Aspects Of Police Brutality - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1904 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/03/28 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Police Brutality Essay Did you like this example? Police brutality refers to systematic misuse of authority and powers through the unwarranted infliction of bodily or psychological pain to civilians by law enforcers during their official duties. The routine enforcement of law using excessive force against unarmed civilians and the correctional misuse of facilities to manipulate, inflict, injure or subject a civilian to torture amounts to police brutality. Militarily prisons and federal penal correctional facilities, through the personnel operating the facilities, can practice police brutality through extreme subjection of pain and torturous acts with attempts to solicit information or evidence form an inmate. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Aspects Of Police Brutality" essay for you Create order Police brutality falls into two facets: physical and emotional torture. Physical torture, primarily involves excessive force through inflicting bodily harm and subjecting the victim to environments and circumstances that aims at inflicting discomfort and causing bodily pain. Psychological torture involves denial of basic needs, abuse, and subjection to processes that are emotionally destabilizing. Though physical damage results in mental suffering and systematically alters the comfort of the victim. During the periods of the slave trade, the great force and physical execution of the slaves heralded the eternal evil of police brutality. The continuous attempts to champion a police brutality-free society is proving difficult since it is a tradition rooted in humiliation, subjugation, and belittling of other races and religions perceived as social misfits or ?lesser persons in society. Notably, the transition of the slave society into enlightenment and glamor for equality, freedom and, democratic rights to vote in the 19th and 20th century ushered in another systemic and tragic emergence of systemized and legally enforced police brutality against civilians . The police acted under expressed orders in most cases during the civil rights movement era, and this resulted in thousands of unarmed civilians falling to the brutal torture of police. During the civil rights movement, police brutality was routine practice a way of suppressing the demonstrators. Despite the massive campaign against the constant torture and execution of innocent civilians, the system of cruelty increased and became more comprehensively evil. Worthy to underscore is that police brutality was and is never meant for the weak and the local civilians but rather anyone going against the government/system during the movement era. A Majority of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were continuously victims of brutality, and some ended up assassinated in the process. It can be argued that the Civil Rights Movement era was the extreme moment of police brutality in the United States. Police brutality, famously known as savage cruelty against innocent civilians, continually receives condemnation across the country. Much legislation and governmental departments were established to combat the vice. Despite the efforts of a majority of police to protect the civilians, a rogue officers acts under orders of their own, still engaging in the act of brutalizing and terrorizing their victims. Rogue police officers perpetrate the act of brutality under the color of law. When cornered by the same law, they maneuver the system and cover-up their criminal activities. The Black Lives Matter movement is the rebirth of a Civil Rights Movement era in America. The state of political, economic and social injustices black society feel subjected to has crossed the line. With police brutality still gaining noticeable attention nowadays in the United States, it begs the question: what are the triggering factors of police brutality and what are the legislative frameworks that seek to protect the civilians from this injustice and what is the statistical evidence of the situation in the United States within the last four years? To successfully answer the research question, application of qualitative and quantitative assessment of the situation is necessary. The use of the two methods of research analysis is introduced to have more evidence and data to increase the support for my argument. The strength of this dual approach is that the models will systematically exhaust all the evidence that is quantifiable and at the same time show the degree of the situation in the United States. The only downside to the dual-approach is the inability to exhaustively consolidate all the pieces of evidence and harmonize the cases to create the needed answer. Research on police brutality is an exciting yet convicting discourse since it seeks to descriptively lay bare the state of the long-hidden effects of racism and create a harmonized view and idea that as a country citizens can act upon the issue to entirely eradicate the vice of brutality. After a critical appraisal of the previous similar researches surrounding police brutality, the answers converge to one point: there is little or no goodwill among the ruling class, the judicial system and the police force to wholly combat the vice. The state and level of negligence especially by the political class give the other arms of government the room to relax and overlook the excesses of police brutality. Additionally, the answers seem to continually point an accusing finger to other dominant races in the country for failing to stand-in for the minority races and demand justice for the victims. The continuous abuse of public rights in any society is in all measures an act of incivility. Over the years, The US holds respect for its civility, home of democratic principles and human rights protection and equality. As a champion of the global respect for human rights, it is unfortunately barbaric for us to overlook the constant inhuman nature of the police force upon the minority groups in the country. Through a systematic and critical analysis of the state of police brutality in the United States of America, the essential aspect of the study is a race as the basis of the skewed cases of police brutality experienced in the United States. Furthermore, the analysis seeks to create a discourse that descriptively assesses the milestones, the setbacks, the legal, social, civil and religious framework that can significantly address the situation. With the help of statistical evidence, an argument and analysis of the position will establish the level of decline or increase of the case s in the past five years. Police brutality associatively involves several factors such as religion, political affiliation, race, and socio-economic status. The competition is the most critical source of police brutality in the United States. The existing statistical evidence shows that a majority of the victims of police brutality are both African American and Latin American. The subject of understanding in this racial profiling is by crime, immigration illegalities and other activities that can warrant police intervention. Over time, the black community of the US has borne the brunt force of the brutality since the emergence of slavery through to the Civil Rights Movement era to date. The worrying rate at which the black community experiences racial profiling for both real and imaginary crimes is alarming despite the USA being considered the most mature democracy and home of civility. Forceful detention and torture are common cases experienced by the black community especially the youth and young adults. Notably, racial profiling as a basis of police brutality is statistically substantiated based on the number of black persons in the prisons wrongfully detained or the justice systems delay in hearing their case. Police brutality is directed to powerless groups without political protection, without economic strength to legally counter the misfortunes and experiences subjected to the black community over the years. The use of a war model of policing is the main reason for police brutalitys reemergence and zestful application in racially profiled societies of the US. The application of a war model of policing results in the occurrence of fatalities and unnecessary deaths or injuries among civilians. Police view the combat against crime as a fight and war against the criminals or perceived evildoers in society and equate them as enemies. The full-force commonly experienced in war zones is the basis of the indiscriminate brutalities both across the innocent and the perceived criminals. These forceful acts of police create a society that directly views the police as enemies, not law enforcers4. Evidence has it that, police officers who have had an experience with war or subjected to war are 50% likely to exercise brutality on civilians compared to nonveterans. From some angles, academia has found the systemic cruelty by the police a subject of study and established theories that try to explain this phenomenon. Threat hypothesis theory and community violence hypothesis theory are some of the most popular arguments trying to solve the mystery underlying the actions of police descriptively 5. Threat hypothesis theory proposes that police use force with a direct or indirect response to a potential threat from a group/racial or social class considered as a possible threat factor to the social order of society. The inculcation of this attitude of fire for fire response among the police, systematically explains why, during demonstrations and peace picketing, the police view demonstrators as a threat to the coexistence and social order of society. The theory exemplifies that, police profiling along racial lines indicates that, the higher the cases of police brutality cases meted on a particular race, the higher the chances that that specific rac e was associated with social disturbances, economic sabotage, and law-breaking. The weak points of the threat hypothesis theory The theory has several downsides. Firstly, the approach in all measure is one-sided, supporting one known evil act (police brutality) against a potentially unverified evil (threat to social order). The point of argument of the theory is to justify the repulsive response and justified actions of brutality by police against mostly innocent civilians by profiling and to associate them to social misfits or threats to the social order and lawfulness. According to the theory of community violence hypothesis, the idea postulates that the police use forces in direct responsiveness to the levels of existing or potential violence in the community posed by the threatening groups or directly raised to the police. The theory explains that the higher the threats a social misfit group pose on the society, the higher the police offensive power to counter the elements. Arguably, there is the sense in the argument that it underlines the principle and foundations of the theory, but the indiscriminate exercise of this force against the threat groups and by extension society is never justified in any case. There are many cases in which the siblings, parents and innocent friends of the perceived misfits are subjected to traumatizing experiences of police brutality in attempts to respond to crimes in equal measure unselectively. Notably, the two theories lack the fundamental aspects of human life, the sanctity of human conscience and political and legal responsibility for its citizens by the government. The one-sided argument of the theories tries to substantiate that police brutality is the only underlying strength that can combat crime or alleviate threats to social order. The justified application of fire to subdue fire as evident in the theories is the basis for the frequent cases of police brutality since the antagonists will never have a roundtable or common ground to make the right decisions. Furthermore, to refute the foundational beliefs of the theory, the theories failed to capture the institutional protection and defense of human sanctity, freedoms, and responsibilities that police have over the wayward members of the society. In this context, the police fail to set the limits of applying the law and thus create an environment that civilians perceive police as evil and police see the civilians as agents of social distress and disruption of the socio-economic order.

The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration - 819 Words

In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2012), Michelle Alexander empathizes on the issues of the complex of criminal justice systems which has a significant impact on people of color as The New Jim Crow. She also attaches significant to the racial dimensions of the â€Å"War on Drugs† because the convictions for drug offenses are only the most important cause of the explosion in incarceration rates in the United States. This argues that federal drug policy inequity targets groups of color, keeping millions of young, black men in a vicious cycle behind the bars. In the beginning, she develops her argument by briefly laying a foundation of the history of racialized control in the United States. To support her arguments in terms of the never-ending cycle of birth and death of slavery and jim crow through the reborn of mass incarceration. Moreover, she points out the pattern of invisible power, racialized social systems, controlling people of color in the United States. This racial caste systems brings black people returning to slavery and this pattern has been called the Mass incarceration. In chapter two, she describes the structure of mass incarceration by focusing on the War on Drugs issues. At early chapter two, she dispels the myth that the War on Drugs is aimed at ridding the nation of drug â€Å"kingpins† or big-time drug dealers† and that drug war is primarily concerned with dangerous drugs (Alexander, 2012). In fact, the War on DrugsShow MoreRelatedThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1370 Words   |  6 Pagesunrecognizable ways that fit into the fabric of the American society to render it nearly invisible to the majority of Americans. Michelle Alexander, in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness shatters this dominantly held belief. The New Jim Crow makes a reader profoundly question whether the high rates of incarceration in the United States is an attempt to maintain blacks as an underclass. Michelle Alexander makes the assertion that â€Å"[w]e have not ended racial caste in America;Read MoreThe New Jim C row : Mass Incarceration1361 Words   |  6 PagesBook Review Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness The premise of the ‘The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness’ by Michelle Alexander, is to refute claims that racism is dead and argue that the War on Drugs and the federal drug policy unfairly targets communities of color, keeping a large majority of black men of varying ages in a cycle of poverty and behind bars. The author proves that racism thrives by highlighting theRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1199 Words   |  5 Pagesthose who did read her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age of Colorblindness. Michelle Alexander stated that The most despised in America is not gays, transgenders, nor even illegal immigrants - it is criminals. That was an important quote since the stereotypical criminal in our racially divided America in most cases are those of color also known as blacks. This is why the criminal justice system in the United States promotes the mass incarceration of blacks that can be seen throughRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1477 Words   |  6 PagesThe New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness, by Michelle Alexander. The New Press, 2010. 290 pages. Reviewed by Ashlei G Cameron. Michelle alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate and legal scholar. As an associate professor of law at Standford law school, she directed the Civil Rights Clinic and pursued a research agenda focused on the intersection of race and criminal justice. In 2005. Alexander won a Soros Justice Fellowship that supported the writingRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1347 Words   |  6 PagesHunter Silver Dr. Kendall Smith English 103-4120 10 November 2015 High Incarceration Rates Due to Racism Racism effects the the high incarceration rates according to Michelle Alexander, the author of â€Å"The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. This scholar writes about how the civil rights movement has been taken back by the mass incarceration of black Americans in the war on drugs. Alexander also explains how the severe consequences that these black men carry on afterRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1081 Words   |  5 Pages Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness outlines how the criminal justice system has systematically designed new methods of discriminating against African Americans. The book advocates for racial justice, specifically, for African Americans and contends they [African Americans] were targeted and subsequently incarcerated, by white voters and public officials, through the War on Drugs campaign. President Reagan and his Administration exploited racialRead MoreThe New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration Essay1797 Words   |  8 PagesJim Crow laws are regarded as part of the racial caste system that operated in the Southern and Border States in the years between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Under the series of the anti-black laws, African Americans were treated as inferior and second class citizens. The laws have been argued to have represented the legitimization of the anti-black racism in the US. The book The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is written by Michelle Alexander and originally published byRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration Essay1401 Words   |  6 Pages Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, examines mass incarceration in the United States, why the criminal justice system works the way it does towards minorities, the detriments associated with mass incarceration as it relates to offenders, and much more. In the introduction of her book, A lexander immediately paints the harsh reality of mass incarceration with the story of Jarvious Cotton who is denied the right to vote among other rights becauseRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration Essay1096 Words   |  5 PagesAlexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press, 2010. Study Questions for â€Å"The New Jim Crow†: 1) What is the relationship between the War on Drugs and the spread of crack cocaine through inner city neighborhoods in the 1980s? President Ronald Reagan officially announced the current drug war in 1982, before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods. A few years after the drug war was declared, crackRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1239 Words   |  5 PagesIn 2013, Michelle Alexander published her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, hoping it served as a call to action. Immediately this book received a huge amount of attention because of the controversial topics presented. This book opened a lot of people’s eyes to the term colorblindness, a sociological perspective referring to the disregard of racial characteristics. There is no racial data or profiling, no classifications, and no categorizations or distinctions

Income Tax Announcements in Budget 2017 Ireland

Question: Discuss about theIncome Tax Announcements in Budget 2017for Ireland. Answer: Introduction Every fiscal year, the government of Ireland presents the budget announcing the fiscal policy changes that involves income tax also. The finance minister of Ireland announced budget on October 11, 2016, which contains the economic and fiscal outlook of the country. Among various fiscal considerations, the taxation is one of the measure policy issues, which is considered while preparing the budget for the fiscal year. This paper discusses measure policy changes pertaining to the income tax. Further, analysis of the tax burden on a PAYE worker before and after the budget announcement has also been made. Three Income Tax Measures The Irish government announced rate cut in the income tax to extend relief to the low income earners and pay workers for the year 2017 (Moneyguideireland.com, 2016). The government has announced rate cut in various areas such as Universal Social Charge (USC) and Deposit Interest Retention Tax (DIRT). Further, the government proposed to increase the tax burden on high income earners by removing the various tax credits that were earlier allowed. However, these credits have not been removed by the government as announced in the budget for the fiscal year 2017. Apart from that the government has also reduced the income tax burden for the self employed person by enhancing the earned income tax credit from 550 to 950 (Moneyguideireland.com, 2016). There are three major areas pertaining to income tax in which the government has made changes for the fiscal year 2017. Those three major areas are universal social charge, deposit interest retention tax, and earned income tax credit (Budget, 2016). The reduction in the universal social charge has been conceived to have major impact on the peoples taxable income. The government has announced in the budget for the fiscal year 2017 that the people earning less than 13,000 will not have to pay universal social charge. Further, the slab rates of universal social charge have also been changed. From the year 2017, the taxpayers having income more than 13,000 will have to pay universal social charge at a rate of 0.50% on the first 12,012 of their income. This rate before budget announcement for the year 2017 was 1% (Revenue.ie, 2016). Further, the next slab bracket rate of universal social charge has also been reduced from 3% to 2.5% and 5.5% to 5%. However, the upper slab bracket rate of universal charge of 8% is unchanged. Further, another upper bracket slab rate of 11% has been introduced in the budget for the year 2017. Thus, the taxpayers having income more than 70,045 will continue to pay universal social charge at the rate of 8% and of the income goes beyond 100,000, this rate will be raised to 11% (Revenue.ie, 2016). Therefore, overall it could be inferred that the government has liberalized the universal social charge for the low income earners while at the same the burden for the high income earners has been increased. Following the policy of reducing the tax burden on the low income earner and enhancing it for the high income earners, the government of Ireland has also announced reduction in the deposit interest retention tax (DIRT) for the fiscal year 2017. The existing DIRT rate of 41% has been reduced to 39% for the fiscal year 2017 and the government also has plans to reduce it by 2% each year till it reaches to 33% (Budget, 2016). The DIRT represents the tax deducted in advance by the deposit takers such as banks, post offices, and credit societies. The rate cut of DIRT will have positive impact on the income and cash position of the taxpayers. After this rate cut, the deposit holders would be able to withdraw more from the interest income earned on their deposits (Budget, 2016). Apart from the above discussed changes, the government has increased earned income tax credit from existing 550 to 950 for the fiscal year 2017 (Budget, 2016). The concept of earned income tax credit introduced in the year 2015 allows tax credit to the self employed individuals and proprietary directors who are not eligible for PAYE employee tax credit. The earned income tax credit or PAYE employee tax credit is allowed to the people having low income. In order to reduce the tax burden on the low income earners, the government has enhanced the maximum limit of earned income tax credit from 550 to 950. However, it is important to note in this regard that both PAYE employee tax credit and earned income tax credit can not be allowed simultaneously (Revenue.ie, 2016). In addition to the above, the government has also enhanced the Home Carer Tax Credit for existing 1,000 to 1,100 from the year 2017 (Budget, 2016). However, this tax credit is allowable only to the marriage couple assessed jointly for the income tax purposes. The increase in the Home Carer Tax Credit reduces the tax burden for the married individuals. Further, the government of Ireland has also announced increment in the allowable interest rates on the mortgages taken on the rented house property. Prior to the budget announcement for the fiscal year 2017, the interest allowed for deduction on the mortgage was 75%, which has now been raised to 80% (Budget, 2016). This enhancement in the interest rate is purported to alleviate the tax burden on the individual taxpayer. Income of PAYE Worker Pre and Post Budget Income tax in case of a PAYE worker is computed with reference to the salary income earned during the year. The gross salary income of the PAYE worker comprises of the payments such as salary, wages, bonuses, overtime pay, commission, and holiday pay (Revenue.ie, 2016). The gross is reduced by the amount of allowable deduction to arrive at the income chargeable to income tax. As discussed earlier that the budget announced by the Irish government for the year 2017 is favourable to low income as it reduce the tax burden. On the other hand, the high income earners have been affected adversely with the increased tax burden. Computations have been shown below to demonstrate the impact of the budget announcement on the PAYE worker: Table 1: Tax position of PAYE worker pre and post budget 2017 Ireland Particulars Gross Income of PAYE worker 2017 Gross income 25,000 55,000 150,000 Pre budget Post budget Pre budget Post budget Pre budget Post budget Income tax 50 50 8490 8490 46490 46490 PRSI 1000 1000 2200 2200 6000 6000 Universal social charge 668 540 2318 2040 9542 9189 Total 1718 1590 13008 12730 62032 61679 Total savings +128 +278 +353 Note: The above computations have been made for private sector married employee having one income with no children and taxed under PAYE Full rate PRSI contributor. From the table presented above, it could be observed that the PAYE worker having income of 25,000 is able to save 128 after the budget announcement. It could further be observed that the position as regards income tax and PRSI remains the same, but the universal social charge is reduced (Budget, 2016). The position after the budget announcement could further be clarified with the help of the following example: (Mr X married having 3 children aged under 12 years) Particulars 2016 () 2017 () Gross income 46500 46500 Income tax 2050 1950 PRSI 1600 1600 Universal social charge 1493 1290 Total tax 5143 4840 Child benefit 5040 5040 Net income 46397 46700 Annual gain 303 % change (annual gain/net income) 0.65% The data presented in the table above shows that Mr X will be able to 303 in the year 2017 as a result of the budget announcement. Further, it could be observed that the income tax and PRSI liabilities are same as these were before the budget announcement. The major change is observed in the universal social charge. The table shows that the universal social charge for the year 2016 was 1,493, which is reduced to 1,290 (Budget, 2016). Moreover, the impact of budget announcement on the self employed person has also been analyzed as depicted in the table presented below: Particulars 2016 () 2017 () Gross income 60000 60000 Income tax 15040 14640 PRSI 2400 2400 Universal social charge 2593 2290 Total tax 20033 19330 Net income 39967 40670 Annual gain 703 % change (annual gain/net income) 1.73% From the data presented in the table given above, it could be observed that a self employed taxpayer will be able to save 703 in the year 2017. These savings comprise of a saving in the income tax of 400 and 303 in universal social charge (Budget, 2016). Conclusion The discussion in this paper revolves around the income tax announcements made in the budget presented by the Irish government for the year 2017. From the discussion, it could be articulated that the government has reduced the tax burden on the low income earners by altering the rates and credit limits. Further, the universal social charge has been reduced by 0.50% from the fiscal year 2017, which will also increase the net income of the taxpayers. References Budget. 2016. Ireland budget for the fiscal year 2017. [Online]. Available at: https://www.budget.gov.ie/Budgets/2017/Documents/Budget%202017%20-%20Full%20document.pdf [Accessed on: 22 October 2016]. Moneyguideireland.com. 2016. Budget 2017: What happened. [Online]. Available at: https://www.moneyguideireland.com/budget-2017-expect.html [Accessed on: 22 October 2016]. Revenue.ie. 2016. Definition of pay. [Online]. Available at: https://www.revenue.ie/en/business/paye/guide/employers-guide-paye-definition.html#section5 [Accessed on: 22 October 2016]. Revenue.ie. 2016. IT1 - Tax Credits, Reliefs and Rates for the Tax Years 2015 and 2016. [Online]. Available at: https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it1.html [Accessed on: 22 October 2016]. Revenue.ie. 2016. Universal social charge. [Online]. Available at: https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/usc/ [Accessed on: 22 October 2016].