Sociology: Police Violence
The article selected for this discussion is titled; A stacked deck: How police forces get away with killing more than 1,000 Americans a year. (https://www.yahoo.com/news/stacked-deck-police-forces-away-145846821.html). The article is based on a significant issue in our society today, addressing police brutality and how they manage to get away with the crime. According to the article, police kill at an average of 100 people in a year. However, since a different system of legal rules governs the police, they can get away with murder through prosecutorial discretion. Another important point from the article is that police brutality is racialized, and therefore justice does not apply to the racially discriminated people. With a compelling real-life story of how police get away with murder, Scher (2020) demonstrates some of the ways that they get away with murder, such as through favor from the legal system, prosecutors’ failure to try the case, and special privileges from civil lawsuits.
This article is a significant representation of the discussions available in the module content in the sense that it is a social phenomenon that needs to be practically addressed in the real world. Because there are no standards that help keep police officers accountable, I believe this makes the laws biased. Therefore the state should come up with strict rules requiring police officers to adhere to the law and avoid the high number of deaths resulting from police brutality. Further, because police brutality is racialized, I believe there are ways to come up with laws that protect the racial minorities and ensure that they are protected from police violence. These and other strategies can be efficient in providing social justice in our societies and thus reduce the evident demonstrations and increased deaths.
Reference
Scher I. (2020). A stacked deck: How police forces get away with killing more than 1,000 Americans a year. Retrieved from https://www.insider.com/how-police-allowed-to-kill-americans-laws-2020-6