Skip to main content

Institutionalized Terror: A Social Systems Analysis of Police Brutality

  • Chapter
Africana Cultures and Policy Studies

Part of the book series: Contemporary Black History ((CBH))

Abstract

Terrorism is the use of violence to intimidate another. Using this definition, there appears to be a national problem of police officers who are violence addicts. Going merely by televised news reports featuring video clips, one can see that inappropriate, physically aggressive behavior by law enforcement officers is happening all over the United States. This causes one to ask, “Are police denying citizens the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” Although female family members are also victimized by police brutality, most of the incidents involve fathers, sons, husbands, and brothers, who are being killed when confronted by police officers. These homicides can result from routine traffic stops and in circumstances in which the victim is unarmed and poses no threat to anyone.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. R. D. Kelly, “Slanging Rocks... Palestinian Style: Dispatches from the Occupied Zones of North America” in J. Nelson, ed. Police Brutality: An Anthology (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000), 21–59.

    Google Scholar 

  2. B. Babovic, “Police Brutality or Police Torture,” Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management 23:3 (2000): 374–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. U. Bronfenbrenner, “Toward an Experimental Ecology of Human Development,” American Psychologist 32 (1977): 513–531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. R. Reese, American Paradox: Young Black Men (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  5. S. A. Tuch and R. Weitzer, “Racial Differences in Attitudes toward the Police,” Public Opinion Quarterly 61 (1997): 642–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. J. Nelson, ed., Police Brutality: An Anthology (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  7. A. L. Jackson and L. M. Boyd, “Minority-Threat Hypothesis and the Workload Hypothesis: A Community-Level Examination of Lenient Policing in High Crime Communities,” Criminal Justice Studies 18 (2005): 29–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. J. H. Skolnick, Justice without Trial: Law Enforcement in Democratic Society (New York: Macmillan College Publishing, 1994).

    Google Scholar 

  9. M. D. Holmes, “Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities,” Criminology 38 (2000): 343–367, http://www.brownwatch,.http://www.narpa.org/amnesty%20international.htm (accessed January 29, 2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. J. R. Feagin, “The Continuing Significance of Race: Antiblack Discrimination in Public Places,” American Sociological Review 56 (1991): 101–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. D. Jacobs and R. M. O’Brien, “The Determinants of Deadly Force: A Structural Analysis of Police Violence,” The American Journal of Sociology 103:4 (1998): 837–862.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. P. I. Jackson, Minority Group Threat, Crime, and Policing: Social Context and Social Control, New York: Praeger, 1989.

    Google Scholar 

  13. R. Reese, American Paradox: Young Black Men (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  14. A. T. Chappell and A. R. Piquero, “Applying Social Learning Theory to Police Misconduct,” Deviant behavior 25 (2004): 89–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. T. Barker, “Peer Group Support for Police Occupational Deviance,” Criminology 15 (1977): 353–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. R. E. Worden, “Situational and Attitudinal Explanations of Police Behavior: A Theoretical Reappraisal and Empirical Assessment,” Law and Society Review 23:4 (1989): 687–711.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. D. N. Dinkins, “Does Quality-of-Life-Policing Diminish Quality of Life for People of Color?” Crisis 104:1 (1997): 10–12.

    Google Scholar 

  18. David Hatchett, “Bad Attitudes, Bad Race Relations, Bad Cops,” Crisis 103 (1996): 17–21.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Jacobs and O’Brien, “The Determinants of Deadly Force”; B. W. Smith and M. D. Holmes], “Community Accountability, Minority threat, and Police Brutality: An Examination of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints,” Criminology 41:4 (2003): 1035–1063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. S. G. Brandl, M. S. Stroshine, and J. Frank, “Who Are the Complaint-Prone Officers? An Examination of the Relationship between Police Officers’ Attributes, Arrest Activity, Assignment, and Citizens’ Complaints about Excessive Force,” Journal of Criminal Justice 29 (2001): 521–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. S. Herbert, “Police Subculture Reconsidered,” Criminology 36 (1998): 343–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. A. L. Jackson and J. E. Wade, “Police Perceptions of Social Capital and Sense of Responsibility: An Explanation of Proactive Policing,” Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management 28:1 (2005): 49–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. C. Hemmens and D. Levin, “Resistance Is Futile: The Right to Resist Unlawful Arrest in an Era of Aggressive Policing,” Crime and Delinquency 46 (2000): 472–496.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. M. K. Lersch, “Malpractice: A Critical Analysis of Citizens’ Complaints,” Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management 21:1 (1998): 80–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Reese, American Paradox; R. Rodriquez, “Researchers Study Police Brutality against Hispanics and Blacks,” Black Issues in Higher Education 10:4 (1993): 18–19.

    Google Scholar 

  26. C. L. Bankston and S. J. Caldas, “Family Structure, Schoolmates, and Racial Inequalities in School Achievement,” Journal of Marriage and the Family 60 (1998): 715–723

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. S. M. Bianchi, “The Changing Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics of Single Parent Families,” Marriage and Family Review 20 (1995): 71–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. A. Kolowitz, There Are No Children Here (New York: Anchor, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  29. L. P. Prater, “African American Families: Equal partners in General and Special Education” in F. Obiakor and B. A. Ford, eds., Creating Successful Learning Environments for African American Learners with Exceptionalities (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2002), 145–157.

    Google Scholar 

  30. M. L. King, Why We Can’t Wait (New York: Harper and Row, 1964).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Zachery Williams

Copyright information

© 2009 Zachery Williams

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Prater, L. (2009). Institutionalized Terror: A Social Systems Analysis of Police Brutality. In: Williams, Z. (eds) Africana Cultures and Policy Studies. Contemporary Black History. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230622098_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230622098_6

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-37115-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-230-62209-8

  • eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics