Police Brutality Research Paper

Kamron Gillitzer English 11 Mr. Kirst Mar 18, 2024.

Police brutality: a national issue.

Do you know how many unarmed U.S. citizens die at the hands of their own “protectors”? On average, ten percent of deaths due to police violence were reported to be unarmed. On top of that, only one percent of prosecuted officers are convicted of murder. Additionally, African Americans make up only twelve percent of the U.S. population, yet they account for nearly a quarter of deaths due to police violence (police violence report). However, people still choose to be ignorant and put down the fact that we are dealing with an unjust national crisis. Ultimately, the power of police officers and the control over the lives of free, legal, U.S. citizens has gotten …show more content…
While supporters of police carrying lethal force may say, “Police openly carry to make us feel safe from people committing crimes.” While this in theory may be the point, it’s ultimately doing the opposite. When looking at unbiased statistics, one is able to see that police are way too often misusing their firearm and power over citizens in unneeded situations. On average, over 1000 citizens are shot and killed by police officers, and over half of them were reported for a nonviolent crime or were not reported for an offense at all (police violence report). With that, only one percent of these cases end up with the police officers actually being charged and arrested for murder. Most cops are given a slap on the wrist for being fired, reevaluated, and/or relocated, allowing murderers to walk free and possibly do it again because of a metal badge. This shows a pattern of malfeasance due to a toxic superiority culture within the justice and judicial systems. For example, Florida Sheriff, Jesse Hernandez, was called to a stolen vehicle report in Okaloosa County. They found the suspect, Jackson, pulled him over, searched him, handcuffed him, and placed him in the back of the police car. As Jesse was walking from his back passenger door to assumably his partner, Sheriff Roberts, when as he was walking an acorn fell from a tree they were parked under, onto the roof of the sheriff's car, which Hernandez somehow mistook it for a gunshot, following with him yelling, “shots fired,” and running, diving, and rolling to about 10 feet away from the back of the sheriff's car, proceeding “returning fire”, firing around 5 shots into the back of the car, luckily missing the suspect. In court, Hernandez was proven innocent on account of excessive force, completely ignoring that he almost shot him (NBC News). Trials like this make one think about how safe they really are in the hands of police officers and judges, for

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