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Police Brutality: Exploring Arguments and Solutions

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Published: Mar 16, 2024

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Essay on Police Brutality

There are a lot of challenges facing the police management hence affecting the enforcement of the law altogether. There are challenges from recruitment, retention, use of force, i.e., police brutality, among many others. These have necessitated the policy change in the management to embrace the pillars of training, supervision, discipline, policy, and people. This means to be successful, the system must maintain good people, good policy, and have enough training for the police department. There should be proper supervision of workers and discipline when the policy is broken. This paper will focus on police brutality and how it can be addressed as an issue in the criminal justice system. This issue has brought several debates in the United States in recent years hence become a big menace that needs to be addressed.

Police Brutality

Police brutality is whereby law enforcement uses force in an unwarranted and excessive manner. These are extreme forms of misconduct and a violation of civil rights. Police brutality can include verbal abuse, physical harm, property damage, lack of action by police to a crime, and in extreme cases, death. (Reiss,1972). Most marginalized communities see the police as oppression rather than people meant to shield them from harm in American society. This is due to the many deaths of people from minority groups. (Mary D,1995). Police officers are only supposed to use a certain amount of force, changing according to the situation. It is not following the law for a police officer to use excessive force. Various departments worldwide have taken it upon themselves to understand why police use too much pressure on people.

One cause of police violence is the gradual sense of authority among law enforcers that makes them think they are above the law. The violence can also be influenced by past traumatic experiences on duty that may lead them to act roughly. It has also been established that some police officers are psychopaths who have no leniency hence use excessive force. The brutality can also be attributed to the deployment of young and inexperienced staff who tend to make mistakes while on duty (Schrivner &Oskamp,1994). There are also pressures to adjust and follow what is commonly known as the police culture, e.g., the Blue code. Blue Code is the term used to show the code of silence among police officers even when a fellow officer has committed a crime. They use these informal codes to help them cover police brutality. The use of force continuum guides police on the amount of force to use when a suspect is not cooperating. However, violence used by police is often not unlawful despite the law allowing it.

Some officers result to vigilantism whereby they believe that a criminal deserves more punishment than what they have received from the government. They feel that it is in their place to execute more sentences which results in police brutality. (Chevigny,1969).

It is, therefore, necessary to eliminate police brutality within law enforcement. This requires proper training and sensitizing the officers to use a minimum amount of force. This can be done by using the code of conduct, such as good stewardship, to enforce its usage. There are numerous issues found in policing as they engage in unethical behaviors. It is a result of practices in the organizational culture. It is thus necessary for police at an individual level to have accountability and ethics. By applying good ethics and rejecting unethical behavior by their colleagues, they can drive morality to the police culture.

The ability to recruit and retain qualified law enforcement officers at all levels has been the biggest challenge in the management of the law enforcement unit. A study done showed that police officers from large cities in the United States such as Chicago, New York, and San Fransico reported that most police officers were leaving the department within their first few months in office. Many of them were taking jobs from other areas. They attributed these to a lack of local support. The effects of police brutality can be felt in various sectors such as health, economy, race, and minority groups. Police brutality that involves the use of too much force can result in the death of n individual.

The victims of police brutality suffer many effects due to the action. They vary from Post Traumatic disorder, anxiety, substance abuse, suicide, and depression. Whenever the victims of police brutality take the issues to court, they often use too many resources and sometimes do not win over the demoralizing cases. The act of police brutality has also been used to fuel racism. Most of these brutal incidents happen to African American people, which steers much hate towards the white police.

A good example is the George Floyd incident in who was murdered by the police in march 2020 (Oriola & Knight,2020). It brought about many protests from the black community justice. The claims were that the police were killing people of color hence racial bias.

Some of the ways to streamline the police department on issues of police brutality include changing the terms of the use of force. Most police departments have been forced to change their use of force rule. For instance, after George Floyd’s death by neck restraint, and the chokehold has been banned in New York City have been forced to rewrite their policies and compel other officers to intervene when there is excessive use of force.

Another way to curb police brutality would be to defund the police. Many people suggest that the funds can be reduced and directed to other areas of the community, such as health and education. The next step would be to dismantle the police. It was to create a new task force that is ready and willing to work under the code of conduct. Others suggest that in the future, it would have been necessary to have a police-free society. It means that anybody ranging from doctors, social workers, religious leaders can do the work of the police. It is believed to reduce the risk of police brutality.

The police also need to be held accountable for their mistakes, i.e., police the police. Those that publicly propagate racist ideas should be fired. Many police work in a closed system whereby if one commits a gross offense, the others have their back. Hence when one has no video evidence on any brutality incident, it becomes hard for criminals to prove. Many people are pushing for police to wear body cameras to record their interactions with the police. However, this might not be effective as body cameras might be shut off during severe incidents. Hence, citizens are urged to record and expose any acts of brutality by the police.

More often than not, citizens who sue the police for excessive force have their cases thrown out due to a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity. The government put the immunity to protect government employees from lawsuits and gives officers a pass if they had no previous record of misconduct. These should be revisited, and police who commit dire atrocities should face the law too.

With increased incidences of police brutality, it is important to recommend the de-escalation of force. De-escalation is how police apply different mechanisms to stop excessive use of force during law enforcement (Todak & James,2018). Such strategies enable both the police and the victims to agree and collaborate. Some factors may influence the ability to de-escalate. They include barriers in communication, i.e., language, poor mental judgment, alcohol and substance abuse, medical conditions, behavior disorder, and disability. Officers are advised to establish boundaries with the target who is uncooperative while carrying out disciplinary measures. They can use subtle body language, alert the victim, ensure they advertise their closeness to the target to protect the person and to enhance visibility.

De-escalation has proved to be very efficient in law enforcement as it has in the greater society. Courts have played a big role in ensuring that police officers adhere to the rules and guidelines set while de-escalating. In order for Descalation to be established, proper preparation, monitoring, and execution should be maintained. Police brutality has been protested by African American citizens and other minority groups who have claimed it has affected them dearly. It is evident in movements such as black lives matter, which protests against police brutality and racial violence. The efforts by the United States to have good stewardship towards law enforcement and the criminal justice system have paid. As good stewards, the police accept the role of serving and nurturing their communities. Ethically, police need to understand that values and principles guide them. They should be committed to serving in fairness and social responsibility. They should also be omitted to do the common good of the community.

In conclusion. there is still a long way to go when it comes to police reforms. There is a need for quality training that will serve as a moral compass for law enforcement. There is also a need to run background checks to ascertain who is being hired and suitable for their position. Lastly, it is important to adopt a wellness program for officers related to suicide prevention, mental health awareness, stress management, among other support needed. More training needs to be done to meet the demand for police reforms

Chevigny, P. (1969). Police power: police abuses in New York City (p. 132). New York: Pantheon Books.

Oriola, T. B., & Knight, W. A. (2020). COVID-19, George Floyd, and human security.

Reiss, A. J. (1972). Police Brutality? (pp. 456-476). Columbia University Press.

Scrivener, E., Costanzo, M., & Oskamp, S. (1994). Police brutality. In Violence and the Law: Claremont Symposium on Applied Social Psychology. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications (pp. 181-202).

Todak, N., & James, L. (2018). A systematic social observation study of police de-escalation tactics. Police Quarterly, 21(4), 509-543.

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Public Administration Issue: Police Brutality Essay

Currently, the US government is trying to improve its image following the shooting of unarmed black boy by a white cop. The incident raises various questions touching on the various theories of public administration. Any civil servant should be imbued to service delivery meaning his or her focus is to provide an enabling environment for individual fulfillment, but not to cause harm to the taxpayers.

Some analysts observe that black Americans have never enjoyed their rights and freedoms in the United States because they have historically experienced unprecedented police brutally, which takes the form of harassment, unwarranted arrest, incarceration, and convictions that raises their death rates. The current brutality is perhaps systematic and intentional on the blacks carried out by the criminal justice system in the country.

The trend is ongoing and is not expected to end any time soon because of the social structure and the culture that does not value the contributions of minorities and people of color. Labeling is the biggest problem that affects the blacks in the country because they are associated with all forms of crimes, such as mugging, drug-trafficking, kidnapping, raping, money laundering, banditry, smuggling of weapons, and car-jacking (Blau 530).

Various theories of public administration, including bureaucratic, transformational leadership, autocratic, and situational leadership suggest that police officers must ensure they follow established rules and regulations in carrying out their activities.

The recent incident in which an eighteen year old boy, Michael Brown, was shot in Ferguson, Missouri is an example of police brutality that has always been meted out to innocent Americans. The entire nation rose up to condemn the killing terming it unacceptable and highly regrettable, but analysts claim that it only exposed the problems that blacks have encouraged since independence.

The Ferguson town is a no go zone for an ordinary citizen because of the heavy presence of police who are deployed to keep an eye on the activities of the black people. From a Marxist perceptive, the rich and the powerful in society will always do everything possible to ensure the working class does not pose a serious threat to their survival.

Similarly, the profiling of blacks in the country with claims of reducing crime rates is uncalled for, as it simply targets members of the lower classes. The officers are armed with sophisticated weapons and armored vehicles, which suggest that the blacks are suspected of causing mayhem in the city any time following the shooting of the schoolboy.

A recent report released by the FBI following a study conducted between 2005 and 2012 confirm that a white police officer have used force against a black person at least twice a week. The number of blacks killed in the country is ever-increasing, with casualties being those under the age of twenty-one. Unfortunately, only 8.7% of those killed annually by the police are whites aged twenty-one years and below.

The practice of public administration forces an individual to keep from discrimination that might affect the chances of success. It is unfortunate that the number of blacks killed annually is not accurate because the police self-report it meaning many blacks have lost their lives at the hands of the trigger happy police officers (Tolnay 221).

A study conducted by the University of South Carolina professor, Geoff Alpert, suggested that the country does not have a national record on the number of unarmed civilians that the police kill. The violence and brutality going on in the account at police stations and city streets are based on racial lines because the majority of those suffering are blacks. Brown was the fifth unarmed black person to be killed by the police within a month.

Among those killed in the month include Eric Garner of Staten Island, Ezell Ford of Los Angeles, Dante Parker of California, and John Crawford of Ohio. Since the killings have been reported in over three different states, it means that blacks in the entire country are affected. In a different study commissioned in 2007 by the ColorLines and Chicago Reporter, it was established that police killings were present in at least the ten largest cities in the country.

Unfortunately, those targeted were the blacks, with New York, San Diego, and Las Vegas being the most affected. In earlier report released by the department of justice in 2008 titled police public contact survey, over seventy percent of blacks reported to have been harassed by police. In Ferguson alone, the number of blacks arrested was three times that of other races in the first four months of the year.

For some analysts, black Americans have historically faced unprecedented brutality. However, that is not the case today. To them, black Americans are not currently experiencing unprecedented brutality, such as harassment, arrest, incarceration, and conviction because criminality affects the entire community and the role of the police is to bring it down.

Any government has to ensure that life and property is protected hence the police should patrol the streets frequently to ensure no person is injured by criminals. Unfortunately, blacks find themselves being arrested and convicted quite often, but the problem lies with the community in which they live in hence the security agencies should not be blamed.

The society influences the behavior of a child meaning in case the social structure is defective, the upbringing of the child is likely to be affected. Therefore, many blacks find themselves on the wrong side of the law because of a culture that does not support the family setting. Children are left to find for their survival at the tender age, something that forces them to indulge in criminal activities.

The reality of the matter is that blacks are often discriminated against when it comes to identifying criminals. They are often labeled as thugs and street muggers because the historical problems that they have faced over the years (Leonard 28). The police are tempted to believe that any young black American is a criminal because his or her father had a questionable record.

The society should change its perception towards the blacks if the problem is to be solved. The police agencies across the country are under intense pressure from the community-based organizations, human rights activists, and the public to explain the current accusations linking it with excessive use of force on members of the minority groups, especially the blacks and Indians.

The critics point out that the police actions amount to bias-based policing and racial profiling, but the situation is different because the police service is charged with the role of safeguarding property and life, irrespective of individual background, race, social position, and ethnicity (Lynch, 2002). Organizations, such as the NAACP, FADE, and Southern Coalition for Social Justice make their allegations based on the report released in 2012 by Frank Derek at the University of North Carolina.

NAACP alleged recently that the current situation is troubling because it represents racial profiling, lack of accountability, transparency, and delinquency within the police agencies countrywide. In other words, the human rights organizations observe that the law-enforcing agency is broken and is need of the repair

Works Cited

Blau, Judith. “White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva”. Contemporary Sociology 31.5 (2002): 527-538.

Leonard, Rebecca and Locke, Don. “Communication Stereotypes: Is Interracial Communication Possible?” Journal of Black Studies 23.3 (1993): 332-343. Print.

Tolnay, Stewart. “The African American ‘Great Migration’ and Beyond”. Annual Review of Sociology 29.1 (2003): 218–221. Print.

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Police Brutality Essay

Corruption with regards to the police is generally defined as an officer acting in their official capacity while at the same time abusing their authority to realize personal wants or needs. It has been said and widely assumed that the power associated with authority over others tends to lead an individual to corruptive acts and police officers are no more or less prone to human frailties as anyone else. However, when a policeman is charged with corruption and breaking the laws they are sworn to protect, it is always a shocking revelation to the public no matter how prevalent it is known to be. The drug laws on both state and federal levels have contributed to the abuse of power and corruption among law enforcement officials across the U.S. A comparison can be made to similar circumstances that occurred during the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920’s. It is well-known that alcohol prohibition encouraged the proliferation of criminal gangs and the associated violent activities. It also made criminals out of policemen who took bribes to ‘look the other way’ while illegal booze was delivered to and consumed at ‘speak easies.’ The growth of police corruption instances involving drug sales is relatively easy to explain. The financial rewards offered by the sales of illegal drugs in relation to other forms of income both legal and illegal, is enormous. The temptation attracts law enforcement officials who are becoming increasingly more discouraged by the growing proliferation of drug traffickers.

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Though police agencies of all descriptions have fought the 30-plus year ‘drug war’ by spending billions of dollars and locking up millions of people, their efforts have not only not ended drug use or sales but drugs are now more available, cheaper and purer than ever before. Disheartened police officers involved in stopping drug crimes put their lives in jeopardy but are under-paid and under-appreciated by an indifferent public. Many officers joined the force to protect and serve but find themselves regulating an illegal drug market that they know they will never suppress. As long as the U.S. government continues its disastrous ‘war,’ formerly well-intentioned cops will continue to be lured by the money to be had by engaging in the drug trade they are expected to prevent. They risk their lives for a war which has no end and they know this fact better than anyone. Fighting a losing battle discourages even the most loyal and honest of law officials and some use this to justify becoming involved in a drug cartel. It’s easy money, they are being underpaid for dangerous work and their efforts are futile.

It is somewhat ironic that while the public generally expects at least a small fraction of a police department to contain some forms of corruption within it, the surprise is no less severe when it happens. Police officers are held to a higher standard of conduct by the public therefore shock and outrage is acute when instances occur. In addition, corrupt police officers pose a greater danger to the public than do civilian criminals because of the authority factor (Sherman, 1978: 31). Certain, controlled powers are happily allowed the police by the citizens so as to lessen their fears of crime. The revelation of corruption within the police force leads to thoughts of existing in a police state, a condition people fear more than civilian crime.

The rationale behind an individual’s deviant actions, including individuals employed on the nation’s police forces, has been and remains a complex and highly debated subject. Three areas of research which include biological, sociological and psychological studies have attempted to resolve this issue. No one area of study has been able to explain the exact reason why people behave in a corrupt or deviant manner. Because of this, screening for predisposed conditions to deviant behavior on the police force is difficult to determine or justify as tests may or may not accurately identify those individuals more likely to engage in criminal activity as a member of the police when given the opportunity. However, “sociologists’ theories have not been disproved as often as the psychologists’ and biologists’ theories, because their experiments are too hard to define and no one definition for deviance is agreed upon by all experimenters” (Pfuhl, 1980: 40).

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Among the biological and physiological explanations for crime is the Behavior Genetics Theory which postulates a biological explanation for crime. While the genetic make-up of an individual does not induce any specific actions, anti-social behavior can be facilitated by neurotransmitters in the brain and hormonal imbalances which generate tendencies to act in a particular way. Abnormal serotonin levels have been shown to be an origin of criminal behaviors of all types of crime because an individual lacks the natural ability to control their impulsive thoughts thereby acting upon them. Everyone has thoughts they would never act upon. Those with this abnormality tend to act first and think later. Evidence compiled from studies has supported another link between a particular inherited mutant gene and criminal behavior. Instead of high serotonin levels the neurotransmitters in the brain, because of genetic abnormalities, may produce low levels of an enzyme which causes interruptions in signals within the nervous system and the brain. “Urinalysis of subjects in the Dutch study, all of whom was related and demonstrated aggressive and antisocial behavior, showed abnormal levels of metabolic products associated with the enzyme” (Vinces, 1996). These persons did not have the ability to produce this enzyme. This genetic defect may be at least a contributing factor leading to deviant behaviors. Biological theories attempting to locate the factors involved in human deviance are difficult to prove but the studies corroborate somewhat with anthropological researches such those conducted by Lange and Rosenoff et al among others. These early experiments and many that followed have endeavored to prove the biological theory by examining twins who had been convicted of criminal activities in an effort to understand the genetic connection, if any. The studies do show that if one twin commits crimes, the other has a higher probability to also engage in criminal behavior than does the general public (Rosanoff et al, 1934). These studies did not take into account the fact that the twins also grew up in similar environments which sociologists argue is the root of the issue. The biological contention is that people who exhibit delinquent behaviors are genetically inferior.

Sociologists generally find disagreement with the genetics theory for explaining criminal tendencies. They argue that an individual’s deviant actions result from feelings of inferiority learned from events occurring at an early age and cannot be predicted by examining inherited characteristics. “Sociologists learn from culture’s influences, other than a biological or psychological bias” (Pfuhl, 1980: 50). Sociologists are not concerned with behavior patterns exhibited by particular persons but indicate the roots of deviant behavior can be traced to cultural experiences that share a commonality. According to the sociological explanation for deviant behavior, all persons including police officers developed their propensity towards corrupt behaviors by way of counter-productive childhood experiences.

Current research has shown that if a child lacks proper supervision or experiences other deficiencies, they are more likely to exhibit delinquent behavior during childhood as well as later in life. Poverty, single parent homes, abusive households or a combination of these situations causes a variety of social adaptive problems for children, the consequences of which follow them into adulthood. “If a person is living in a lower class, single-parent environment, they are then at a real disadvantage. It may be because they do not feel they are good enough to belong in the realms of society” (Lemert, 1972: 59). It is very possible that corrupt cops did not interact well or often with other children and experienced patterns of stress during childhood such as a persistent lack of self-esteem and constant antagonistic treatment. Not surprisingly, child neglect and/or abuse causing emotional or physical trauma retards the normal social development of a child. The problem is widespread which gives at least one explanation for a high rate of crime within the public realm and in police departments. “Over one million of the youth in America are subjected to abuse a year” (Lemert, 1972: 48).

The Differential Association Theory first postulated by Edwin Sutherland explained that behavior, whether criminal in nature or not, is learned. He theorized that criminal behavior was not a genetic abnormality therefore opposing the conclusions drawn by pathological and biological theorists.  According to the Differential Association Theory, criminal behavior is learned via communications and experiences acquired from personal relationships. The degree of deviant behavior varies because people absorb information differently whether on the conscious or unconscious level. This theory explains why crime is higher in the inner cities where crime is rationalized more so than in the suburbs, as well as presenting a concern regarding the dangers to police officers working in close association with or against drug cartels on a regular basis. This rationalization can be contagious especially among impressionable youths (Cressey, 1979: 458-460).

Sociological and social structure crime theories such as the General Strain Theory, however, give insight to reasoning’s for multiple types of criminal behaviors. According to Robert Agnew’s research which expanded the general strain theory, police officers may seek retribution when they perceive they are being paid or otherwise treated unfairly, a possible motive for crime (Agnew, 1985: 152). According to Agnew, people strive for three main goals in whatever field they are employed. The first, not surprisingly, is monetary gain. Money, or the lack of, causes strain which leads to delinquent behavior in otherwise law abiding citizens. The second is a need for respect and a feeling of status, a factor especially present in males. Personality characteristics which are often associated with masculine traits are frequently exhibited through delinquent behavior. If an individual cannot achieve this perceived status legitimately, they may resort to criminal activities. The third goal is autonomy which refers to individual empowerment, a valued asset within any society. Police officers experience low pay and many feel a lack of respect and are frustrated that their value to society is unfulfilled because the drug war only heightens despite their best efforts.

Although strain generated by a perceived lack of autonomy has been shown to mainly affect the lower classes and adolescents, because this is a perception of position in a society or in an organization, it is also linked to law enforcement crimes as well. Agnew suggests that “the need for autonomy can result in delinquency and crime, as the individual tried to assert autonomy, achieve autonomy, and relieve frustration against those who have denied the individual autonomy” (Agnew, 1994: 425-426). When presented with an open opportunity to make a gain, people, depending on their social make-up, decide on whether to commit a crime. Are they also genetically predisposed, were they taught through experience that crime is acceptable, are they seeking retribution or wish to artificially empower themselves because of perceived deficiencies within their lives?

Theories describing the causes of crime whether genetic, social or psychological are mere rationalizations. The public expects their police department to enforce the rules, not break them. When they do, it breaks down the trust of the public as well as the tearing down the very fabric of society. The problem of police corruption originates not in the causes of deviance common to all persons but in the laws they are trying to enforce.

Agnew, Robert. (1985). “A Revised Strain Theory of Delinquency.” Social Forces. Vol. 64, N. 1, pp. 151-167.

Cressey, Donald R. (October 1979). “Fifty Years of Criminology: From Sociological Theory to Political Control.” Pacific Sociological Review. Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 457-480.

Lemert, Edwin M. (1972). Human Deviance, Social Problems, and Social Control. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Pfuhl, Erdwin H. Jr. (1980). The Deviance Process. New York: D. Van Nostrand Company.

Rosanoff, Aaron J.; Handy, Leva M.; & Rosanoff, Isabel Avis. (January 1934). “Criminality and Delinquency in Twins.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1931-1951). Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 923-934.

Sherman, Lawrence W. (1978). Scandal and Reform: Controlling Police Corruption. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Vinces, Marcelo. (1996). Behavioral Genetics. Cornell University Sci-tech archives. Retrieved February 19, 2009 from

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