Analysts worry that the imagery of "terrorist" and "immigrant" will be a potent source of increased uses of excessive force (Bai and Tang 2002).
Finally, the fact that juries rarely convict police officers for use of excessive force indirectly contributes to this culture. The police officers accused in the Diallo killing and the Rodney King beating, for example, were acquitted. Author and former prosecutor Scott Turrow wrote about the difficulty of even indicting officers who had patterns of abuse. In one case, the jury returned a hung verdict against a known "hitter," despite the baton marks on the back of the victim. Even more disturbing, members of the jury joined the defendant at the celebration party, held after the trial (Turrow 2000).
These systematic biases make it difficult for the media to devote adequate coverage to instances of police brutality. The entrenchment of the use of force in police culture means that such cases are far more commonplace than previously thought. The September 11 attacks further encourage race- and ethnicity-based profiling, and many media outlets are understandably leery of being labeled as "unpatriotic." The Patriot Act makes it even more difficult to get reliable reports when police officers use excessive force on their subjects.
Media ownership
Mainstream media is in a strong position to influence public opinion on many issues, such as police brutality. However, as discussed in this paper, many mainstream and local media outlets do not adequately cover these issues. Furthermore, in many cases, coverage is slanted to make police less culpable for their behavior.
The case of Tyisha Miller, a young black woman killed by police in Riverside, California, is a stunning example. Police were called in to aid an unconscious Miller, who was sitting in the passenger seat of a car. The officers opened fire when Miller supposedly reached for a weapon. Investigations later stated that the officers were guilty of "errors in judgment" (Novick 1999).
The local coverage of the case in the Riverside Press Enterprise, however, portrayed Miller as the clear villain of the incident....
If the suspect's injuries required medical attention, though, the use of force might be considered excessive. Each case is considered on an individual basis. Such elements as the officer's size, the suspect's size, the severity of any injury incurred, and the severity of the crime under question will all be taken into account. When defining "excessive force," uninvolved officers who are considered to be reasonable and prudent will provide a
Excessive Use of Police Force in the State of California Excessive Force in California The objective of this study is to examine the use of excessive force by police officers in the State of California. Toward this end, this study will conduct an extensive review of literature in this area of inquiry. The work of Wiley (2011) entitled "Excessive Force Claims: Disentangling Constitutional Standards" reports that "excessive force claims seem to be reported
Excessive Force Since September of 2011, "federal prosecutors are targeting a rising number of law enforcement officers for alleged brutality" (Johnson, 2007). Statistics report that there have been increases in "cases in which police, prison guards and other law enforcement authorities have used excessive force or other tactics to violate victim's civil rights," estimates put it at approximately 25% (Johnson, 2007). Given the increase in excessive force by police, it
One of the authors in the review, in fact details a reporting system that effectively makes the use of force scene an investigated crime scene, where forensic and other evidence, physical and testimonial, is collected to develop a clear understanding of the events as they unfolded. (2005) Some would argue that this sort of method smacks of the police policing the police, and yet the OSCE Guidebook and many
Albert and Smith delve into the controversial and complex topic of the use of excessive force in policing. The authors note two important points about the complex topic. First, use of excessive police force is poorly researched and understood. The term "excessive force" is not well defined within law enforcement, and a cohesive explanation of situations that use excessive force is lacking in the training of police officers. Further
Police use of force There is no single globally accepted definition of use of force by police officers. The National Institute of Justice, which is a subsidiary of the Justice Department concurs with this. This leaves the approximately 18,000 police agencies in America with the leeway to formulate their own policies regarding the use of force. Some agencies may address the issue while some may not. The Justice Department has however
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