2. Annotated Bibliography- Yoshi

1. Brooks, Rosa. “America’s Police Problem Isn’t Just About Police.” Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy, 5 Jan. 2016, foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/05/americas-police-problem-isnt-just-about-police-guns-violence/.

Background: This article explains how cops are not the problem with America’s police problem. It explained more about how America has a violence problem, and how police are trained to be the way that they are. There was a paragraph that explained America’s police problem, and explained how police treat people the way they do because of their training.

How I Used It: This article provided me with examples of bias police training tactics, and statistics on America’s gun population. I used this to explain why more white people get shot over black people, even though black people are still more mistreated by police.

2.  Juzwiak R, Chan A., Unarmed people of color killed by police, 1999-2014. Gawker. 2014. Available at: http://gawker.com/unarmed-people-of-color-killed-by-police-1999-2014-1666672349. Accessed March 30, 2015.

Background: This Article summarizes stories of the lives of certain black men that died because of a police encounter. 

How I Used It: This article provided me with specific stories of police encounters with these black men. I used it to give an example of how police mistreat black people. In one incident I used to show how cops use an excessive amount of force is a young boy, Powell. He had stole some energy drinks, and the police were responding to that call. The police claim he was holding a knife with an over hand grip, but in the video Powell was not even close to the officers; nor was he posing a threat of any kind. His hands were by his side and he was walking, the police shot him within 15 seconds of arriving to the scene. 

3. Adams, Kenneth, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Roger G. Dunham, Use of Force By Police: Overview of National and Local Data Series [Research report]. Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice.

Background: This article examined the data for evidence of bias police use before shooting.  This article also focused on perception of threats towards police officers.
How I used it: I used this article to explain how the word threat is too broad, and why police officers overuse the word in order to justify their actions.

How I Used It: I used this article to introduce the topic in my paper. I explained how police violence has been a concern for decades now. Some police officers obtain biased attitudes toward minorities. Researchers have demonstrated that less conscious attitudes also influence police behavior.

4. Black, D. (1976). The behavior of law. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0734016805275675

Background: This article examined why suspects resist arrest. They found that suspects arrested in police beats characterized by a disproportionate number of calls for service were more likely to resist.

How I used it: I used this article to explain how black people resist arrest in fear that they are going to be killed. White suspects were less likely to resist arrest from Black and Hispanic officers. There is racial sensitivity, White suspects do not resist out of fear. People who reside within the city are more likely to resist than outsiders, but familiarity with the police in a given area could make suspects more comfortable deciding to resist arrest.

5. Graham, David A. “The Mysterious Death of Freddie Gray.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 22 Apr. 2015, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/the-mysterious-death-of-freddie-gray/391119/.

Background: This explains the unanswered questions about Freddie Gray’s death. Gray died from spinal injuries due to the officers force against him. Once he got to the police station he could not move or talk. Gray did not resist arrest, but he was shouting explaining how his legs hurt. Officers still continued to drag him into a van, and take him to the station. There was no proof of what happened on the way to the station, but officials say the van must have stopped twice before they got to the station. The website also includes a video of the incident.

How I Used It: I used this article to continue to explain how police use an excessive amount of force. Gray did not resist arrest, and he was posing no form of threat. There was also no clear reason as to why Gray was getting arrested, which I also used to my advantage in demonstrating how cops pick out black people when arresting people. His leg was broken, and the officers continued to pull him into the van. Gray has asthma and requested his inhaler, but he was ignored. The broken leg or asthma didn’t kill him an injury to the spinal cord is what killed Freddie Gray.

6. Klinger DA. On the Problems and Promise of Research on Lethal Police Violence: A Research Note. Homicide Studies. 2012;16(1):78. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1088767911430861

Background: This article showed a little information about how frequently police officers shoot citizens, or are involved in any sort of interaction in which citizens die. Researchers use the data on fatal police violence in different analysis. 

How I Used It: I used this article to show how it isn’t right to count citizens killed by police bullets to show how many citizens were killed by deadly force. This website helped me explain how gun shots are not the only way of deadly force. This website discusses different way to avoid the death of a citizen, and ways for officers to avoid using excessive force. Police are taught to intentionally miss their target, or they shot their target but not intention to kill them. It is obvious when a police intends to use force because they usually shot their target in order to kill them. 

7. “Police Misconduct: Experience and Perception.” Cato Institute, CATO Institute, www.cato.org/policing-in-america/chapter-3/police-misconduc-experience-and-perception.

Background: This experimental data demonstrated how police physically mistreat minorities. 

How I Used It: I used this to help prove that police do not always feel threatened, they are just more likely to mistreat a black american. A survey conducted found that 57% of Americans thought that citizens’ failure to cooperate with police during a stop was a “major reason” for police use of force. RAI determines if you are going to be rude to an officer or not. If you are nice to police they are nice to you. Black people tend to be mean to police which is why they get killed, this is still an excessive amount of force. Killing someone is not the proper way to end a situation. 

8. Ekins, Emily. “11 Key Facts about Americans’ Attitudes toward the Police.” Learn Liberty, Emily Ekins. Web.

Background: This article showed and explained eleven key facts about the attitudes of Americans toward police officers, according to the CATO Institute’s research. 

How I Used It: I used this website to counter argue how most police believe Americans are anti-police, and that is why they fear them and use excessive force. There is no anti-police group in America. Most Americans do believe police use too much force, and most Americans actually fear police. Most Americans support that police should be investigated because for the most part they do use too much force. Americans also believe the police think they are above the law, and that they can do anything without getting in any trouble. 

9. Lowery, Wesley. “Study Finds Police Fatally Shoot Unarmed Black Men at Disproportionate Rates.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 Apr. 2016. Web.

Background: This article explains a study that the research into fatal shootings by police has found that unarmed black men were shot and killed last year at disproportionately high rates, and that officers involved may be biased in how they perceive threats.

How I Used It: I used this article to provide examples of how officers are biased when perceiving threats, and how their training leads them to have a bias opinion. I used this to explain how in training some police pick up a bias, which they use to make unfair judgements. This website also helped me explain what a threat is, and how officers throw the word around. The men police have shot were unarmed and not posing any type of threat. 

10. Makarechi, Kia. “What the Data Really Says About Police and Racial Bias.” The Hive, Vanity Fair, 14 July 2016, http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/07/data-police-racial-bias.

Background: This website shows several different studies that show police receive bias training, and that is what causes them to obtain a bias while working. It separates all the studies by sections. 

How I Used It: I used this to explain how police training is filled with bias opinions, and that is why so many unarmed black men are being killed. There was a section of studies that explains how people decide who to pullover. I used this data to conclude that police do profile people before pulling them over. I also used studies that showed a correlation between the use of force and the race of the victim. 

11. Pages, The Society. “PATTERNS OF POLICE SHOOTINGS: One Year after Ferguson – Sociology Toolbox.” Sociology Toolbox PATTERNS OF POLICE SHOOTINGS One Year after Ferguson Comments, thesocietypages.org/toolbox/ferguson/.

Background: The article showed the pattern of police shootings after the shooting in Ferguson. This website also explains the death of Michael Brown and what exactly happened. 

How I Used It: I used this article to explain how over the years police have became more bias in their shootings. I also used this to explain incidents where police rely on deadly force when it isn’t necessary. Micheal Brown did not have a weapon on him, he was not a threat. Samuel DuBose did not have a weapon on him, he was not a threat. A Mexican immigrant, Antonio Montes, was not a threat and he was shot. Police use their guns to solve problems way to often, when it is not needed. Not only a gun, Freddie Gray, was killed because of a broken neck by force while he was being detained. All of the victims of these patterns have two things in common; they were killed because of excessive force and they were all minorities. 

12. Pages, The Society. “POLICE KILLING OF BLACKS: Data for 2015, 2016, 2017 – Sociology Toolbox.” Sociology Toolbox POLICE KILLING OF BLACKS Data for 2015 2016 2017 Comments. Web.

Background: This website included different charts showing the data of police encounters with blacks, hispanics, and whites. It also included certain statistics about killings and concluded everything with sociological theory. 

How I Used It: I used this website to compare the number of whites to blacks harmed by police. I also used this website to explain how race matters when someone is killed by a police. In the data it is evident that whites are killed more frequently than blacks, but when you compare the number with the same proportion blacks are killed more often. If police didn’t victimize black people then we would expect to see the portion of each group equal to the general population. 

14. Swaine, Jon, et al. “The Counted: People Killed by Police in the United States – Interactive.”The Guardian, Guardian News and Media. Web. 

Background: This website shows data on police killings. The website allows you to explore white killings vs black killings. This websites allowed to pick a location, race, age range, etc. in order to find stories of specific incidents where victims were killed because of a police officer. 

How I Used It: I used this article to compare the killings of each individual I researched on, and compared them to a story of a white person that was killed just for my own personal information. I also used this website for certain statistics on killing per year. I went through and researched different people in order to gain information on their stories, and why they were killed. In all, I was attempting to find a correlation between certain killings compared to others. 

 

15. Al Baker, J. David Goodman And Benjamin Mueller. “Beyond the Chokehold: The Path to Eric Garner’s Death.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 June 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/nyregion/eric-garner-police-chokehold-staten-island.html.

Background: This article explains how Eric Garner died, and his life story. It explains the incident in detail from the video that was recorded. It also explains the thoughts and words of the sergeants that work with the officer, and the thought of his family members. This website breaks everything that happened that day down into mini sections, and explains and elaborates on each section.  

How I Used It: I used this essay to describe the excessive amount of force officers use. I used this website for the descriptions of Garner and for the back story of his life. This website helped me understand how the police encounter started. Garner was basically set up to get arrested, it wasn’t just a coincidence encounter. It also includes certain words of officer such as, “We have chase him before, what is a warning going to do?” This helped me defend my point about excessive violence. Garner was a peace keeper he never caused harm, and is nothing close to being a threat. Garner was pleading that he could not breathe, but the officer explained how Garner did not seem distressed and that is why he didn’t let go. The owner of the property, where Garner was killed, called the police to attempt to get Garner off his corner. He now says, “he will no longer call the city or the police to complain about the conditions around his building, as he had frequently in the months and years before Mr. Garner died. ‘The last time I called the cops, someone got choked to death,” he said. “Eric got killed because I called.’ ”

16. Dianis, Judith Browne. “What Really Killed Eric Garner Was More than Just a Chokehold.”MSNBC, NBCUniversal News Group, 5 Aug. 2014, http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/what-killed-eric-garner.

Background: This article goes into detail on how Eric Garner was killed, and shows what the witnesses had to say about it. It explains what happened in court and the verdict, it also explains other incidents where the same thing has occurred in New York and what they need to do to stop it. 

How I Used It: I used this article to show police use an excessive amount of force even when there is no threat present. This article explains the life of Eric Garner, and it explains how he made money to support his kids and wife. The article explains the verdict and what happened in the court. It explains how officers are not allowed to use these types of chokeholds to subdue victims. The officer was aware that he was not allowed to use this type of chokehold, but he did anyway. The officer knew he was harming Eric Garner because of Garner claims that he could not breathe. Even though the Officer was in the wrong, the court claimed he was not guilty. 

 

17. nydailynews. “Eric Garner Video – Unedited Version.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 July 2015, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpGxagKOkv8.

Background: This video shows the entire incident of Eric Garner’s death filmed by a witness on the street.

How I Used It: I used this video to have a better understanding of why Garner was killed. I used to to explain how the cops that arrested him were prepared to use force against him. There was three police officers against one man that was accused of selling a loose cigarette, Garner wasn’t even being violent. There wasn’t an intention to harm Garner, but the officers didn’t seem to car about him either. They completely ignored his declarations that he could not breathe. They continued to lay their body weight on him, while he was pushed against the ground, out of breathe, and posing no threat. 

 

18. Press, Associated. “Samuel DuBose Shooting: Second Mistrial Declared in Officer’s Murder Trial.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 23 June 2017, http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/23/samuel-dubose-shooting-ray-tensing-trial-mistrial.

Background: This website demonstrates the story of Officer Tensing killing Samuel DuBose. It includes what was said and the verdict of what happened in court. It also includes other traffic stop incidents where an officer shot an innocent person. It also includes body cam video of what happened.

How I Used It: I used the video to understand what happened to the officer and DuBose in my point of view without the words of other people. I used it to demonstrate how cops react towards black people even when they are not posing a threat. DuBose began to drive away, but there was no need for Officer Tensing to shoot DuBose in the head. He claimed it was to stop his actions, but there could have been many other ways to stop DuBose’s actions without killing him. This video demonstrated preventable force that the officer used that killed DuBose.