African Americans Suffer the Most From Police Brutality

Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, Conflict defines police brutality as the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police against the public. Excessive force is explained to be any behavior or force beyond what is reasonably necessary in order to control a situation. It is a common misnomer that people believe some police use excessive force more often than not. What’s more concerning is most of the time people believe that this excessive force is usually focused upon the African American men, women, and children. This misnomer is typically found to be found in city settings where the population consists of mostly African Americans. The population make up causes the common belief to seem more true than it may otherwise appear.†¦show more content†¦Even if they prove to be wrong after all is finished police in the heat of the moment have the intentions of helping people not killing an innocent person. Based on the information that Fitzgerald portrays in her book it is easy to infer that she believes major improvements have been made on the topic of Police Brutality. Sheila Fitzgerald is a published author and an editor of young adult books. Published credits of Sheila Fitzgerald include Violence and Police Brutality both of which part of the Opposing Viewpoints series. Chevigny, P. â€Å"Police Brutality. â€Å"Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, Conflict† . Vol.2 (2008:1612–1621) In the â€Å"Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and conflict† the author discusses how many uses of force by the police cannot be labeled police brutality or excessive force. This is because in the line of duty police may need to utilize the use of force out of necessity. The author continues by stating that police officers in society today commonly have to use power against its citizens for reasons in everyday police work or in order to maintain control over certain circumstances. 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