Police Brutality Essay Example for Free

Police Brutality Essay Unfortunately, nowadays the people who are supposed to protect us and help us when we are in need, sometimes cannot be trusted. Police brutality has always been a problem, but theres been a dramatic rise in police murders and brutalization of citizens. Police Brutality is anything from harassment from a police officer to being murdered by one.Police officers risk their lives everyday they put on their uniform. They serve the community by keeping it safe from those who break the law. Police are trained to use force when necessary and to have discretion on how much force to use on someone. The tactics they use are to apprehend a criminal, and to keep those who are around a criminal, safe. Officers carry weapons such as a baton, mace, or a gun. These weapons are to keep themselves and the communities they serve safe. Sometimes officers who are either not properly trained or who neglect to use the appropriate amount of force on a suspect, can suffer the consequences of police brutality. â€Å"Police brutality is a civil rights violation that occurs when a police officer acts with excessive force by using an amount of force with regards to a civilian that is more than necessary. Excessive force by a law enforcement officers is a violation of a persons rights. Force should be used in only the minimum amount needed to achieve a purpose. Police brutality is a direct violation of the laws within the police force. The use of excessive force is also a direct violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S Constitution regarding cruelty and protection of the laws†(definitions.uslegal.com). One of the major causes of police brutality is stress. Each day, police officers have to deal with the fact that their lives are within their own hands and being that they are thought of as the enemy by a criminal they feel the need to protect themselves at any cost. An officer may feel threatened and might not know his or her own strength, therefore they might  do anything to protect themselves if they feel threatened. The stress of being a cop can lead to other issues other than police brutality. The amount of stress of their job is so high it can affect them in various ways later in life. â€Å"The extreme stress and pressure placed on police officers has caused an increasing numbers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder cases, alcoholism, suicide, early retirement, breakdowns and burnout being reported by police officers across the country†(www.essortment.com). Another cause of police brutality is simply abuse of power. Not all cops break the rules, but not all cops follow t hem. Police brutality can be any of the following acts; â€Å"profane or abusive language, commands to move or go home, field stops and searches, threats of implied violence, prodding with a nightstick or approaching with a pistol, the actual use of physical force†(www.policecrimes.com). Racism is also a major cause of police brutality. The most famous of all police brutality cases is, of course, Rodney Kings case. On March 3, 1991, four Los Angeles police officers beat Rodney King as eleven other officers stood by watching. Rodney King was in a high-speed car chase with the officers, when his car was finally stopped, he hesitated to get out of his car. When he did, he was said to jump at the officers. He was hit by two darts from a stun gun, which didnt seem to work. Rodney King still refused to obey the officers and lie flat on the ground. But, in less than two minutes, he was hit with 56 baton blows and kicked six times. He suffered from eleven skull fractures, brain damage, broken bones, knocked out teeth and kidney damage. Also, emotional and physical trauma. Not in all cases are the victims of police brutality innocent, obviously, as you can see in Rodney Kings case (law.umkc.edu)But no matter how rude or uncooperative a suspect is being, this extreme force from officers should not be used. Racism has always been and always be around. The fact that it is policing is evident through such acts as these. Sometimes these harmful acts go overlooked by departments, either because of they do not want the publicity, the department might not know what actually happened, or they simply do not care. Racism is not just against African Americans, all minorities are at risk for being the victim of a cops believes or disbelieves. Another reason police brutality happens is some officers believe that its necessary to come down hard on those who resist arrest because they may kill the next police officer who tries to arrest  them so you have to teach them a lesson. â€Å"Another practice is the screen test, police jargon for applying the brakes on a police vehicle to that the handcuffed prisoner in back will be thrown against the metal protective screen†(www.policecrimes.com). When an officer breaks the law and victimizes a person he or she will should be punished and depending on the case they should face suspension, job termination, or even jail time. Those whose rights have been violated often receive large amounts of money in out of court settlements, which means the taxpayer is paying for authorities right to abuse their power . Cops who have committed these acts usually face no serious prosecution, if any at all. So far, of all the documented murders since 1977, only one officer has been convicted of homicide. Any man that kills another, for no matter what reason, should have to face consequences. Anyone can become a victim of police brutality, but the most common are minorities, juveniles, and low class citizens. Minorities are victimized because of their skin color and the believes of the officer they encounter. The fact that officers target minorities has been known for decades. Many races are still not accepted by people today. Juveniles can also become targets of the police. Young adults often find themselves in tough situations getting in trouble with the law. They struggle to find a sense of self and often look to crime as an easy way out. An officer might target a young adult assuming he or she is up to no good, judging solely by the way they carry themselves. Low class citizens often do not have the money for a good lawyer so even if they were victimized they have no one to turn to for help. They most likely do not have guidance on how to properly seek justice they rightfully deserve. Also in most cases, unless there is physical evidence, police misconduct is often on e side of the story against another. In order to prevent police from using unnecessary amount of force on citizens there must be an understanding of each others position on society. Although a beating from a police officer may not be the victims fault, there are some ways to try and prevent from being a part of a traumatic experience. When an officer does not feel threatened he or she is less  likely to become frantic and full of adrenaline which would make the confrontation with him or her less dangerous and beneficial to both the cop and the civilian. The number of cases of police brutality is not as high as the years of the civil rights act, but there is still a need for a way to help fix the problem. Not every case is known to the public and reported. Departments need to properly train officers to deal with certain situations properly. While they might not be perfect when it comes to hiring, they should keep a close eye on those who they hire to make sure any officer hired doesnt have a different personality when on duty. A personality that would be dangerous to those who surround him or her. Hopefully there will be a system in the future that will help minimize the chances of police brutality. Sources 1.) Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use Of Force by: Jerome H. Skolnick, James J. Fyfe 1994. Published by: The Free Press, New York. 2.) Definitions.uslegal.com 3.) www.essortment.com 4.) www.policecrimes.com 5.) law.umkc.edu

Realism in British Soap Opera Essay -- essays papers

Realism in British Soap Opera Using a media text as a key example, evaluate selected techniques of fictional production which contribute to a sense of realism consistent with genre or format used. Many have defined the term realism but these definitions by Watt and Williams can be easily applied to my choice of media text, which is the British soap opera. Fiske writes that Watt and Williams â€Å"†¦.tend to define it by its content. Watt traces its origins to the rise of the novel in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.† And Williams â€Å"†¦whose historical perspective covers the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, lists three main characteristics of realism in drama: he finds that it has a contemporary setting, that it concerns itself with secular action †¦ and that it is â€Å"socially extended†. ( Television Culture, John Fiske, Routledge, 1997, P.21 – 22) To expand on Williams’ three characteristics, the contemporary setting means that the drama should be set in the present day or at least modern times that the present audience are likely to have lived in. When the drama â€Å"concerns itself with secular action† this means that the events that take place within the drama are about people and described in human terms. The term â€Å"socially extended† means that the events in the drama revolve around the lives of ordinary people and not kings or social leaders. Williams definition can be seen to relate to the working class and their experience of subordination in industrial society. These are three of the generic characteristics found in the British soap opera. Coronation Street is one of Britain’s most successful soap operas where all of these characteristics can be seen clearly. The contemporary setting can be seen through the iconography used such as the modern cars, the clothes and issues that are discussed in the programme such as general elections. In soap opera this contemporary setting goes further than just modern day, they like to appear as if to be on the same day as the audience watching. This is achieved by covering the general elections as mentioned and characters making reference to the weekend in a Friday episode. The â€Å"Secular Action† in Coronation Street is clear as the narrative is character driven and the events are always seen from the characters point of view. â€Å"Secular Actionâ€Å" is particularly prevalent in Corona... ... record 29 million people watched an episode of Coronation Street in which Alan Bradley – who had been beating his wife Rita – was run over by a tram. After he had been â€Å"killed off† Mark Eden, who played Alan, was hit over the head with an umbrella in a shop. Viewers have also been known to send wreaths to television companies after characters have â€Å"died.†Ã¢â‚¬ ( Alex Duval Smith, Guardian, Education, Nov1 1994) In conclusion, the techniques used to contribute to sense of realism in the British soap opera include the three characteristics that Williams outlines. These are the use of a contemporary setting, the soap must concern itself with secular action and the soap should be socially extended. Other techniques that soap opera makers employ are the use of naturalism in the sets and characters, the time paralleling real time, the coverage of everyday issues as well as the big issues which actually happen very rarely but are very real. However the programme makers occasionally fail in their attempts to portray the real with the omission of gay characters and the closeness of all the residents of their particular area, which in real life is virtually non-existent.

Cells and Movement of Substances

All living things are formed by cells, the structure of these cells varying depending on their function. Animal and plant cells have common features such as a nucleus, cytoplasm and cell membrane. Dissolved substances pass into and out of cells by diffusion Diffusion Diffusion definition: Diffusion is the movement of molecules from a high concentration to a low concentration. Dissolved substances have to pass through the cell membrane to get into or out of a cell. Diffusion is one of the processes that allows this to happen There are many examples of diffusion occurring in our bodies; two of these are: 1. Digested food particles in the gut moving from the gut cavity to the blood in capillary of villus 2. Oxygen particles in the lungs moving from the Alveolar air space to the blood circulating around the lungs Particles continue to move from a high to a low concentration while there is a concentration gradient*. In the lungs, the blood will continue to take in oxygen from the alveolar air spaces, so long as the concentration of oxygen there is greater than that in the blood. Oxygen diffuses across the alveolar walls and goes into the blood, where the circulation takes the oxygen-rich blood away. Osmosis Osmosis Definition: A process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semi permeable membrane* from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one, thus equalizing the concentrations on each side of the membrane. Eventually the level on the more concentrated side of the membrane rises as the molecules move through the membrane, causing the level on the less concentrated side to fall. When the concentration is the same on both sides of the membrane the movement of water will be the same in both directions, and a balance has, in effect, been found. At this point, the net exchange rate of water is zero and consequently there is no more change in the level of the liquids.

Behaviorism Classical Conditioning - 1197 Words

There are four primary conditioning theories of behaviorism. These four theories are Pavlov’s (1849-1936) classical conditioning, Thorndike’s (1874-1949) connectionism (also known as law of effect), Guthrie s (1886-1959) contiguous conditioning, and Skinner’s (1904-1990) operant conditioning. According to the text (Shunk 2012) Classical conditioning was discovered around the beginning of the 20th century by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was studying digestive process in dogs when he discovered that the dogs salivated before they received their food. Pavlov utilized a tuning fork and meat powder. He hit the tuning fork and followed the sound with the meat powder. In the beginning, the dog salivated only to the meat powder,†¦show more content†¦Another positive, is the notion of rewards and punishment in behaviorism can be very useful in order to adapt to the required behavior. In other words behaviorism suggests that one can predict and modify behavior by strategically controlling the consequences. In contrast the weakness of behaviorism is that it attempts to explain all the actions of a person only through visible occurrences, making it impossible to directly observe the occurrence of consciousness. So the main opposition is that the behavior of a person is always a learned association that was once supported or punished. Behaviorism in some ways neglects the individualism of every person by making the assumption that people are not responsible for what they do but rather implies that all of the behavioral acts of a person are based past rewards/consequences experienced. Behaviorism concepts can be applied to in home family counseling. First, weighing activities, projects and case plan objectives to correspond with the proportional amount of effort one would like for the family to put into these activities rewards and reinforces family effort, involvement and performance in those areas. Similarly, providing feedback during the development of the case plan and completion of case plan objectives rewards and reinforces learning over time, and should result in better retention and skill development. This later type of reinforcementShow MoreRelatedBehaviorism And Classical Conditioning And Operant Conditioning Essay1504 Words   |  7 PagesBehaviorism is one of many theories in the field of psychology. It can be applied in different learning scenarios for different research purposes. Biographical information will be provided about the founders of the theory who are John B. Watson and B. F. Skinner. However, the information will focus more on their ear ly education and known achievements. 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