African Americans and Caucasians live in completely different worlds when it comes to perceptions of the criminal justice system and the role the police play in society. The overall findings underscore the deep distrust of a large majority of African Americans in the police, as well as doubts about the treatment of black people following decisions not to prosecute officers involved in the killings unarmed black men in Ferguson and New York. no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay It is a well-known principle in social psychology that people define themselves in terms of social groups and are quick to denigrate others who don't seem to fit into these groups. Those who share our special qualities constitute our “in-group,” and those who do not share our special qualities constitute our “out-group.” Sometimes these groupings are determined by factors intrinsic to who we include; gender, age, race/ethnicity, but in this case, as in many others today, they touch on the issue of racial equality in the criminal justice system. In the following scenario, the American criminal justice system is depicted as an in-group, while African Americans are seen as an out-group. According to Psychology Today, Susan Krauss Whitbourne states: “It is precisely these barriers that prevent us from bonding with our fellow human beings and, in this way, compromise our true security. » (Whitbourne, 2010). African Americans consciously express fear of interacting with police, even in an emergency, due to the considerable risks. The very real possibility of inviting disrespect and even physical harm. Most have seen witnesses treated like suspects and know how quickly African Americans calling the police for help could find themselves handcuffed in the back of a police car. Some even know black professionals who have had guns pointed unnecessarily. “We feared what might happen if the police rushed upon a group of people who, because of our skin color, might be mistaken for suspects. » (Hannah-Jones, 2015). Nikole also says: “We are not criminals because we are black. We're also not the only ones in America who don't want to live in safe neighborhoods. Yet many of us fundamentally cannot trust the people charged with keeping us and our communities safe. (Hannah-Jones, 2015). Racist messages from the culture around you have shaped the very wiring of your brain. Most of the police officers involved in the recent murders are Caucasian, which explains the culture in which they operate. White people believe that black people can only blame themselves for the presence and behavior of police officers. If African Americans were serious about solving problems in their own communities, Caucasians believe the police would not arrest or kill as many black people. One of the reasons police have a disproportionate number of interactions with African American men is that these men commit a disproportionate number of offenses. Steve Chapman explains: “The main message is that black people created the problem and black people have to solve it. » (Chapman, 2014). An effective method for measuring stereotypes that the criminal justice system believes about its current out-group would be the Implicit Association Testwhich measures racial biases that we cannot consciously control. The test asks you to quickly categorize images of faces as "African-American" or "European-American," while also categorizing words like "bad," "happy," "horrible" and "peace." This version would be given to Caucasians, as a similar version of "Caucasian American" and "European American" would be given to African Americans. Faces and words flash on the screen and you press a button, as quickly as possible, to indicate which category is appropriate. “A particular way of categorizing may be inaccurate, and these false categories can lead to biases and stereotypes. Much psychological research on prejudice has focused on how people “essentialize” certain categories, which amounts to assuming that these categories have an underlying nature related to inherent, unchangeable qualities. (Mooney, 2014). Social conflict theorists argue that the state functions as an instrument of the ruling class, such as whites and wealthy elites. Government institutions, including police departments, are the product of political processes that reveal the interests of the powerful in society. The main function of the police is to preserve the status quo of inequality and to help the powerful exploit the weak. According to JiHyun Kwon, “Holmes and colleagues (2008) found that in addition to rational choice logic, minority threat perspectives (a branch of social conflict theory) “capture important external political influences on “allocation of police resources” (p. 148). ).” (Kwon). They assert that the intersection of race and class determines the interactional dynamics between police and civilians. The economically marginalized and politically powerless in today's society are more likely to file complaints of police misconduct, and suffer more, than those with more power and resources. Jacobs and Britt also found that the conflict hypothesis holds up when tested against the number of police homicides; police officers were more likely to use deadly force in more unequal states, supporting the idea that police disproportionately act as agents of control in minority communities. (Jacobs and Britt, 1979). Many researchers have also stated that police-citizen contact is affected by the race of the citizen, regardless of the race of the officers. The control relationship is one of the cognitive factors of police brutality. This variable consists of personal and social control factors that an individual attempts to maximize. According to Tittle, it is the most powerful determinant when associated with the fact of imbalance, because it predisposes a person or social entity to be motivated by deviance. (Tittle, 2004). One of the biggest problems with police abuse is physical brutality. The primary goal should be to get police departments to adopt and enforce a written policy governing the use of physical force. The policy should limit physical force to the narrowest possible range of specific situations. For example, there should be limits on the use of hand-to-hand combat, batons, maces, stun guns and firearms. However, limiting the actions of politicians will generate numerous debates, particularly from the police and administrators themselves. Many believe their firepower is already too weak to combat the weapons available to criminals on the streets, and..