Research Paper: Police and social injustice for black people

Literature Review

Crime is part of the societies and it can be done by any person. Anyone who is convicted should be punished for his/her crimes. However, justice should be served without any discrimination. When there is social injustice in the societies, it also affects the respect of the law enforcement institutions. Social injustice also affects the way of police behave with distinction for white and black people. Police discrimination based on color is really an important issue, which needs to be addressed. Discrimination between white and black people regarding crime and suspecting is often seen in police department.  This is a form of social injustice and needs to be addressed. Social class, creed, ethnicity as well as gender should not influence judgment procedures. When social injustice prevails in the societies, it also affects the whole structure of the society in a positive manner.

It has come to the notice of the general public in the recent years that the police has been using excessive force in matters that can be handled with les force. This use of excessive force has not only bad effects on the community but also it creates a rift between the police and the communities. Mostly the black community has been complaining that they have been at the receiving end of the unjust behavior of the police force who are predominantly whites and the judicial system. Research has suggested that 92% of black Americans think that in the criminal trials that involve blacks to be the convicted of come crime, the juries give an unjustified decision on the behalf of the black community (Son, Tsang, Rome and Davis 1997). This statistics is an eye opener and it asks for more research to be done to find statistical data where there are real mishaps and what the ways in which the black community can restore the level of trust on the judicial and the police system.

There has been cases where the police have used excessive force. The police need to be more trained and able to be free of biases when they are dealing with situations where a member of a black community is involved. There are situations where the biased and stereotypical thinking of police has caused problems when they have assumed that the person they are dealing with, in most cases a black American, is a criminal but the investigations done after have proven otherwise (Hurst, Frank, and Browning 2000). On the part of the black community, there is a trust deficit and this might cause them to overreact to situations where they have to deal with police.

A research carried out by Smith (2004) suggests that data and statistics about risk structural and organizational predictors of homicide by police are insufficient. Police need to reveal actual statistics. The policies and organizational structural activities of the police departments also needs reforms so that they can treat all the residents in an equal way and there is transparency and openness in their investigations and departmental inquires dealing criticism related to the conduct of the police officers.

There is a greater need to change policies in relation to reinforcement of the ethical and social standards of the police force. It has been suggested by researches that the negative attitude by the police force initiates a biasness towards the black community (Renauer and Covelli 2011). The research firther suggests that the major considerations towards the police citizen community and ethical decision in reinforcing policies of government.  The perception of public in law enforcement institutions has great ramification related to legitimacy of social and police control in general.

There could be organizational trainings that would ensure that the police has the mental capacity to deal tense situations where they have to make quick decisions. These trainings can involve a community based environment where the police has to be put in real time scenarios. This would help the police get an opportunity to work directly with the different members of the community and learn about different cultures and sub cultures. They well learn to know about the grievances of different segments of the community.

The issues though that has been severely felt by black communities is the brutal dealing of black juvenile by white police officers. The strategies that can be incorporated to limit a violent interaction of black juvenile with the police offices not only requires a responsible behavior on the part of the police officers, but also the black community has to come forward and play their role. Juvenile criminal activity has to be addressed with a full cooperation and participation by the community in the form that the juvenile offenders should be redirected to community agencies based in the black neighborhoods where these juveniles should be worked with to prevent further problematic behavior (Binder and Newkirk 1977).

Community awareness programs are also necessary. These programs will allow the black and other communities to learn to deal with police. These awareness programs can let the community know that the police are here to help and in order to function fruitfully, they need the support of different communities. Community policing is another part of solution. Research done by Somerville (2009) suggests that the role of community policing in the socity to reduce social injustice. Community policing involves people and inclusion of people is a good idea to eliminate discrimination which is prevailing in police system in the country. Both Black and white peole will be beneficiaries.

Research Design

Research Question: How do instances of police violence effect the level of trust in African American   community?

We choose a descriptive research design for my research paper about Police and social injustice for black people. Recently Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old African American boy was shoot and killed for playing with a toy gun at a park in Cleveland, Ohio by two white officers. In our research We would like to interview African American people from the community, to inquire what their reaction is to the incident that happened at Cleveland? We would also inquire about how this incident has changed their lives as a community. We  would also ask the black community about their suggestion of how the situation can be improved. Our purpose and goal would be to engage the black community with responsibility and respect.

The reason for including these questions is because we really need to know about the actual problems that the black community think exists in their relation to the predominantly white police force and why in their opinion. We would also investigate the affects of such incidents on the people of the black community as individuals as well as a community. The severity of the effects will be investigated by asking about different levels that their lives have been affected and how they find it hard to face a white police officer in public or private. We would inquire about what are the suggestions that the black community can provide to help the law enforcing agencies and other social work organization to make the situation better. These suggestions will allow us to know about different patterns of behaviors that the black community has when they face a police officers and what is the behavior of the officer towards them. We would also investigate the expectations of the black community about regarding how they want to be treated in public an private by the police forces.

We believe that interviewing is the best option that would allow us to reach out to the black community and learn about their grievances in person instead of using third party information that might have deficiencies in it that could adversely affect the outcomes of our research. These interviews would let us acquires information that is the real representation of the feelings and emotions of the black community. Interview is a tool that provides an opportunity to the researcher to go in as much depth as possible. The respondent has the freedom to provide information in their own words that can then be organized with data organization techniques to draw meaningful inferences.

Our target audience is African American students in Marymount who are at least 18 years of age. A consent form will be presented to them to Informa them about the confidentiality of the data that will be collected and their rights withdraw from the study at any time. They will also be informed about the issues related to the dissemination of the research results. The names of the students participating in the research will be kept confidential.

We would deal the ethical issues related to the participants with utmost responsibility. We will make sure that the participation is fully voluntary and no one is unduly influenced to participate. We would encourage the participants to read the informed consent to know their rights. the information collected will be kept in full confidentiality and if requested by any participants, the information will be destroyed about their interview. No harm would be done what so ever in any form i.e. physically or psychologically to any one during the process of this research. Other ethical issues that arise in the process of conducting this research will be take care of with full responsibility.