2
Abstract
An Examination of Police Brutality and Its Impact on Victims’ Families
by
Jamisha Riddick
MA, Walden University, 2021
MA, Saint Leo University, 2018
BS, Norfolk State University, 2016
Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Management
Walden University
June 2022
Abstract
Police brutality is when law enforcement officer aggressively abuses citizens, either verbally or physically. Excessive force, either physically or psychologically, is used to frighten others. This type of cruelty has quickly spread over the world and has always been covered by the media. Sexual assault by police, illegal arrests, racial prejudice, police corruption, and oppression are all part of it. Police personnel are seen as law enforcers tasked with keeping society's law and order in line. Despite the hazards they face on the job, police officers occasionally opt to use excessive force even when the conditions do not allow it. The vicious police force routinely targets minorities, such as African Americans, Hispanics, and Mexican nationals. According to a Harvard University study, African Americans and Hispanics are more likely than other races to be victims of police brutality. Because police violence affects the victims' families, it has a negative influence on the victims themselves. The goal of this research is to see how victims' families are affected by police violence. This study fills a gap in the present literature on police brutality by focusing on the impact on victims' families rather than racial profiling, which has been the focus of numerous previous studies. This research issue statement addresses the social topic of how police brutality affects victims' family. The problem statement is based on the dominant group's long-held belief in superiority, which devalues other people and so serves as a justification for law enforcement actions that have diverse consequences for victims' families. It also aligns with the research approach, which is a phenomenological study.
An Examination of Police Brutality and Its Impact on Victims’ Families
by
Jamisha Riddick
MA, Walden University, 2021
MA, Saint Leo University, 2018
BS, Norfolk State University, 2016
Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Management
Walden University
June 2022
Table of ContentsDedication4Acknowledgments5Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study6Social Change Implication8Gaps in Literature10Purpose of the Study11Research Questions12Relevance of the Study12Background14Theoretical Framework19Research Methods20Sources of Data21Limitation, Challenges, or Barriers21Aligned Research Study22References23
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study
When cops actively mistreat civilians, either verbally or physically, it is referred to as police brutality. Excessive force is employed to intimidate others, either physically or psychologically. This form of savagery has swiftly expanded over the world and has always been featured in the press. It involves sexual assault by police, unlawful arrests, racial bias, police corruption, and oppression. Excessive force is frequently used against vulnerable community groups such as the elderly, the poor, and the disabled. The major issue with police brutality is that the officers who are meant to protect citizens are the ones who kill them, and then eventually get away with no consequences. The study will provide a conclusion based on research about police brutality to generate a solution or even more condemnation about it.
Police officers are viewed as law enforcers responsible with maintaining society's law and order. Despite the dangers that police officers encounter on the job, they occasionally choose to use unreasonable force even when the circumstances do not permit it. The police seize the suspects, violently pat them down, force them against a wall, and even shoot them without being armed, which is known as police brutality (Charney and Robertson, 2013). The topic of police brutality is frequently overlooked, with most people dismissing police brutality complaints as fabrications since, in most cases, the officers involved are always shielded by their local police agencies (William, 2015). The goal of the study is to show how police brutality is a major problem that politicians must address. Although most police officers do their best to keep the public safe, there are times when cops employ excessive force, resulting in cruelty for the victims.
According to figures from the Bureau of Justice, police are responsible for around 5,000 fatalities worldwide (BJS, 2022). Although most of these incidents occurred in impoverished countries, police brutality is a global issue that impacts even industrialized countries (Haider, 2014). Other police brutality events have been recorded in Israel, Venezuela, Pakistan, and Canada, in addition to the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. According to available statistics, cops frequently use excessive force against criminals and even innocent people. The most depressing part is that most cops found guilty of cruelty received just minor disciplinary actions. In South Africa, for example, police brutality charges increased by 300 percent in 2012, yet only 1% of those allegations resulted in the officer being prosecuted; the rest were dismissed as unsubstantiated, and so could not be prosecuted in law courts (Haider, 2014).
Minority populations are the most vulnerable to police brutality (Acheme & Cionea, 2022). Minorities, such as African Americans, Hispanics, and Mexican nationals, are the most frequently targeted by the ruthless police force. According to a Harvard University report, police violence is more likely among African Americans and Hispanics than among other races. Furthermore, the data shows that police violence towards African Americans is not a new problem, but has existed for a long time (Nodjimbadem, 2017). According to the report, four out of every five males who were victims of police violence were from minority ethnicities. It is apparent that police officers have decided to blatantly enforce the present state of obvious prejudice rather than serve and protect the people as the police code of conduct requires (Acheme & Cionea, 2022). Another research found parallels between the contemporary state of police encounters with black people and unresolved historical injustices, although the reasoning lacks sufficient evidence to sustain the assertion (William, 2015). Furthermore, the same study discovered that the brutality rates were the same whether police encounter with the suspect took place in a high- or low-crime area. In fact, while dealing with African American and Hispanic criminals, 50% of police officers are more inclined to use force than when dealing with white suspects (William, 2015).
Some argue that the dominant group's long-held conviction in superiority has contributed to the devaluation of Black life, particularly in the United States (particularly among males), and so serves as a justification for law enforcement activities (Embrick, 2015). If entrenched systemic racism or the idea in White supremacy are not the root causes of the tumultuous interaction between police officers and Black males, more research is needed. When confronting African American individual, police officers appeared to use more excessive force than when confronting other groups. To gain knowledge and understanding of Black males' perception excessive and confrontational interactions with law enforcement officials, it is necessary to investigate not only historical underpinnings, but also White Privilege, police training procedures, the mental state of law enforcement officials during points of contact, and physiological variables that may impact the behaviors of law enforcers during a scenario in which Black males are viewed as violent threats.
Social Change Implication
Since the victims' families are also impacted by police brutality, it has a detrimental impact on the victims themselves. Victims of police brutality suffer from mental health concerns and, in some cases, death, which has an impact on their relatives (Brunson & Wade, 2019). Miller and Vittrup (2020) estimate that since 2015, police have killed over 1,000 individuals yearly, according to The Mapping Police Violence Project.
There is also a need to look at some of the causes of police brutality to decide whether it was severe. The decision to use police violence sprang from the necessity to find a way to cope with the criminal status of black people seeking retribution after enslavement. To deal with the situation, the only option was to make them flee in terror while also assisting them, or to arrest most of them. To label the link between police brutality and racism as racism is debatable, especially given that blacks may have a high crime rate, resulting in many of them being murdered or imprisoned.
Some of the police killings that have been labeled as horrific occurred during raids on criminals. The debate centers on police statements that they kill because they believe their lives are in danger (Kiang & Tsai, 2022). Due to a lack of proof, several courts have ruled in favor of police officers. However, the police who are expected to undertake investigations may be hampered by the lack of such evidence. It's fascinating to have evidence that connects cruelty to racial inequalities. To do so, you'll need to consider both sides of the argument (Johnson, 2022).
Unfortunately, when a criminal accuses the police of cruelty, they risk misusing their authority. Such instances will aid in identifying when a police officer is on the approach of committing outright police brutality (Johnson, 2022). However, some reported occurrences are overstated, focusing on cops who are labeled as cruel without considering their circumstances. Cruelty, on the other hand, has become all too simple to criticize and accuse at times. When someone fights arrest, for example, they may be injured in the process. Police officers are in a perfect position to make split-second choices when confronted with a criminal wielding a weapon. In such cases, the departments involved fail to handle the post-research in a manner that results in appropriate transparency (Johnson, 2022). Even when reasonable force is used, they may fail to file the required charges. The public is furious with the cops (Wihbey, & Kille, 2016).
When there was an increase in migration to the United States, so did police violence. The mix of people led in a great deal of prejudice and hate crimes (Taylor, 2021). There existed a barrier between the police, who were the law enforcers, and the public. In well-known cities, police violence resulted in cover-ups and apathy. The 1969 episode known as "the massacre of the black panther," in which a police crackdown led to the deaths of several individuals, is a case in point. African American organizations were blamed for promoting racial violence.
There were reports of harsh policing that went unpunished. This means that even though the bulk of the events involved white cops and black defendants, the police engaged were never held responsible for their actions (Kiang & Tsai, 2022). Following any act of cruelty, the public is always quite active in raising awareness; on occasion, they protest and even inflict destruction. As a result, they are ignored, and officers are never given an equivalent or acceptable sentence. This categorizes such brutality as a failure of the judicial system rather than a criminal crime The police officer has been known to turn off cameras during interactions (Kiang & Tsai, 2022). At such moments, they shatter the faith that has been placed in them. It is not difficult to discern because there is no sudden conflict in this circumstance. Journalists have uncovered several instances of police brutality. Police reporters have played an important role in raising public awareness of the issue. There are no laws prohibiting police aggression, and officers' mental problems are rarely treated (Kiang & Tsai, 2022).
Gaps in Literature
There has been little study done to see how police violence impacts the victims' family and how they are affected. According to Miller and Vittrup (2020) research, persons who are directly affected by police brutality die or suffer bodily and mental harm. According to Miller and Vittrup, high-profile acts of police aggression have a profound impact on communities. It may be terrible for family members and friends to witness their loved one being harmed or killed by the police under unexpected and inexplicable circumstances (Miller & Vittrup, 2020).
Several studies have been published that focus on the outcomes of police brutality research. The research focused on citizen complaints against police (Ariel et.al, 2017, White et.al, 2017, Braga et.al, 2017), police officers use of force (Jennings et.al, 2017, Henstock & Ariel, 2017) officer decisions to apprehend or issue citation (Headley et.al, 2017, Braga et.al, 2017) and police officer attitudes towards body wearable cameras. The results of these investigations were varied, with some claiming that body worn cameras reduced the use of force in specific experiments. However, officers indicate that cameras do not improve transparency, accountability, reduce public complaints, or reduce officer use of force, leading to an increase in incidences of police brutality, according to Headley et al, (2017). For example, the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was the most recent incident. The incident triggered "Black Lives Matter" protests throughout the world, with the goal of addressing concerns of police brutality.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to look at how police violence affects victims' families. Its goal is to establish a link between police brutality and the economic, psychological, and emotional consequences for victims' families (Miller & Vittrup, 2020). The study will investigate how families of victims of police violence dealt with seeing their loved ones hurt or murdered by cops. The study will add to the corpus of knowledge about the impact of police violence on victims' families' mental, social, psychological, and emotional well-being. Police Brutality is unmistakably defined as the use of extreme physical violence. However, as others have pointed out, cruelty extends beyond physical violence. The victims' family are subjected to emotional and sexual abuse, as well as verbal attack and psychological intimidation (Johnson, 2022).
Research Questions
i) What are the reasons that lead to police to use excessive force?
ii) How has the family experience impacted their perception of the police?
iii) How does race play a critical role in police brutality?
iv) Which alternative nonviolent mechanism can be adopted by police to minimize the effects of police brutality to families in different communities?
Relevance of the Study
The findings of this research fill a vacuum in the current literature on police brutality by concentrating on the impact on victims' families rather than racial profiling, which has been the subject of several earlier studies. The study will augment current but limited studies on the consequences of police violence on victims' relatives. There is already a body of knowledge about the difficulties that impact the families of victims of police brutality, and my study wants to add to it. My research will give criminal justice practitioners with information on how police violence impacts victims' relatives and the community. In study studies, victims of police abuse have been frequently distracted, labeled, and even harmed (Najdowski, Bottoms, & Goff, 2015).
The significance of this research aligns with the problem statement because of the alarming rate with which incidents of police brutality continue to increase poses a great population health risk, and stakeholders in the criminal justice system must be made aware of its dangers so that they can work on ways to reduce it and punish perpetrators (Miller & Vittrup, 2020). The findings of this research can be used to present evidence of how police brutality is affecting families and offer insight to the society on the proper measures that are put in place to protect people from police violence.
The main issue with police brutality is that the officers who are meant to protect people are the ones who murder most of them! Finally, they got away with no repercussions. Police brutality is directed towards specific races. Hudson's experience in St. Louis was that of a gangster in an area where officers referred to everyone of color as a thug. Because of their color, even bystanders became victims (Hudson, 2014). Cops, on the other hand, were cursed at first sight and are prone to disappointment. Cops may respond to minor infractions while tracing a black lady and other brown males. Others, however, do not fit into this category and do not agree of how the other corrupt officials behave themselves. Their ruthlessness is fueled by the knowledge that if they are captured, their friends would be the ones to question them.
There are a substantial number of police personnel that would purposefully violate human rights leading to unnecessary arrests (Hudson, 2014). Some police officers do not handle mental health issues effectively. They end up physically breaking such persons to transfer them to a hospital for treatment. The racial split reveals statistical inequalities. According to research conducted in Cincinnati, most policemen implicated in allegations of police violence were white (Suresh, 2014). As a result of these studies, a perception has emerged that white male cops are the harshest, based on the number of black males killed by police officers. Black cops also carry a harsh anti-black racial prejudice which shows how the law enforcement does not prejudice against any race when it comes to the use of excessive force.
Background
Many prosecutions involving cops and black women have ended in mistrials (Wihbey & Kille, 2016). Police work has been proposed as a solution to such problems, but given the complexity of law enforcement tasks, it is unlikely to succeed. Only a few occasions have police officers used fatal force in moments of extreme stress. According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics study, police violence was the main cause of death in police detention cells. Police training has been blamed for the emergence of police violence. According to a Philadelphia report, there were 394 instances of excessive police force. This research article revealed a need in policy training on deadly force policy.
Records of the number of police officers murdered in shootings each year are not always published which is debatable truth relating to the number of individuals who die because of police brutality. As a result, analyzing one side of these incidents is unfair, because police officers are also assaulted. Even though the number of persons murdered in police shootings is unknown, Harden claims that at least five black males are killed every month while they are unarmed (Harden, 2017). The study concludes that police violence against black people is on the rise.
Another flaw that contributes to law enforcement officials engaging in violence is their tendency to approach unavoidable disputes with a sense of superiority. They use the power of their weapons and believe that they are representing the state. The feelings of being professionals with an army at their disposal cause them to act erratically. The truth is that their firearms are liabilities, and they must protect them from suspicion. Those who are disadvantaged by intervening in new terrain situations, within someone's area, and spectators who are not always on their side. Most of the scenarios are dangerous; they have a fear of impending danger in numerous settings (David, 2014). Ethnic minorities, who have been victims of police brutality, either directly or indirectly, may have nightmares, flashbacks, or attempt to avoid interaction with police officers (running from police, etc.). They may also maintain a psychological state of high surveillance, on shield against the potential of abuse at the hands of law enforcement (Bryant-Davis et.al, 2017).
Police brutality is a matter of those in power vs. those who need their peace, and it is a problem that many people face daily. Surprisingly, just around half of all people are impacted by the harshness, according to study. Most of the allegations in these cases are racially motivated. It originated when persons who claimed to be Democrats took on the responsibility of attempting to improve the lives of others via the use of existing governmental welfare programs. They employed the assisting programs they launched in their efforts to help the underprivileged. Surprisingly, issues of racism, poverty, and criminality grew throughout the welfare system, pushing such programs to close. However, statistics show that black individuals have the largest percentage of criminals. Police officers under the authority of their governments interfered to bring the situation under control, but their actions resulted in the deaths of black people. Currently, incidences of police violence are rare, with only a handful perhaps going unnoticed by the public.
Individuals who witness police brutality and other forms of police violence suffer mental health and well-being consequences. In this context, victimization is defined as the result of a person or institution's purposeful activity to oppress or injure another. According to studies, there is a link between police victimization and depression or other psychological problems among the family of the victims. Families of police brutality victims go through a lot of pain that is often overlooked and misunderstood. When a first incident of police brutality occurs, families keep growing politically. The families have been expecting justice from the beginning. The incidents, however, continue, and most family members and societies respond in a way that they believe would get their point through. Attempts to process the injustice cause anguish and terror, which can exhaust the body's stress response system.
According to Miller and Brigitte's (2020) research, African Americans in the United States have historically faced innumerable types of tyranny and repression stemming from slavery. The expanding civilization is concentrating its efforts on eliminating racial differences and moving toward a post-racial society which promotes equality. Despite these attempts, police enforcement continues to use discriminatory methods such as violence. Individuals in African American communities face physical, social, and emotional issues because of the brutality. Victims of police violence are more likely than any other group to be profiled, incriminated, unfairly committed, brutally punished, and imprisoned for crimes (Miller and Brigitte, 2020). Families of the victims are ostracized in the community because of the injustice directed towards the minority population, and they are mentally tortured because of being separated from their loved ones and live-in terror of being the next victims.
Police brutality has an impact on public health because it reduces life expectancy, which is a key indication of population health. It causes death, lowers life expectancy, and raises mortality rates in some groups. According to Alang et al., (2017), family of victims who live in minority groups are more likely to be targeted, which increases the risk of diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure. As a result of their harsh treatment, the families' health has deteriorated. One of the most difficult things of having a loved one slain by police is how powerless the families become in the eyes of those in positions of authority. At best, the minority group is an annoyance; at worst, they are a threat. Even the most fundamental information is withheld from them. Consider this: families are forced to become full-time advocates, battling for the bare minimum of human decency, during the most terrible, sad, and awful period of their life. Families grieve because they are unable to replace the void left by their loved ones' deaths. Furthermore, the culprits may walk free, leaving families to contend with misleading narratives about their loved ones. They are subjected to psychological anguish because of the threats of violence they face because of their advocacy.
However, there are aspects of the anguish of witnessing a Black person being victimized or killed by a police officer that most non-Black people are unaware of, beginning with the historical significance of these acts and the communal grief they elicit. The systematic oppression and depreciation of individual lives is exemplified by police killings of Black people. The victims were killed because they were perceived as a danger. They perish because law enforcement authorities do not place a high value on their lives at the time. So, it's the stress of losing someone who resembles a family member and what that implies for the society, the stress of understanding that loss is rooted in the color of a person's skin, as a second-class citizen as a Black person or an indigenous person.
Evidence shows that police shootings of people have long-reaching consequences that affect communities across the country, well beyond the relatives and social circles of those who knew the person who died. The constant fear of police brutality can have a profound psychological impact on those who are most sensitive to it, such as those who are most likely to be hurt, murdered, or traumatized at the hands of the cops. Because of unfavorable tales about the victims, their relatives are experiencing stress and anticipation. The tension has grown so persistent that it is invisible as part of the day-to-day lives of populations who are preferentially policed (Alang et al., 2017). The unpredictability of it, [not knowing] when it will begin and when it will cease, makes a stressor incredibly persistent and unpleasant, and substantially more connected with mental health. It's that unpredictability combined with a constant stressor that causes police violence to have such a negative influence on mental health.
Police brutality, like all kinds and threats of violence, causes stress, which has a variety of health consequences. Evidence shows that the constant stress of looming danger, the real-life experience, and the detrimental aftermath of police brutality in all its forms (physical, emotional, verbal) on a personal (firsthand or secondhand) and societal level can have damaging consequences on people's mental and physical health. These are stressful situations that wear down the physiological systems of people of color, increasing the allostatic load and causing weathering (Alang et al., 2017). Psychological interpersonal trauma occurs when a person's life or physical integrity is threatened, and the experience overwhelms the person's ability to cope by causing emotions of hopelessness or acute dread (Bryant Davis et al, 2017).
Victims of police brutality are more likely to engage in urban gun crime. Police brutality, according to Brunson and Wade (2019), affects African-Americans' collective opinion that police are incapable of, or uncaring about, efficiently tackling violence in disadvantaged communities of color while seemingly always managing to safeguard the courageous majority. As a result, victims' relatives obtain firearms as part of their participation in condemning police wrongdoings under the guise of self-defense. As a result, police brutality discriminates against African American communities, increasing the desire for individuals to participate in gun violence, particularly in metropolitan regions where most crimes occur.
Theoretical Framework
The process of questioning the role of racism and race in society is known as critical race theory. The critical race theory criticizes how institutionalized racism and socially constructed of race perpetuate a racial status system that places people of color at the bottom of the food chain. According to critical race theory, racism is not a thing of the past (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). The idea recognizes that the legacies of discrimination, slavery, and the hardship of second-class citizenship on African Americans and other people of color remains in the social fabric of the United States.
The critical race theory addresses the topic of police brutality and its consequences for victims' families, bearing in mind that race is a socially created issue rather than a biological one. Racism is an issue, according to critical race theory, that is institutionalized in legislation and incorporated in structural and governmental policies. As a result, entrenched racism and some governmental policies are to blame for disproportionately high incidence of police violence against African Americans.
The critical race theory serves as a theoretical framework for understanding the high incidence of police brutality, particularly against Black males. The negative perceptions thrown at Black males create a climate that allows law enforcement officers to justify homicides and violence against that demographic. The notion of White Supremacy and how it has expanded police violence towards the African and African American people are explained by critical race theory. The theory describes the history of racism as well as its role in current racism and oppression of minorities (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). The history of racism, as presented by critical race theory, illustrates how racism progresses, citing examples such as how Black men were formerly lynched owing to ethnic stereotypes, and how Black men are now disproportionately victims of police brutality.
The retributive theory of punishment is another theory that might be used in this investigation. The retributive theory of punishment, developed and elaborated by Hart (1967), states that criminals in society must be punished for their wrongdoings to prevent them from committing similar or even different crimes in the future. Proponents of this idea also argue that the harshness of punishment should be proportional to the seriousness of the offense. The study is anchored by three main tenets of this theory: a person may be punished only if he or she has knowingly and willingly committed the offence, the suitable punishment must be comparable to the gravity of the offence, and the rationale for punishment is the moral uprightness of returning anguish for knowingly and willingly committed immorality (Bedau, 1978). As a result, police violence might be seen as a proportional response to the failure to provide justice for crimes committed during the disturbance. From the perspective of the victims' families, the motivation behind police brutality is to dissuade law enforcement from engaging in similar acts in the future since their actions have a negative impact.
Research Methods
The structure or design that a researcher plans to use in a study to gather, analyze, and evaluate data is referred to as research design, and it is a critical component of the overall research effort (Bernard & Bernard, 2012). This study will use descriptive research, particularly the survey method to provide the answer to the research questions, to explain the relationship between dependent variable (signified by causes and effects of police officers' use of excessive use of force and nonviolent alternatives) and racial bias suppression and provide additional insight into the area under study. The study will provide a descriptive analysis of the information based on the information provided by the study’s participants on the questions asked. This would be a qualitative study with a similar experiment, with a consistent understanding of how families of victims of police brutality cope with witnessing their loved one hurt physically or emotionally or killed by law enforcement officials. The study would employ the phenomenological technique, which aims to comprehend and make sense of people's experiences. This study aims to learn more about the perspectives of families whose loved ones have been killed or injured by police officers because of police brutality. The qualitative approach is critical for obtaining data that convey information on respondents' (victims' families) values and views about the study issue, as well as how those values and insights influences their behavior.
Sources of Data
The participants themselves, as well as reading materials on the same topic and issue statement, would be the primary sources of data. The literature items would be arranged according to their timeliness and data presentation. The literary materials would supplement the information gained from the phenomenological inquiry. The research will look at empirical studies and other related literature to figure out what causes police brutality and how it affects victims' families.
Limitation, Challenges, or Barriers
The major challenge in conducting this study is that victims' relatives may be hesitant to share details about how they have dealt with the fact that their loved one was harmed or murdered by individuals who were meant to protect them. The apprehension might stem from a fear of becoming a target for the criminals, who would like their identities not to be known (Bryant-Davis, T., Adams et al., 2017). Families may also be hesitant because they don't want to repeat their darkest nightmares as they describe seeing their loved ones in agony or dying. For fear of repercussions from law enforcement, the victims' family may be hesitant to be honest with the facts they provide. Families may also be hesitant to respond because of the trauma they are still experiencing because of losing a loved one, or some may be mentally damaged by the incidents.
Aligned Research Study
The social topic of how police violence impacts victims' relatives is addressed in this study problem statement. The issue statement is founded on the dominant group's long-held belief in superiority, which devalues other individuals, therefore serving as a justifier for law enforcement activities that have varying repercussions on victims' families. It also corresponds to the research methodology, which is a phenomenological investigation. The goal of phenomenology research is to explain and comprehend human experiences. The study problem, which is the consequences of police violence on victims' families, is likewise aligned with the research question.
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