User:Ramanit/class notes

I believe that there needs to be a change in the way that police are being punished (if even) when they act out on what they deem to be dangerous to them. Within these past years, there have been way to many incidents where innocent lives have been taken, and the police are not even being punished for their actions. To my chosen article of Police Brutality in the United States, I believe that I can add a different perspective that the ideas that are being portrayed now. Along with a different perspective, I also will add more relevant stories that should not be ignored. I truly believe that these policemen are making any little thing try to be seen as "self defense" because they believe this is what will get them out of trouble. They wont stop, and change their wrong actions until America continues to speak up, and not just let this get swept under the rug. Yes all lives matter, and no persons life should be taken for no reason.. but at this point in time, I believe that black lives matter and this is what needs to focused on in. Something needs to change, because enough is enough. With just a few clicks on the internet, I quickly found how many innocent black lives were taken. The Mapping Police reported that in 2016 at least 309 lives were taken.

• https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/
• http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-losing-battle-police-brutality-america-article-1.3266056
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/long-painful-history-police-brutality-in-the-us-180964098/
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Police-Brutality-in-the-United-States-2064580

Warren, Patricia Y. “Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform (Review).” Social Forces, Oxford University Press, 11 Feb. 2009, muse.jhu.edu/article/259292. Main Argument:

• Weitzer and Tuch, present the different research that has been found. There are differences in police behavior while encountering different races, as well as different surveys that have been conducted.
• Basic Points
• Race determines the polices attitude
• Little is known about other ethnicity encounters with police
• Expected to hold different views because of social and economic status
• Crime that takes place in minority communities, are often supported by whites.

Evidence:

• "Criminological research has repeatedly shown that race is a consistent predictor of attitudes toward the police."
• "Specifically, the coercive crime-control practices that take place in minority communities are often supported by whites because black and Hispanic citizens represent a criminal threat to the larger social order."
• "For example, white, black and Hispanic citizens are expected to hold different views of police because their social, economic and material interests are in conflict with one another."

What will I contribute?

I will be contributing to the article titled, "Police Brutality in the United States". Already discussed in the article is what police brutality is and when and where it first came about. Also some possible solutions are proposed to decrease the amount of crime that is being enacted. I will continue to speak on what is legal and what is not when pertaining to finding ways to put an halt to this. Also, I will add more recent cases only to emphasize the importance and relevance of the issue. I will also discuss why I think police brutality has become a problem. What begin happening in society that sparked this anger that has seem to become evident in police across America.

• “25 Ways to Stop Police Brutality.” LA Progressive, Dick and Sharon's LA Progressive , 18 Oct. 2016, www.laprogressive.com/stop-police-brutality/.
• Zakcheneyrice. “15 Things Your City Can Do Right Now to End Police Brutality.” Mic, Mic Network Inc., 25 Oct. 2015, mic.com/articles/121572/15-things-your-city-can-do-right-now-to-end-police-brutality#.dkPd7CcTd.
• Self, Alex. “A Vicious Cycle: The System Behind Police Brutality.” Harvard Civil RightsCivil Liberties Law Review, Harvard Civil Rights , 7 Dec. 2014, harvardcrcl.org/a-vicious-cycle-the-system-behind-police-brutality/.
• Wihbey , John. “Excessive or Reasonable Force by Police? Research on Law Enforcement and Racial Conflict.” Journalist's Resource, Harvard Kennedy School , 4 Jan. 2017, journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics.

Intro - What is police brutality? Where did it come about? Is it legal?

Body Paragraphs - How will we make changes? (I know this is already here, but it is briefly touched on. I will go more in depth because change is essential.) What caused this to be an issue? Reference and add more recent situations. References to Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland. How has Donald Trump influenced changes currently happening.

Conclusion - Why do we need to make changes? What can be offered now to family members who have lost loved ones due to this crime? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ramanit (talk

What is missing from the existing article?

This article has a lot of pertinent information, but I feel like more recent additions will be helpful to the article.

New Entries

1. How is Donald Trump affecting the changes? Donald Trump spoke in front of NYPD and said "get them". Having a "leader" who is agreeing upon acts such as police brutality will only make citizens feels as if it is appropriate to act in such way. If the president will allow such to be done with minimum to no consequences then people will really think it is okay.
2. What should be done in efforts to decrease incidents? Accountability amongst both parties will be helpful to ensure incidents decrease eventually over time.
3. How should police be trained? Police should have to go through more mental training than physical. It does not take much to get through the police academy. If you become a police this allows you to be in the streets at all times with a gun and other fire arms.
4. How should police be punished? The policeman are not superior to citizens, therefore if a crime was committed jail time should be served based on the offense.
5. What will there consequences be? Police should be punished based off of the situation, just as regular citizens do through the criminal justice system.
6. What are some recent cases that can be referred to? Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland. Trayvon was a teenager walking in the neighborhood, who was killed by a police officer. While Sandra was killed in a jail cell. She got pulled over due to not putting on her signal and died in police custody.
7. What can citizens to to be proactive about getting in predicaments? Listen to what the police officer has to say, and be respectful and compliant. Many police say they acted the way they did because they felt as if their life was in danger. If the citizens also take accountability for their actions, everyone will be easily held responsible.
8. What prompted all of this to begin? When Barack Obama became president in 2008, is when I believe the negative change begin to happen in America.  Never will I blame Obama, but only will I be grateful for him running for office and successfully winning. I am certain that him winning the election only intimidated citizens who have always believed themselves to be superior.
9. How will generations to come be affected or different than now? America has to make the changes where they see fit. The power is in the people and nothing happens by mistake.
10. Why should we care? As American citizens we should care about things that affect us and our everyday lives, and the way we live.

Respond to your peer review

I got feedback from my peer Elge Stevens on my rough draft. I am being really receptive to his feedback as it is helping me better my piece of work. He suggested that I be more formal with my writing. I agree with this as when I was writing, I even thought that I was being too informal. I recognize that this is a Wikipedia entry and I should definitely be more neutral with my writing. This way, more people will find my entry more appealing and actually read it and get find it useful. I just would like to say that to me this is definitely a challenge since my topic is something so recent that I actually see happening.