year the police officer Ian berk knowingly shot a Native American wood carver named john t. Williams. But what most of you probably don’t know, is that this cop got away with murder, the shooting of john Williams was declared unjustified, and a normal citizen with this charge would do anywhere from 25 years to life in prison.
Juveniles Tried As Adults John Doe English 1A Professor Education November 13, 2014 Juveniles Should Be Tried As Adults For Violent Crimes. Over 500,000 juveniles are taken into custody every year in the United States. Although the arrests of juveniles may fluctuate on a yearly basis, Snyder and Sickmund (2006) stated in 2003 alone there were 2.2 million arrests made comprised of persons under the age of 18. There are roughly 12.5 million arrests made every year in the United States and with 2.2 million of those arrests being juveniles, that enormous number becomes a very alarming one. Two hundred and fifty thousand juveniles are tried and sentenced for their crimes as adults every year in the United States.