From the early days of slavery, through segregation during the fight for civil rights to the seemingly recent gain in officer involved shootings, which may be attributed to advancements in technology, African Americans have a long history of experiencing police brutality in America. The rise of social media coupled with new technologies allow us to view many of these incidents for ourselves, often causing social unrest amongst other issues in many minority communities.
However, many fail to realize that this violence may have a lasting negative effect, particularly for young adults and may even affect the way in which they view the police. Youth are negatively affected by the violence within African American communities and the negative effects stemming from this violence ranges from depression, anxiety, social issues, PTSD and educational issues. The high rise of violence can be traumatizing to young adults and may cause them to engage in violence or become victims themselves.
Since the turn of the decade police brutality seems to have risen to its highest numbers in years. Although, a long part of the American landscape, there has never quite been an official record taken to document these incidents. Unfortunately, much of the police brutality which exists in America stems from prejudice and discrimination against minorities as well as an individual’s own struggle for power. Statement of the Problem This research is important and should be completed because African Americans continue to be victims of violence at the hand of police officers and the effects of the violence they must ndure is seldom treated. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders found that due to excessive racism and violence, African Americans are more likely to experience PTSD than any other racial group. Additionally, there have been thousands of deaths by police officers over the years with only a fraction of these being reported due to law enforcement agencies not being being required by federal law to report the number of deaths while in custody.
Fortunately, Congress passed the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 which constitutes that law enforcement agencies must report the death of any person who: (1) is detained or arrested by any officer of such agency (or by any state or local law enforcement officer for purposes of a federal law enforcement operation); or (2) is en route to be incarcerated or detained, or is incarcerated or detained, at any federal correctional facility or federal pretrial detention facility located within the United States or any other facility pursuant to a contract with or used by such agency.
By examining the history of police brutality in America as well as the recent rash of officer involved shootings of African Americans I attempt to determine the trends of police brutality in America while advancing current knowledge in the field by identifying how exposure to police violence affects the youth of African American communities as well as how those effects can be prevented. Research Question/Hypothesis For the purpose of this study, the following questions were addressed: Based on the Critical Race Theory, what is the effect of police brutality and/or exposure to police brutality on African American youth?
In addition, what treatments, if any do these youth receive to help them cope with the effects? Does police brutality affect African Americans general perception towards police officers? As part of this study, investigation included two research hypotheses: African American youth exposed to police brutality, when left untreated can encourage psychological effects and violent behavior that may persist well into adulthood. Police brutality towards African Americans may cause African Americans to be distrusting of police officers.
Theoretical Framework By using the Critical Race Theory as a reference to examine the Afrocentric and Conflict paradigms in African American young adults who are exposed to police brutality or themselves victims, I attempt to determine if there are negative effects which loom from the violence. To answer these questions. examine findings provided by The Counted, a database created by the newspaper The Guardian to track the number of individuals killed by the police in the United States, as there is currently no official government record.
Additionally, I will be conducting a survey aimed to examine how African Americans generally perceive police officers, and the role race and racism has helped to narrate the conversation. brutality, and any symptoms one may exhibit as an effect of said exposure. In doing so I aim to determine if young adults are negatively affected by exposure to police brutality and if so how they are medically treated. Methodology The methodology involved in this study contains two steps: The first step was to examine the statistical findings presented by the Guardian’s “The Counted” database.
The second step involved testing participants using an online anonymous survey study design containing twenty questions. The questions contained both nominal and ordinal measures related to the participants ethnicity, level of exposure to police violence, treatment for exposure to violence and levels of trust toward police officers. Data will be collected and analyzed from completed surveys using Likert scaling for answer choices. Special attention will be given to describing and differentiating between the levels of exposure to police brutality.
Using the Raosoft sample size calculator, with a total population size of 100, my sample size is 80. Utilizing the non-probability sampling technique, for the sake of eliminating bias, only participants of African American descent were utilized in this study. The data analysis includes quantitative data analyzed through numerical comparisons and statistical inferences. Definition of Terms/ Concepts Afrocentric Paradigm – A theoretical framework to be used to examine and self-consciously advance African people in every sector of society.
Conflict Paradigm – A conceptual framework that sees society as an arena of inequality that creates conflict. Critical Race Theory – A theory which guides the production of knowledge about race, racism and action geared toward racial inequality. Likert Scale – A survey question format containing multiple response options that are anchored by the terms strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree and strongly agree. Literature Review
Racism and Discrimination According to Marrell, racism can best be described as a system of dominance power and privilege based on racial group segregations and rooted in the historical oppression of a group defined or perceived by dominant group members as inferior, deviant, or undesirable. Discrimination on the other hand is described as “behaviors aimed at denying members of particular ethnic groups equal access to societal rewards”, according to Marger.
Defining these terms is important as they both form the basis of discriminatory and racist practices of police officers in America. These same practices have been present in America since the first Africans were forced to come to America years ago and have persisted, in one form or another ever since. For instance, the beating of Rodney King and the killing of Amadou Diallo in the early 1990s set off a series of riots in the United States that are being mirrored to this day with the shootings of Michael Brown and death of Freddie Gray while in police custody.
The many tragic deaths of African Americans at the hands of police officers in recent years has reignited a longstanding debate on the topic of race and policing in America. With many high profile deaths including Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland and Laquan McDonald to name a few, African Americans nationwide are left wondering who is supposed to serve and protect us if our people are dying at the hands of those tasked with doing the job.
While many attribute these acts of violence as simply being racially motivated, Carbado and Rock offer several reasons for African Americans high exposure to police violence. Their reasons include incarceration, assertion of one’s rights, often mislabeled as “resistance”, and police insecurities including physical safety and social dominance threats. Since racial and housing discrimination tend to congregate African Americans and minorities into urban areas with little to no resources, many of these neighborhoods tend to have higher crime rates.
One of the main tenants in policing is to provide additional patrols in high crime areas, resulting in more interactions between police officers and African Americans and other minorities. Unsurprisingly, African Americans are seemingly distrusting of police officers and many fear for their lives when pulled over by police for something as routine as a traffic stop, as was the case when Walter Scott was shot in the back and killed by a police officer during for a routine incident.
Historically, White people have viewed African American people, men in particular as the quintessential criminal. Oliver’s research suggests “that the manner in which viewers mistakenly remember race and crime information can result in a heightened probability that any black man can be mistakenly identified as criminal. ” In fact, the findings from a study performed by Uzogara indicate that the skin tone of African American men make a difference in the way they are treated by Caucasian people.
For instance, they found that “light-skinned men consistently perceived the best treatment from Whites, while dark skinned men consistently perceived the worst treatment. ” Violence within African American communities has been an ongoing issue for many years, which due to the advent of technology has become more apparent in our society. However, many fail to realize that this violence has a lasting negative effect, particularly for young adults. This issue is important because African Americans continue to be marginalized and the effects of the violence they must endure is seldom treated.
Although violence is a poor behavior, it is experienced by people of all communities at some point. Unfortunately for African Americans and other minorities the exposure and effects of violence are even more prevalent. In the article, “Effects of Crime and Violence in Neighborhoods and Schools on the School behavior and Performance of Adolescents”, the authors found that males, African Americans, high school students, school lunch recipients, and urban students reported higher exposure to environmental danger.
Unfortunately, it is also these same communities which often lack the required resources needed for help them to successfully cope with these situations, resulting in underlying issues which may persist well into adulthood. According to the journal article, “African-American Youth and Exposure to Community Violence: Supporting Change from the Inside”, there are a series of high level stressors particular to African Americans, they include: exposure to violence, a lack of coping strategies and adult support for handling violence.
