Final Project CJ 500
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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Political Science
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Dec 6, 2023
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Running Head: FINAL PROJECT
CJ-500 Final Project
Introduction:
In society we see one of the major criminal justice issues of excessive force. This criminal justice
issue is important to investigate due to how damaging this issue is for minority community
members. When excessive force is used by an officer it creates mental and physical injury along
with mistrust among community members on how they perceive and trust the officers. Excessive
force incidents have been around since the establishment of law enforcement in the United
States. Predominantly throughout history, minorities have seen the blunt end of this issue.
Excessive force can be defined as “situations where government officials legally entitled to use
force exceed the minimum amount necessary to diffuse an incident or to protect themselves or
others from harm” (Pantekoek, 2020).
Excessive force throughout history was met with little discipline or cultural change
within departments. One of the primary reasons that it is difficult to discipline or fire officers in
excessive force cases due to police unions. These unions “have set up drawn-out arbitration
processes that often reinstate officers who are fired for obvious breaches of conduct”. (Burrus,
2020). If officers continuously see no discipline for their actions, it directly affects community
perception and trust, which has been historically strained.
In order to draw us into understanding how long excessive force an issue has been we can
examine two historical cases. Such two cases are the protests at Kent State and civil rights
marches. For example, “members of the Ohio National Guard fired between 61 and 67 shots into
a crowd of unarmed anti-war protestors at Kent State University killing four students and
wounding nine others” (Krause, 2014). In 1965 at the Civil Rights march “state and local police
used billy clubs, whips, and tear gas to attach hundreds of civil rights protesters” (Calendar, n.d.).
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CJ-500 Final Project
Although these are just two cases, the list of excessive force incidents seems to go on forever.
Many excessive force incidents manifest onto single community members, sometimes resulting
in death such as Briana Taylor, George Floyd, and Isiah Murrietta-Golding. As technology has
progressed, communities are able to expose the critical issue of excessive force through video
recording and social media which allows community members to expose such un-ethical actions
of officers.
Issue Analysis:
One criminological theory that allows us to understand the issue of why excessive force takes
place can be seen through the frustration-aggression theory. This theory argues that aggression is
often a result of frustration. This theory was proposed by psychologists Doob, Dollard, Miller,
Mower, and Sears in the book titled
Frustration and Aggression
(Study, n.d.). Once this theory is
applied to law enforcement, it can be hypothesized that chronic stress that comes with police
work and the inability to respond to the actual sources of the stress can increase perception of
threat and the aggressiveness of the response to some perceived threats” (Griffin, 2003).
In recent years, Rich Morin brought forward research that coincides with the application
of the frustration-aggression theory. For example, a factor as to why officers may utilize
excessive force is seen through Morin’s research. It is shown that “about one-in-five police
officers nationally state that their job nearly always or often makes them feel angry and frustrated
feelings that are linked to more negative views towards the public” (Morin, 2017). However, in
those officer’s defense, it should be noted that just because an officer states they are more
frustrated and angrier does not mean they had or will utilize excessive force on community
members. Yet, it can be applied such feelings can lead to excessive force.
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CJ-500 Final Project
Excessive force can impact the criminal justice system including law enforcement
agencies, courts, and corrections. Excessive force cases lower public perception, specifically
minority community members. About “73% of African Americans in a survey were far more
likely to believe that law enforcement is too quick to use lethal force along with African
Americans and Hispanics being far less likely than white Americans to be confident in their
police departments ability to treat all racial groups equally” (Ekins, 2016). Minorities have a less
favorable view of law enforcement, this was identified in Lynne Peeples’s article, which aligns
with Erik Enkins statistics. Within Peeples’s article it points out “by one estimate, Black men are
2.5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police during their lifetime… Black people
who were fatally shot by police seemed to be twice as likely as white people to be unarmed”
(Peeples, 2020).
With this data, we can see how excessive force affects the minority general public. This
perception affects the criminal justice system as a whole. Officers’ actions allow minority
perception to negatively attach to the courts and corrections. If minorities do not believe that
police can be confident to treat minorities equal, why would they believe courts and corrections
are different? This creates biasness and the perception that the criminal justice system as a who is
corrupt.
Stakeholders of this critical issue would be the law enforcement agency itself. If one of
the agencies officers utilizes excessive force, the organization is now faced with the ethical
dilemma to discipline the officer or to let the situation go un noticed. Another key stakeholder of
the issue would be citizen who is stopped by the police. If the they become a victim of excessive
force, the individual stopped may have their life put in danger or suffer physical/mental injuries.
Citizens who experience excessive force from a law enforcement officer will have a less
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CJ-500 Final Project
favorable view towards the police in the future. Local policy makers can begin drafting policies
that combat excessive force, for example, increasing budgeting which will be explained in
greater detail in the recommendations portion of this brief.
We have seen existing strategies that have been implemented attempting to combat
excessive force. Minneapolis Police Department added the duty to intervene policy. This was
established to “either stop or attempt to stop another sworn employee when force is being
inappropriately applied or is no longer required” (Wbur, 2020). Another example of an existing
strategy addressing excessive force comes from the Baltimore Police Department. The
department has adopted the Ethical Policing Is Courageous (EPIC). The goal of EPIC is to
prevent officers from using excessive force. Some police departments in other parts of the
country have incorporated these initiatives.
The effectiveness of these policies can be examined by events that have happened
following the implementation of the policies.
Minneapolis’s duty to intervene policy was clearly
not used during the George Floyd case, which resulted in Floyds death. In Baltimore, EPIC was
not used either. “More than two dozen correctional officers in Baltimore were charged with using
excessive force on prisoners at state-operated jails” (CBS News, 2019). Even with these policies
in place, we continue to see cases of excessive force throughout the country including our
community.
As excessive force continues to be a problem in the United States, public officials will
continue to feel pressure from community members to intervene. Recently the momentum is led
by the notion to decrease funding for police departments. This has the impact to affect law
enforcement agencies and correction facilities. Minneapolis, Seattle, and Kansas City have been
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CJ-500 Final Project
taking steps to defund their departments. We must do the opposite in order to reduce the issue of
excessive force in our community.
Recommendations:
Throughout this brief we have been able to explore why excessive force is a critical issue in law
enforcement, as well as understanding why this is an issue for minority community members. In
order to combat this issue in our city, we must create solutions in order to eliminate the threat of
excessive force and regain minority confidence and trust in our city. The solution to this problem
can be identified by increasing police funding in our city. This solution will allow for body
cameras, specialized de-escalation and excessive force training, and personal health resources for
officers. Many will argue against the solution to increase police funding due to the current
climate to decrease funding, however this will only lead to increased excessive force complaints
due to the lack of resources to address this critical issue.
The frustration-aggression theory can be applied to the need to increase our police
funding. This theory implies that the chronic stress that comes with police duties and the inability
to respond to the actual source of stress can increase the perception of threats and the
aggressiveness of the response to some perceived threat (Griffin, 2003). With the frustration-
aggression theory applied, increasing police funding will allow for de-escalation and excessive
force training and personal health resources such as mental health initiatives which will assist
officers in reducing the chance of them utilizing excessive force due to the chronic stress they
deal with.
The immediate action that should be taken is drafting a budget which will increase
spending for the police department in our city. While this will require time to be implemented,
we can apply for body camera grants. An example of such grant for body cameras can come from
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CJ-500 Final Project
the Bureau of Justice Assistance that is part of the Department of Justice. In 2019 the Bureau of
Justice Assistance awarded 18 million dollars in competitive grants to state and local law
enforcement agencies (DOJ, 2019).
Long-term actions will include creating a new mission statement within our police
department. De-escalation and excessive force training, body cameras, and personal health
initiatives may go against the current culture of the department. It can even be argued that change
takes generations of new police officers to see real change. However, increasing police funding
for advanced training, body cameras, and personal health initiatives is a great immediate start.
We will need data to assess if the proposed solutions are successful in reducing excessive
force on the minority population in our city. I would request that we look at all of our excessive
force complaints from over the past 5 years and compare this data to the excessive force
complaints and incidents after we have implemented the proposed solutions. This will allow for
concrete evidence if such initiatives are making a difference in our community. I would also
pursue getting minority community members input as to how they view the proposed solutions
and ask if there are any other solutions we can include. Obtaining solutions from community
members which are the most affected by this critical issue will be valuable in reducing excessive
force.
References:
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Burrus, T. (2020). “Here’s why bad cops aren’t held accountable”. Accessed August 22, 2020.
Retrieved from
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/heres-why-bad-cops-
arent-held-accountable
Calendar. (n.d.). “Bloody Sunday: civil rights protestors brutally attacked in Selma”. Accessed
August 22, 2020. Retrieved from
https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/mar/7
CBS News. (2019). “25 jail officers in Baltimore charged with using excessive force at state
facilities”. Accessed July 19, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/baltimore-jail-charges-25-jail-officers-baltimore-
maryland-charged-with-using-excessive-force-2019-12-03/
Department of Justice. (2019). “Justice department awards $56 million to support law
enforcement health and safety”. Accessed August 22, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-awards-56-million-support-law-
enforcement-health-and-safety
Ekins, E. (2016). “Policing in America: Understanding Public Attitudes Towards the Police.
Results from a National Survey” Accessed July 18, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.cato.org/survey-reports/policing-america
Griffin, S. (2003). “Angry Aggression among Police Officers”. Accessed July 18, 2020.
Retrieved from
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Angry-Aggression-Among-
Police-Officers-Griffin-Bernard/07f3619b3460a1e2aa42491784cee7090b07c76e
Haseman, J. (2020). “Tracking protests across the USA in the wake of George Floyd’s death”.
Accessed August 22, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.usatoday.com/in-
depth/graphics/2020/06/03/map-protests-wake-george-floyds-death/5310149002/
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Krause, L. (2014). “Decades later, no justice for Kent State killings”. Accessed August 22, 2020.
Retrieved from
https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/decades-later-no-justice-kent-
state-killings
Matthews, T. (2019). “BJA body-warn cameras grants for FY 2019 announced”. Accessed
August 2, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.policeone.com/police-grants/articles/bja-
body-worn-camera-grants-for-fy-2019-announced-iOUqbdLt42mTVzXH/
Morin, R. (2017). “Roughly one-in five police frequently feel angry and frustrated on the job”.
Accessed August 2, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2017/03/09/roughly-one-in-five-police-frequently-feel-angry-and-frustrated-on-the-
job/
Pantekoek, K. (2020). “Excessive force and police brutality”. Accessed August 22, 2020.
Retrieved from
https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/excessive-force-and-
police-brutality.html#:~:text=Excessive%20force%20refers%20to%20situations,or
%20even%20during%20military%20operations.
Peeples, L. (2020). “What the data says about police brutality and racial bias and which reforms
might work”. Accessed August 22, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01846-z
Study.com (n.d.) “Frustration-Aggression Theory: Definition & Principle”. Accessed July 18,
2020. Retrieved from
https://study.com/academy/lesson/frustration-aggression-theory-
definition-principle.html#:~:text=If%20a%20goal%20is%20being,Mower%2C%20and
%20Sears%20in%201939.
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Wbur. (2020). “Duty to intervene policies aim to prevent officers from using excessive force”.
Accessed July 19, 2020. Retrieved from
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/07/20/duty-to-intervene-police-force
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