Major Assignment 1: Developing a Research Topic for a Qualitative Research Study

Running head: POLICE BRUTALITY 1

POLICE BRUTALITY 2

Police Brutality

Jamisha Riddick

RSCH 8310

Dr. J. Ozymy

12/22/2020

Police Brutality

Problem Statement

Police brutality perpetrated by law enforcement is a global societal issue which has gained a lot of international recognition in the past (Bryant-Davis et al., 2017). Notably, while political brutality is not a new phenomenon, it has provoked significant public responsiveness both in history as well as more recently during the murder of George Floyd which sparked nation-wide protests police brutality. The violence as meted out by police is often considered to be excessively borne by the ethnic minority than the larger public. This is even though some of the violence is “justified” or “protected in policy.” Police violence is defined widely to include the fatalities resulting from corporeal injury as well as disproportionate and often non-fatal injuries (Duke & Kahn, 2017). Additionally, it also includes maltreatment which consequently leads to psychological injury. On the other hand, ethnic minorities are individuals who, subject to social status of historical context, have been marginalized on the grounds of race or ethnicity.

Dukes & Kahn (2017), avers that the disproportionate use of actual force on the ethnic minorities ranged from low levels of force which is often non-lethal to the highest form of non-lethal force. Additionally, people of color have been identified as the group of people likely to experience not only threats, but also the real use of all forms of violence during their relations with the law enforcement officers. It is also pertinent to note that with respect to fatal encounters, that the probability of young minority men to die at the hands of the police in the United States is very high, for example, the period between 2015 and 2016 evidenced the death of up to four hundred and five unnamed individuals who were murdered by the police. Thirty percent of these individuals were African American (Duke & Kahn, 2017).

Jeffries and Jeffries (2017) by employing the Marxist as well as Critical Race Theory Frameworks have question codified culture which has been instrumental in the crushing of expressions modes through the individual restraint which has hindered progress for Black males within the American Society. The frame of reference on all aspects of life engineered from a consumerist point of view has contributed to negative stereotypes that explain the proliferation of brutal treatment of ethnic minorities by the police and society as based on a Marxist materialist frame in the analysis of the economic and political policies as a consequence of capitalism (Jeffries & Jeffries, 2017). A capital society creates the idea of culture as a common denominator while culture is different and peculiar. Police brutality occurs as a result of police officers possessing privileged as well as assuming that their actions are justified considering that they have been tasked to serve the community under oath. This is protected by a “blue code of silence,” where police officers consider taking property and money illegally as more unethical, when compared with the use of force with a suspect (Bryant-Davis et al., 2017). Subject to this, other police officers are less likely to report such. The effects of the use of force have been noted to result to psychological trauma.

This issue has sparked serious conversation among lobbyist groups which have continued to proselytize for the rights of black men. However, there still lacks a consensus in the perception of the brutal acts of the police especially towards racial minorities.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the experience of police brutality in ethnic minorities and the differing perspectives of both ethnic minorities and majorities with respect to the same. This study will be important in highlighting the issue of police brutality as experienced by ethnic minorities. This will be enabled by the fact that police brutality is an issue that has been evidenced by nearly every individual who’s perceptive and experience totally differs from the others and the experience of racial majority also differs from that of racial minorities. Because it a widespread experience, individuals will form part of the primary data.

As one who has witnessed serious use of force against my friends as well as other individuals, especially during the protests early this year, I may be biased especially in the context of rights of ethnic minorities and performance of duty on the part of police officers. In this regard, therefore, the context provided by this experience offers a clear line of understanding on the issues that have been addressed as well as that which is yet to be addressed concerning police brutality. The setting of the study will be my neighborhood which is a mixed-race neighborhood and the potential source of data will be both the racial majorities that is Whites as well as racial minorities that is African Americans, Asians, Native Indians and Hispanic.

Research Question

What is the experience of police brutality in a mixed-race neighborhood?

Annotated Bibliography

Bryant‐Davis, T., Adams, T., Alejandre, A., & Gray, A. A. (2017). The trauma lens of police violence against racial and ethnic minorities. Journal of Social Issues, 73(4), 852-871. doi: 10.1111/josi.12251

Bryant-Davise et al., (2017) explore the question of police violence through the lens of psychological trauma and the effects that such have on individuals. By applying trauma theories to police violence, they have also sought to address the different ways through which ethnic and racial minorities have survived with and battled police violence.

Dukes, K. N., & Kahn, K. B. (2017). What social science research says about police violence against racial and ethnic minorities: Understanding the antecedents and consequences—an introduction. Journal of Social Issues, 73(4), 690-700.https:// doi: 10.1111/josi.12242

Dukes &Kahn(2017) delve into the study of a rather common phenomenon, the disproportionate police brutality against ethnic minorities. Through a review of previous research of the factors which have augmented these inconsistencies as well as the physical and mental consequences of the violence. It also offers policy recommendations from a multidisciplinary perspective on how to reduce this violence.

Jeffries, D., & Jeffries, R. (2017). Marxist materialism and critical race theory: A comparative analysis of media and cultural influence on the formation of stereotypes and proliferation of police brutality against black men. Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, 5(2), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.2979/spectrum.5.2.01

This article approaches the question of police violence from a theoretical perspective using Marxist and Critical Race Theory Frameworks to question codified culture. The article further explains how the different manners of expressions are crumpled by the restriction of individuals and through the absence of variance which impedes the progress of black men.

INSTRUCTOR FEEDBACK

Great work Jamisha, I want to see you flush out the RQs and tell me how they connect to your purpose and problem and make sure all those points are a bit better aligned, but otherwise great job!@

Rubric Week 4

Problem Statement

The PS should convey a problem or GAP in the literature. You should work to show exactly how this is a problem or GAP that is unknown to research. Work your way broadly to the specific sub-area of which you are interested. The PS is easily identified as it can start: “It is not known.”

Make sure you are clear about how the problem fits within the scholarly literature and then you narrow or whittle this section down to what is unknown or the GAP becomes clear. Make sure the language sets you up for the purpose 100%

Purpose Statement

The PS should dovetail with the problem statement. This statement should explain how you will fill the GAP denoted by the problem statement. It should align or the language should be the same and convey a logical sequence. You need to set up a formal PS that corresponds to the purpose statement above

*Work here on your PS to explain where you will study this within what area and to explain the kind of study in detail, but see if you can be more specific within that area and with whom (Participants). The purpose of this ___study is to explore the relationship between A and B among X within this location.

*Be clear about the purpose and how it ties back, but needs to be centered in the literature and clear about how it answers the problem

Annotated Bibliography

This section must fully explain the basic idea and structure of the articles that are cited herein and have at least 3-5 sources. You can build this out more in the next paper as you refine your knowledge of the literature and the preciseness of your language for the key points-problem, purpose, RQs.

Research Questions

The research questions (RQs) align with the purpose statement. These are statements that express how you will pursue or explore the purpose statement.

Make sure in the final draft to develop statements that convey how you will study this, where, and make sure they align back to the purpose afterwards. Make sure to formally write them and explain how they fit/align in this manner.  

GRADE: (227/250)