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Police Brutality

From Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice
Police brutality refers to excessive, unjustified, or undue use of force. Recent surveys indicate that most people agree with police officials that brutality is not a widespread problem but is instead limited to a few “bad apples.” Surveys of people who have experienced contact with the police tell a different story. The most prominent of these surveys is the 1999 Survey of Police-Public Contact, which consists of a random sample of 80,000 people. One fifth of respondents had contact with the police in 1999, half of which were for traffic violations. Most of the rest resulted from calls to the police. Of those respondents, 3% claimed that force was used and three fourths of them thought the force to be excessive. Ethnographic studies normally find even higher numbers. Part of the problem appears to be that police generally draw lines between brutality and acceptable behavior in very different ways from ordinary people. Another part of the problem is the adoption of more aggressive…
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Full text Article Police Brutality

From World of Criminal Justice, Gale
Police officers beating Rodney King (AP/Wide...
The term, police brutality, refers to all acts of unjustified cruelty inflicted by police on others. It may include the use of abusive language and physical violence which exceeds a justifiable response to a present threat. Police officers use verbal and physical force in their efforts to contain…
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Limitations on Police Brutality by Law Types of Police Brutality Causes and Occasions of Police Brutality Accountability for and Control of Police Brutality Prevalence of Police Brutality Police Brutality and the Problem of Public Safety Further Reading GLOSSARY Corr... …
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Full text Article Police Brutality

From Issues & Controversies: Overviews and Pro/Con Arguments Full text Article Pro Con Articles
Supporters Argue Reports of widespread police brutality and abuse are exaggerated. Only rarely do officers use excessive force, though they must often make instant decisions in tense situations. Crime has steadily declined over the last two decades as the result of assertive policing. Creating…
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Full text Article Police brutality

From AllSides Red Blue Dictionary
Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police. Historically in the United States, police brutality has been a component of many major political and social movements. According to Wikipedia, demonstrations surrounding the civil rights movement of the 1960s, anti-war…
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Full text Article How Black communities cope with trauma triggered by police brutality

From The Conversation: An Independent Source of Analysis from Academic Researchers
The release of footage showing the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police and protests in Atlanta have renewed public debate on the issues of police brutality and police reform. For some people, seeing is believing, and the circulation of videos documenting police violence is valued as a…
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Full text Article Police Corruption and Brutality

From Global Social Issues: An Encyclopedia
FBI agents escort Puerto Rican police officers...
Police corruption occurs when a member of a governmental domestic security organization, usually a police force, uses his or her position to commit an act, for personal gain or the gain of another, that violates the rights of another party or runs counter to officially prescribed duties. There are…
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In the case of the five Black, former Memphis police officers accused of murder in the beating death of Tyre Nichols, justice has moved quickly. In fewer than 30 days after Nichols’ Jan. 10, 2023 death, the former officers were charged with second-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, official…
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Full text Article Rodney King Riot (1991)

From Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience
On March 3, 1991, following a high-speed chase, African American motorist Rodney King was subdued with extreme force and arrested by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The broadcast of a videotape by George Holliday of the King beating galvanized international attention on police…
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Full text Article Newark, New Jersey, Race Riot (1967)

From Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience
African Americans in the city had little political representation in the mid-1960s, despite being over half of the total population, and conditions were similar to those in other large urban areas. High crime and unemployment rates, political corruption, substandard housing, and police brutality led…
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Full text Article Black Panther Party

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
The Black Panther Party (BPP), founded in October 1966 in Oakland, California, was one of the most controversial organizations to emerge from the Black Power movement of the late 1960s. Huey P. Newton and Robert “Bobby” Seale, who met while attending Merritt College in Oakland, organized the party…
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