Zellner 1

Victor Zellner

Ms. Kenly

British Literature 1B

11 March 2019

Research Questions

1. Are police more likely to use excessive force against the racial minorities compared to

the whites? “Police killed 1,147 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed

despite being only 13% of the population. Police killed 1,165 people in 2018. There were

only 23 days in 2018 that the police did not kill someone. Statistics show that African

American people are more likely to be killed by police and no slight improvement in the

recent years. African-Americans are 3 times more likely to be killed by police than white

people.

2. How do we dismantle racism and prevent police brutality? In the "How to Dismantle

Racism and Prevent Police Brutality" article on USA Today online, by Sirry Alang, he

states that in order to prosper and rid the issue of police brutality, it takes more than one

person to stand up and speak out. “To address police brutality and limit its impact, we

must focus upstream.”

3. Why is using tear gas on illegal immigrants not considered a war crime? It is not

considered a war crime because immigrants are seen to be participating in illegal actions

because they are here from another country illegally and must take all actions.
 Zellner 2

4. Why is more training not provided for officers not to panic in certain situations? The

hours of training are not equivalent to that of an officer actually being on the job and

starting

5. In most cases, policemen are not charged after using excessive force or “accidentally”

killing someone that didn’t even have a weapon, why is that? Police are very rarely

prosecuted for shootings and not just because the law allows them wide latitude to use

force on the job. Sometimes the investigations fall onto the same police department the

officer is from, which creates major conflicts of interest. Other times the only available

evidence comes from eyewitnesses, who may not be as trustworthy in the public eye as a

police officer.