POLICE BRUTALITY

Racial and ethnic minorities, by an large, are convinced that police officers, by an large, have few compunctions against using violence against them. One strong public perception among racial and ethnic minorities is that police solidarity will prevail against civilian efforts to hold police officers accountable for the unacceptable use of force, intimidation, and coercion (Shernock, 1988, pp. 182-194). Another strong public perception is that defensiveness toward racial and ethnic minority civilians on the part of police officers affects the ethical orientations of the police officers (Shernock, 1990, pp. 24-42). A powerful factor negatively affecting the public perception of police accountability in brutality cases is the fact that fines against police officers for such actions are typically paid by the responsible jurisdiction (Damages, 1990, pp. 99-100; Civil, 1990, p. 1480). This type of action on the part of responsible jurisdictions, as justified as it may be, convinces many minority racial and ethnic civilians that individual police officers and police departments have little incentive to cease the use of excessive force.

This research proposes an examination of the relationship between police brutality, the racial and ethnic background of the victim, and the role that a police sub-culture may play in causing police to target racial and ethnic minority persons for violence. Police brutality, as the

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to test the hypotheses in the proposed research study will be obtained from sources published in the literature. The research methodology that will be employed will be historical analysis. Data pertaining to cases of police brutality will be collected through a review of the literature. These data will reflect specifics of victim racial or ethnic background, whether the police brutality occurred in conjunction with the arrest of the victim, and if the police brutality occurred in conjunction with the arrest of the victim, whether the arrest was for violent criminal behavior. Therefore, racial or ethnic classification, arrest or non arrest, and violent, non violent crime, or no crime will be the independent variables in the analysis. The test of the hypotheses will be made through the application of analysis of variance procedures to the data. Statistical significance will be established at p<.05. Anticipated Results The application of deadly force (other than through the use of firearms) by police officers leads to public condemnation of the police. Such deadly force most often involves the use of choke holds. Fortunately, the use of such force on the part of police officers is not as widespread as is generally thought

Category: Government - P