Is police brutality justifiable in the United States Essay

Is police brutality justifiable in the United States - Essay Example The answer to this question is more complex than initially thought. Social media do an excellent persuasive job in misconstruing public opinion based on cases of justified excessive police force and cases where the force is questionable. This delicate issue in our society at the moment is sweeping our nation and dividing Americans by ethnic groups, depending on the victimization of each case that hits the news. A wide range of allegations on police brutality in the United States tend to give rise to broad discussions in public. As usual, there are two opposite points of view on the issue which are represented in the dichotomy â€Å"reasonable force vs. police brutality†. Representatives on both the sides rely greatly on what they get from the media coverage of events and not many of them refer to official surveys which can shed light upon the problem under discussion. Before addressing the above-mentioned research, it is necessary to give a clear definition of what reasonable force means though. As it is stated in legal papers, the police have a right to use a â€Å"reasonable force†. Overall, the law states clearly in what cases one can use a reasonable force. Among such circumstances are self-defense, defense of other people or property, lawful arrest and prevention of a crime. In fact, common citizens are also allowed to use force in these situations; the standards for police officers are higher though. In any case, the use of such force appears to be reasonable under given circumstances (Fitch 234-235). In other words, one, in this case, a police officer, must believe that the force he / she (still usually he) uses is justifiable and not excessive at the same time. To see how a serving police officer assesses a situation in which he might use force, how the police are taught, an interview has been conducted. The interviewee is a serving police officer who he asked not to give his name that is why he will be referred to