20 Critical Essay Topics: Understand and Debate Police Brutality

If you are interested in writing a critical essay on police brutality, you can get a jump start by reviewing the 20 useful topics below:

Differences in Police Brutality Statistics for Different Genders.
Policies to Stop Police Brutality.
Policies to Reduce Police Brutality in Two Countries of Your Choosing.
Countries with High Rates of Police Brutality.
How GDP Influences Rates of Police Brutality.
How Police Salary Influences Rates of Police Brutality.
Differences in Police Brutality Statistics for Different Ages Groups.
Differences in Police Brutality Statistics for Different Countries.
Impact of Police Brutality Statistics in Legislation.
Influencing Factors for Police Brutality.
Low Psychological Evaluative Standards Leads to Higher Rates of Police Brutality.
Differences in Police Brutality Statistics for Different Races.
Difference between Police Brutality among Female Officers and Male Officers.
Whether Male Officers Show More Police Brutality toward Male Victims or Female Victims.
Whether Female Officers Show More Police Brutality toward Male Victims or Female Victims.
Statistical Changes to Police Brutality over a Ten Year Period.
Correlation between Police Corruption and Police Brutality.
Changes in Police Corruption Statistics between Urban and Suburban Areas.
Whether Arrests and Charges for Police Brutality Reduce Rates of Police Brutality Afterward among Other Officers.
Whether Police Brutality is Regularly Swept under the Rug Among Closely Knit Police Units.

Out of all the interesting ideas which are available, it can still be difficult to really understand how to get started on any of these topics when writing your essay. Don’t forget to visit the article with facts on police brutality that comply with these topics. In addition, improve your writing quality with guides on critical essays. That is why you will find a great sample essay below on one of the topics listed above:

Sample Critical Essay “Low Psychological Evaluative Standards Leads to Higher Rates of Police Brutality”

For some jobs, applicants are required to take psychological evaluations during the application process. These jobs are typically those which require a security clearance or where weapons are wielded. The purpose of the tests are to ensure that the person remains psychologically stable enough to fulfill the duties of their position. Such low standards results in psychologically unstable individuals wielding not only lethal weapons but dangerous levels of authority over others. Because of this background, many of the individuals within the police force if not all have a deep desire to protect one another from anyone who is considered an outside. This only encourages the police brutality that is so prevalent among the psychologically unstable.

In many cases the individuals are required to take regular evaluations to ensure they remain stable regularly. After extreme incidents on the job, the same individuals may be required to take an additional test to ensure the incident did not cause damage enough to render the person unable to fulfill their duties. Examples of such cases might include getting shot or having a partner injured or killed in the line of duty. While the purpose of these tests remains viable and is a necessity for ensuring that anyone wielding weapons is doing so safely, the acceptable levels to which certain members are held during their initial application and during subsequent examinations is far too low among police forces, which only cultivates an environment of police brutality.

Police forces who are required to take entry examinations for their psychological evaluation are not held to high enough standards. With such low initial requirements, it is not surprising that police officers continue to be approved to work in the line of duty regularly. With low entry requirements, the individuals who were bullies in school or who were severely bullied, those who were not loved enough as a child, and those who have serious psychological issues which result in them craving power and authority over others. This psychological background makes police officers hungry for situations where they can exert their power over others. It makes them immediately feign a feeling of threat if an individual asks why they were pulled over or states to the officer that the officer is actually not in accordance with the law during a procedure. Situations where the psychologically unstable individual even remotely feels threatened results in severe retaliation in the form of police brutality.

What makes this retaliation even worse is the protective nature of the police force. Members within the force will automatically side with one another over anyone who is an “outsider” even if they know their police member was in the wrong. They will bend the legal rules for no one but their own, making them complete hypocrites. In addition to this, police officers who are already unstable will view an outside complaining that a member of their unit broke the law as a threat. And as aforementioned, these perceived threats to someone who is psychologically unstable result in severe backlash, bullying, and bending of the rules.

In order to rectify the issue of high police brutality rates, it is imperative that the psychological standards to which members of the police departments are held be raised. Psychological evaluations should review the stability of the individual, their background, their childhood, and search for any indications in their background that they were abused or that they abused others. By identifying those who seek power and control in order to make themselves feel better, and identifying those who enjoy hurting others to bring themselves up, police departments can stop hiring individuals who are more of a threat to society than a help to society. This can put a stop to police brutality. By doing this, true change can come about to all of the police forces which choose to make the world a better place.

References
Anderson, Kelly C. Police Brutality. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books, 1995. Print.
Fitzgerald, Sheila. Police Brutality. Detroit: Greenhaven Press/Thomson Gale, 2007. Print.
Kirschner, Robert H. “Police Brutality In The USA”. The Lancet 350.9088 (1997): 1395. Web.
Kuhns, Joseph B, and Johannes Knutsson. Police Use Of Force. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger, 2010. Print.
Lawrence, Regina G. The Politics Of Force. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. Print.
Nelson, Jill. Police Brutality. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000. Print.
Roleff, Tamara L. Police Brutality. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Print.