Police Brutality is the topic I choose to research for my annotated bibliography. 

Notes: 

Race and brutality

  • Most brutality is directed against minority groups or otherwise powerless populations. Officers who engage in brutality rationalize their use of extralegal force; they claim they are punishing those groups that threaten to disrupt the social order. The importance of understanding racism in the context of police brutality cannot be underestimated. Many police automatically regard racial minority group members as potentially dangerous regardless of their particular activities, gestures, or attire.
  • In March 1991 members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) beat an African American suspect, Rodney King, during his arrest for drunk driving. A white civilian videotaped the assault. This incident led to extensive media coverage and criminal charges against several of the officers involved. In April 1992, hours after the four police officers involved were acquitted at trial, the Los Angeles riots of 1992 commenced and resulted in 53 deaths, 2,383 injuries, more than 7,000 fires, damage to 3,100 businesses, and nearly $1 billion in financial losses. After facing a federal trial, two of the four officers were convicted and received 32-month prison sentences.
  • Incidents resulting in high profile deaths of innocent black men like Eric Garner in New York City, Tamir Rice in Cleveland, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore demonstrate to the black community that they can no longer trust the police force. As a result of this lack of trust in police officers, the black society created many social organizations, such as the Black Lives Matter movement founded in 2013.
  • African American people are three times more likely to be killed by a police officer than white people. In addition, 21% of victims that were black were unarmed while only 14% of white victims were unarmed.

So far I’ve learned that race plays a key role in police brutality and their infractions. There was also a case in 1991 of a man named Rodney King beat viciously by the LAPD after being arrested for drunk driving. This incident was one of the first times when police brutality was caught on videotape by onlooking civilians. Unfortunately perception of a certain racial group can automatically mark a person as being potentially dangerous regardless of anything else. Police brutality has caused a lot of civil unrest throughout the years and extensive financial losses. Black lives matter is a group that was created in 2013 as a result of disinterest in social justice for the victims who have been let down by the justice system. 

Questions:

  •  Are other countries outside of the United States dealing with police brutality too?
  • What is the most effective way to stop police brutality?
  • Does police subculture exist? 
  • Should police officers involved in wrongful death actions also answer to criminal charges?