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An Examination of Police Brutality And Its Impact on Victim Families

Jamisha Riddick

WaldenU

Title: An Examination of Police Brutality And Its Impact on Victim Families

Social Problem

Police brutality not only has negative effects on the victims themselves because the victims’ families are also affected by it. Police violence leads to mental health issues and sometimes death to the victims and this in turn affects their families. It is estimated that since 2015, a total of more than 1000 people is killed annually by the police and this is per the information given by the Mapping Police Violence project. Police brutality has been labelled a public health issue because it affects an indicator of population health, life expectancy, because it reduces life expectancy, causes death, and increases death rates of populations.

Gaps in Literature

Limited researches have been conducted to determine how police brutality affects the victims’ families and to what extent does it affect them. Research shows that police brutality is linked to the development of mental health issues later. Police violence causes either death or physical and emotional injury to people how directly experience it. Communities are also affected mentally, by high profile incidents of police violence. For family members and friends to see how their loved one are injured or killed under unexpected and unexplained circumstances can be terrifying. For African American victims of police brutality, the incidents may trigger the reminder of how it mirrors the period of slave patrol and enslavement thereby triggering negative thoughts. Furthermore, feelings of anxiety, overthinking and depression may ensure among family members of victims of police brutality.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper it to examine the effects of police brutality on victims’ families. It aims at forming a connection between police brutality and its economic, psychological, and emotional impact on the well-being of victims’ families. The research would study how the families of police brutality coped with seeing their family member injured or killed by law enforcement officers. The research would attempt to provide more insights on what has already been researched about the impact of police brutality on the mental, social, psychological, and emotional well-being of victims’ families.

Significance

This research on the effects of police brutality on victims’ families will supplement the already existing but limited research on the same. This research would provide professionals in the criminal justice system on the extent to which the issue of police brutality is affecting the community keeping in mind that families are the smallest units that make up communities. This research would provide information on how the issue of police brutality is a threat to population health because it increases chances of death, reduces life expectancy, and increases rates of mental health issues and emotional torture among people affiliated with victims of police brutality.

The significance of this research aligns with the problem statement because issues such as mental and physical health of victims of police brutality and their families have continued to deteriorate and this poses a public health risk. The alarming rate with which incidents of police brutality continue to increase poses a great population health risk and it is important that stakeholders in the criminal justice system are made aware of its dangers so that they can work of ways to reduce it and to punish perpetrators. The findings of this research can be used to present evidence of how the issue of police brutality is affecting families and consequently the society, to ensure that proper measures are put in place to protect people from police violence.

Background

The main keywords used to search for materials on the topic, ‘effects of police violence on victims’ families’ on online databases included mental health, social status, economic status, police violence, victim’s families, well-being, and psychological health. The online databases included those of different criminal justice departments across the United States and SAGE journals.

1. Miller & Vittrup (2020) provides information on both the direct and indirect impact of police and racial bias on the families of African American victims.

2. Bryant‐Davis et al., 2017 discusses about police brutality on racial and ethnic minorities and its effects on the families and communities of the said population.

3. Brunson & Wade (2019) talks of how the police find it hard to gain the cooperation of communities on investigations such as urban gun violence. The article suggests that the reason for this may be because of how most communities have been direct and indirect victims of the effects of police brutality and that is why they do not trust them.

4. Alang et al., 2017 discusses about the effects of police brutality on the health of African Americans who happen to be the victims of police violence at disproportionate rates. This article provides insights that can be used by scholars in the sector of public health.

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical base for this study would be Aristotle’s causation theory. This theory addresses how two temporary and successive events with the first one being the cause bringing the other event which is the effect. This theory states that the occurrence of one variable given X, leads to another variable Y meaning that C is always conjoined to Y. This theory provides more insights as to why and how police brutality affects the victims’ families as well. This theory proposes that there is a relationship between incidents of police brutality and how families of the affected adjust their lives to cope with the situations.

Research Questions

The main research question that led to this study was: How are families of victims of police brutality affected by the incidents both directly and indirectly? I also used the subsequent two sub-questions to aid in responding to the main research question:

The hypotheses would be as follows:

1. How does your exterior appearance regarding apparel you have on influence your interaction with law enforcement?

2. What roles does your social class play in the effect of the type of police service you receive while being detained?

Research Methods

The nature of this study would be qualitative research with a repeated measure design with consistent comprehension of how families of victims of police brutality cope with seeing their loved one injured either physically or emotionally or killed in the hands of law enforcement agents. To find more precise insights on this, the families of the victims of police brutality would be examined within a specified period of time to observe if there are any changes in either their mental, emotional, social and economic status after the incident involving their loved one. The research would use the phenomenological method which attempts to understand and make sense of the meanings of experiences of people. This research attempts to understand the experiences of families who have had their family members either killed or injured by police officers through police violence.

Sources of Data

The main sources of data would be the participants themselves and literature materials on the same topic and problem statement. The literature materials would be sorted according to relevance in terms of time and data presented. Data presented since 2010 were considered. The literature materials would serve to supplement the information gathered from the phenomenological research.

Limitations, Challenges, or Barriers

The main challenge associated with conducting this research is that victims’ families may be reluctant to provide any information on how they have been forced to cope with the idea that their loved one was either injured or killed by people who were supposed to protect them. The reluctance could be from the fear of being a target for the perpetrators who would not want their identities revealed. Families may also be reluctant because they would not like to relive their worst nightmare as they recounted their experiences of seeing their loved on in pain or dead.

Aligned Research Study

This research’s problem statement aligns with the social problem which is how police brutality affects victims’ families. It also aligns with the research method which is phenomenological study. The phenomenological study seeks to explain and gain understanding of human experiences. The research questions also align with the research problem which is effects of police brutality of victims’ families. This research study consisted of a phenomenological research design in which 5 families were interviewed to gain knowledge on their interactions and experiences involving law enforcement and their excessive force on their loved ones. The qualitative data that I sampled from these interviews were examined, organized, and coded to detect patterns or themes that occurred and gain a greater understanding of the impact of police brutality has on victims’ families.

References

Alang, S., McAlpine, D., McCreedy, E., & Hardeman, R. (2017). Police brutality and black health: setting the agenda for public health scholars. American journal of public health, 107(5), 662-665.

Brunson, R. K., & Wade, B. A. (2019). “Oh, hell no, we don't talk to police” Insights on the lack of cooperation in police investigations of urban gun violence. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(3), 623-648.

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.

Miller, C., & Vittrup, B. (2020). The indirect effects of police racial bias on African American families. Journal of Family Issues, 41(10), 1699-1722.