Ethical Issues and Use of Excessive Force

Ethical Issues and Use of Excessive Force

Introduction

Under certain specified conditions, officers employed in the law enforcement are authorized the use of force. These officers are given proper training and are also confronted with several instances in their careers where it becomes essential for them to use force to contain a situation. A typical example of such cases is when they are making an arrest or regaining control over a particularly disruptive demonstration. However, the authorized level of use of force is often breached and this gives rise to a horde of ethical considerations relating to the use of force. The activities of a law enforcement officer will come under scrutiny in the event that the degree of force used by them exceeds the level deemed justifiable under the particular conditions.

Problem Statement

“Increasing instances of exhibition of force or brutality by the police and enforcers of law is considered to be an unethical practice by the public.”

Discussion

Instances are common where law enforcement officers have resorted to the use of excessive force in order to contain a situation or accomplish a goal. Such acts have received widespread attention in the media as well as among legislators (Scrivner, 1994). It is obvious that both public opinion and the law strongly condemn such incidents. However, simply condemning such incidents is not enough. According to data published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and National Institute of Justice (NIJ), a small but consistent percentage of interactions between the police and suspects involve the use of unauthorized levels of excessive force(United States, 1999; Palmiotto & Unnithan, 2011).

The data has been compiled after reviewing numerous data sources such as civilian complaints, police reports on the use of force, and victims' surveys(Alpert & Dunham, 2004).Independent research conducted by NIJ was able to identify the use of physical force in almost 20% of a total of 7,512 arrests. Such unlawful and uncivilized behavior by the very people trusted to uphold the law is uncalled for and effective measures must be put into practice to prevent the occurrence of instances of police brutality on the future (Kerstetter et al., 1990).In order to tackle the growing instances of police brutality and the exhibition of excessive force during arrests, measures can be implemented on both the public level and the government level:

Public action against the use of excessive force

Educating the public about their constitutional rights

The constitution is ...