Police brutality in the United States

March 7, 1965: Alabama police attack the Selma-to-Montgomery Marchers on "Bloody Sunday". (Federal Bureau of Investigation photograph)

Police brutality is the abuse of authority by the unwarranted infliction of excessive force by personnel involved in various aspects of law enforcement while in performance of their official duties. The term is also applied to abuses by corrections personnel in municipal, state and federal penal facilities including military prisons.

While the term police brutality is usually applied in the context of causing physical harm, it may also involve psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedure. In the past those who engaged in police brutality may have acted with the implicit approval of the local legal system, e.g. during the Civil Rights era. In the modern era individuals who engage in cases of police brutality may do so with the tacit approval of their superiors or they may be rogue officers; in either case they may perpetrate their actions under color of law, and more often than not engage in a subsequent cover-up of their illegal activity.

The word "brutality" has several meanings; the sense used here (savage cruelty) was first used in 1633.[1] The first known use of the term "police brutality" was in the New York Times in 1893,[2] describing a police officer's beating of a civilian.

Efforts to combat police brutality focus on various aspects of the police subculture, and the aberrant psychology which may manifest itself when individuals are placed in a position of absolute authority over others.[3]

Causes

Logo on T-shirts sold at Daytona Beach Police Department headquarters in Florida, cited in a lawsuit against the DBPD alleging police brutality, is said to show the DBPD condones violence.[4][5]

Numerous doctrines, such as federalism, separation of powers, causation, deference, discretion, and burden of proof have been cited as partial explanations for the judiciaries' fragmented pursuit of police misconduct. However, there is also evidence that courts cannot or choose not to see systemic patterns in police brutality.[6] Other factors that have been cited as encouraging police brutality include institutionalized systems of police training, management, and culture; a criminal-justice system that discourages prosecutors from pursuing police misconduct vigorously; a political system that responds more readily to police than to the residents of inner-city and minority communities; and a racist political culture that fears crime and values tough policing more than it values due process for all its citizens.[7] It is believed that without substantial social change, the control of police deviance is improbable at best.[8]

In the United States, the passage of the Volstead Act (popularly known as the National Prohibition Act) in 1919 had a long-term negative impact on policing practices. By the mid-1920s, crime was growing dramatically in response to the demand for illegal alcohol. Many law enforcement agencies stepped up the use of unlawful practices. By the time of the Hoover administration (1929–1932), the issue had risen to national concern and a National Committee on Law Observation and Enforcement (popularly known as the Wickersham Commission) was formed to look into the situation.[9] The resulting "Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement" (1931) concluded that "[t]he third degree—that is, the use of physical brutality, or other forms of cruelty, to obtain involuntary confessions or admissions—is widespread".[10] In the years following the report, landmark legal judgments such as Brown v. Mississippi helped cement a legal obligation to respect the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.[11]

Police brutality can be associated with racial profiling. Differences in race, religion, politics, or socioeconomic status sometimes exist between police and the citizenry. Some police officers may view the population (or a particular subset thereof) as generally deserving punishment. Portions of the population may perceive the police to be oppressors. In addition, there is a perception that victims of police brutality often belong to relatively powerless groups, such as racial or cultural minorities, the disabled, and the poor.[12]

Civil Rights era

The African-American Civil Rights Movement has been the target of numerous incidents of police brutality in its struggle for justice and racial equality, notably during the Birmingham campaign of 1963–64 and during the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965. Media coverage of the brutality sparked national outrage, and public sympathy for the movement grew rapidly as a result. Martin Luther King Jr. criticized police brutality in speeches. During this time, the Black Panther Party (BPP) formed in response to police brutality from disproportionately white police departments that were perceived as oppressing black communities.[13] The conflict between the BPP and various police departments often resulted in violence with the deaths of 34 members of the BPP[14] and 15 police officers.[15]

In the United States, race and accusations of police brutality continue to be closely linked, and the phenomenon has sparked a string of race riots over the years. Especially notable among these incidents was the uprising caused by the arrest and beating of Rodney King on March 3, 1991 by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department. The atmosphere was particularly volatile because the brutality had been videotaped by a bystander and widely broadcast afterwards. When the four law enforcement officers charged with assault and other violations were acquitted, the 1992 Los Angeles Riots broke out.

Anti-war demonstrations

During the Vietnam War, anti-war demonstrations were sometimes quelled through the use of billy-clubs and tear gas. The most notorious of these assaults took place during the August 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The actions of the police were later described as a "police riot" in the Walker Report to the U.S. National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.[16]

War on drugs

As was the case with Prohibition during the 1920s and 1930s, the "War on Drugs" initiated by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969 has been marked by increased police misconduct. Critics contend that a "holy war" mentality[17] has helped to nurture a "new militarized style of policing" where "confrontation has replaced investigation."[18]

Post 9/11

Numerous human rights observers have raised concerns about increased police brutality in the U.S. in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. An extensive report prepared for the United Nations Human Rights Committee, tabled in 2006, states that in the U.S., the "War on Terror" has "created a generalized climate of impunity for law enforcement officers, and contributed to the erosion of what few accountability mechanisms exist for civilian control over law enforcement agencies. As a result, police brutality and abuse persist unabated and undeterred across the country."[19]

A decision by the House and the Senate in Hawaii is expected in May 2014 after police agreed in March 2014 not to oppose the revision of a law that was implemented in the 1970s, allowing undercover police officers to engage in sexual relations with sex workers during the course of investigations. Following initial protest from supporters of the legislation, all objections were retracted on March 25, 2014. A Honolulu police spokeswoman informed TIME magazine that, at the time of the court's decision, no reports had been made in regard to the abuse of the exemption by police, while a Hawaiian senator stated to the media: “I suppose that in retrospect the police probably feel somewhat embarrassed about this whole situation." However, the Pacifica Alliance to Stop Slavery and other advocates affirmed their knowledge of police brutality in this area and explained that the fear of retribution is the main deterrent for sex workers who seek to report offending officers. At a Hawaiian Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, also in March 2014, an attorney testified that his client was raped three times by Hawaiian police before prostitution was cited as the reason for her subsequent arrest.[20]

Cultural factors unique to the United States

In a 2014 analysis entitled, "Coming Home to Roost: American Militarism, War Culture, and Police Brutality" published by The Hampton Institute, Colin Jenkins provides an in-depth look at the potential cultural roots of police violence in the United States. These cultural factors include "Objectification, Empathy Erosion, an Internalized Culture of War and Oppression, White Supremacy" and the development of an intensely hierarchical and class-based society. Jenkins also makes a connection between the proliferation of U.S. wars abroad and the soldier-to-police officer transition that has become common, bringing veterans of foreign wars home to patrol mostly poor and working-class communities of color. Using his own experience in the U.S. military, Jenkins provides some insight on the mentality that is shaped by combat training and how these mentalities are then turned on target populations, which include American citizens.[21]

Incidents

While the prevalence of police brutality in the United States is not comprehensively documented, statistics on police brutality are much less available. The few statistics that exist include a 2006 Department of Justice report, which showed that out of 26,556 citizen complaints made in 2002 about excessive use of police force among large U.S. agencies (representing 5% of agencies and 59% of officers), about 2000 were found to have merit.[22]

Other studies have shown that most police brutality goes unreported. In 1982, the federal government funded a "Police Services Study," in which over 12,000 randomly selected citizens were interviewed in three metropolitan areas. The study found that 13.6 percent of those surveyed claimed to have had cause to complain about police service (including verbal abuse, discourtesy and physical abuse) in the previous year. Yet only 30 percent of those who acknowledged such brutality filed formal complaints.[23] A 1998 Human Rights Watch report stated that in all 14 precincts it examined, the process of filing a complaint was "unnecessarily difficult and often intimidating."[24]

Statistics on the use of physical force by law enforcement are available. For example, an extensive U.S. Department of Justice report on police use of force released in 2001 indicated that in 1999, "approximately 422,000 people 16 years old and older were estimated to have had contact with police in which force or the threat of force was used."[25] Research shows that measures of the presence of black and Hispanic people and majority/minority income inequality are related positively to average annual civil rights criminal complaints.[26]

Police brutality can be associated with racial profiling. Differences in race, religion, politics, or socioeconomic status often exist between police and the citizenry. Some police officers may view the population (or a particular subset thereof) as generally deserving of punishment. Portions of the population may perceive the police to be oppressors. In addition, there is a perception that victims of police brutality often belong to relatively powerless groups, such as minorities, the disabled, and the poor.[27] A 1968 study in three large cities found that police brutality was “far from rare,” and that the most likely victim was a "lower-class" man of either race.[28]

Recent Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch reports have found that prison guard brutality is common in the U.S. A 2006 Human Rights Watch report revealed that five state prison systems permit the use of aggressive, unmuzzled dogs on prisoners as part of cell removal procedures.[29]

Investigation

In the United States, investigation of cases of police brutality has often been left to internal police commissions and/or district attorneys (DAs). Internal police commissions have often been criticized for a lack of accountability and for bias favoring officers, as they frequently declare upon review that the officer(s) acted within the department's rules, or according to their training. For instance, an April 2007 study of the Chicago Police Department found that out of more than 10,000 police abuse complaints filed between 2002 and 2003, only 19 (0.19%) resulted in meaningful disciplinary action. The study charges that the police department's oversight body allows officers with "criminal tendencies to operate with impunity," and argues that the Chicago Police Department should not be allowed to police itself.[30] Only 19% of large municipal police forces have a civilian complaint review board (CCRB). Law enforcement jurisdictions that have a CCRB have an excessive force complaint rate against their officers of 11.9% verses 6.6% complaint rate for those without a CCRB. Of those forces without a CCRB only 8% of the complaints were sustained.[31] Thus, for the year 2002, the rate at which police brutality complaints were sustained was 0.53% for the larger police municipalities nationwide.

The ability of district attorneys to investigate police brutality has also been called into question, as DAs depend on help from police departments to bring cases to trial. It was only in the 1990s that serious efforts began to transcend the difficulties of dealing with systemic patterns of police misconduct.

Beyond police departments and DAs, mechanisms of government oversight have gradually evolved. The Rodney King case triggered the creation of the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, informally known as the Christopher Commission, in 1991. The commission, mandated to investigate the practices of the LAPD, uncovered disturbing patterns of misconduct and abuse, but the reforms it recommended were put on hold. Meanwhile, media reports revealed a frustration in dealing with systemic abuse in other jurisdictions as well, such as New York and Pittsburgh. Selwyn Raab of the New York Times wrote about how the "Blue Code of Silence among police officers helped to conceal even the most outrageous examples of misconduct."[32]

Within this climate, the police misconduct provision of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was created, which authorized the Attorney Manager to "file lawsuits seeking court orders to reform police departments engaging in a pattern or practice of violating citizens' federal rights."[33] As of January 31, 2003, the Department of Justice has used this provision to negotiate reforms in twelve jurisdictions across the U.S. (Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Steubenville Police Department, New Jersey State Police, Los Angeles Police Department, District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, Highland Park, Illinois Police Department, Cincinnati Police Department, Columbus Police Department, Buffalo Police Department, Mount Prospect, Illinois Police Department, Seattle Police Department, and the Montgomery County, Maryland Police Department).[34]

Copwatch is a U.S.-based network of organizations that actively monitors and videotapes the police to prevent police brutality.

Public reaction

It has been noted that local media rarely report scandals involving out-of-town police unless events make it onto a network videotape.[35] There is often a dramatic increase in unfavorable attitudes toward the police in the wake of highly publicized events such as the Rampart scandal and the killings of Amadou Diallo and Patrick Dorismond in New York City.[36] Experiments have found that when viewers are shown footage of police arrests, they may be more likely to perceive the police conduct as brutal if the arresting officers are Caucasian.[37]

Public opinion polls following the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles and the killing of Malice Green in Detroit indicate that the incidents appear to have had their greatest effect on specific perceptions of the way local police treat blacks, and markedly less effect on broader perceptions of the extent of discrimination against them.[38]

Legal and institutional controls

Laws intended to protect against police abuse of authority include the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution - protects against unreasonable searches and seizures; the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which includes the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses; the Civil Rights Act of 1871; and the Federal Tort Claims Act. The Civil Rights Act has evolved into a key U.S. law in brutality cases. However, 42 U.S.C. § 1983 has been assessed as ultimately ineffective in deterring police brutality.[39] Judges often give police convicted of brutality light sentences on the grounds that they have already been punished by damage to their careers.[40] Much of this difficulty in combating police brutality has been attributed to the overwhelming power of the stories mainstream American culture tells about the encounters leading to police violence.[41]

In 1978, surveys of police officers found that police brutality, along with sleeping on duty, was viewed as one of the most common and least likely to be reported forms of police deviance other than corruption.[42]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary
  2. ↑ "Police officers in trouble: Charges against policeman McManus by his sergeant". New York Times. June 23, 1893.
  3. ↑ William A. Geller, Hans Toch (1996). Police Violence: Understanding and Controlling Police Abuse of Force. Yale University Press.
  4. ↑ Scumbag T-Shirt Raises Money For Police Youth Program
  5. ↑ Suit against top cop cites “Scumbag” T-shirt
  6. ↑ Bandes, Susan (1999), Patterns of Injustice: Police Brutality in the Courts 47, Buff. L. Rev., p. 1275
  7. ↑ Regina G. Lawrence. The politics of force: media and the construction of police brutality. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22192-5.
  8. ↑ Victor E. Kappeler ; Richard D. Sluder ; Geoffrey P. Alpert (1998). Forces of Deviance: Understanding the Dark Side of Policing, Second Edition. ISBN 0-88133-983-0.
  9. ↑ "Wicker shambles". Time. 1931-02-02. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  10. ↑ University Publications of America (December 1997). "Records of the Wickersham Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement". LexisNexis. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  11. ↑ United States Supreme Court (1936-02-17). "BROWN et al. v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.". www.injusticeline.com. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  12. ↑ Powers, Mary D. (1995). "Civilian Oversight Is Necessary to Prevent Police Brutality". In Winters, Paul A. Policing the Police. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. pp. 56–60. ISBN 1-56510-262-2.
  13. ↑ The Black Panthers by Jessica McElrath, published as a part of afroamhistory.about.com, accessed on December 17, 2005.
  14. ↑ from an interview with Kathleen Cleaver on May 7, 2002 published by the PBS program P.O.V. and being published in Introduction to Black Panther 1968: Photographs by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones, (Greybull Press).
  15. ↑ The Officer Down Memorial
  16. ↑ Walker, Daniel (1968). Johnson, ed. Rights in Conflict: The violent confrontation of demonstrators and police in the parks and streets of Chicago during the week of the Democratic National Convention of 1968. A report submitted by Daniel Walker, director of the Chicago Study Team, to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. Braceland Brothers. p. 233.
  17. ↑ Joseph D. McNamara (1996-02-11). "Has the Drug War Created an Officer Liars' Club?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  18. ↑ Joel Miller (2004-07-17). "Kill Zone". WorldNetDaily.com. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
  19. ↑ "In the Shadows of the War on Terror: Persistent Police Brutality and Abuse in the United States" (PDF). United Nations Committee on Human Rights. June 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  20. ↑ Eliana Dockterman (26 March 2014). "Hawaii Police Won’t Get to Have Sex With Prostitutes Anymore". TIME. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  21. ↑ Colin Jenkins (2014-02-27). "Coming Home to Roost: American Militarism, War Culture, and Police Brutality". The Hampton Institute. Retrieved 2014-12-25.
  22. ↑ Matthew Hickman (2006-06-26). "Citizen Complaints about Police Use of Force". Bureau of Justice Statistics. Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  23. ↑ "Fighting Police Abuse: A Community Action Manual". American Civil Liberties Union. 1997-12-01. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
  24. ↑ "Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States". Human Rights Watch. June 1998. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  25. ↑ "Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the 1999 National Survey". Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2001-03-21. Archived from the original on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  26. ↑ Holmes, Malcolm D. (2000), Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities 38, Criminology, p. 343
  27. ↑ Powers, Mary D. (1995). "Civilian Oversight Is Necessary to Prevent Police Brutality". In Winters, Paul A. Policing the Police. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. pp. 56–60. ISBN 1-56510-262-2.
  28. ↑ Police brutality-answers to key questions 5 (8), Springer New York, July 1968, doi:10.1007/BF02804717, ISSN 0147-2011
  29. ↑ "Cruel and Degrading: The Use of Dogs for Cell Extractions in U.S. Prisons". Human Rights Watch. 2006. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  30. ↑ Ryan Gallagher (2007-04-04). "Study: Police abuse goes unpunished". Medill School, Northwestern University, Alabama. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  31. ↑ U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. "Citizen Complaints about Police Use of Force". Retrieved 18 February 2013.
  32. ↑ Selwyn Raab (1993-05-02). "The Dark Blue Code of Silence". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  33. ↑ Civil Rights Division (2007-08-16). "Conduct of Law Enforcement Agencies". U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  34. ↑ Civil Rights Division (2003-01-01). "Department of Justice Police Misconduct Pattern or Practice Program". U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  35. ↑ Andrea McArdle, Tanya Erzen, Zero tolerance: quality of life and the new police brutality in New York City, NYU Press
  36. ↑ Ronald Weitzer (September–October 2002), Incidents of police misconduct and public opinion 30 (5), Journal of Criminal Justice, pp. 397–408, doi:10.1016/S0047-2352(02)00150-2
  37. ↑ Jack Levin; Alexander R. Thomas (September 1997), Experimentally manipulating race: Perceptions of police brutality in an arrest: A research note 14 (3), Justice Quarterly, pp. 577–586, doi:10.1080/07418829700093481
  38. ↑ L Sigelman, S Welch, T Bledsoe (1997), Police brutality and public perceptions of racial discrimination: A tale of two beatings 50 (4), Political Research Quarterly, pp. 777–791, doi:10.1177/106591299705000403
  39. ↑ Patton, Alison L. (1992–1993), Endless Cycle of Abuse: Why 42 U.S.C. 1983 Is Ineffective in Deterring Police Brutality, The 44, Hastings L.J., p. 753
  40. ↑ Alexa P. Freeman (March 1996), Unscheduled Departures: The Circumvention of Just Sentencing for Police Brutality 47, Hastings L.J., p. 677
  41. ↑ DD Troutt (1999), Screws, Koon, and Routine Aberrations: The Use of Fictional Narratives in Federal Police Brutality Prosecutions, NYUL Rev.
  42. ↑ T Barker (1978), An empirical study of police deviance other than corruption, Journal of Police Science and Administration

External links