...Nichole Andreasen Sociology of Crime 4 December 2014 Ferguson Shootings: Victim Theories One of the biggest cases that is surrounding the news today is the story Michael Brown and Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. This case began on August 9th, 2014 when Darren Wilson shot 18 year old Michael Brown. When he was shot, Brown had been unarmed. Before the shooting took place, Brown had been suspected of being involved in a robbery. Around this time, Wilson had been leaving another call that was made, when he stopped Brown for being in the street. He didn’t realize at the time that Brown was the suspect that was involved in the robbery. When he stopped Brown, he physically assaulted Wilson by pushing him into the car. The rest of what happened is still up for debate but what they believed to have happened is that Wilson pulled out his gun and when he did this Brown put his hand over the gun and Wilson shot. Wilson continued to shoot Brown six different times and kill him. Since Brown was unarmed and Wilson originally had no reason to stop Brown other than the fact that they were in the street, many people believed that Wilson did what he did out of racism and that Brown was the victim and not Wilson. This case went to trial and after three months the grand jury decided not to indict Wilson for the shooting of Brown. Throughout this paper, I will go through each point of view of Brown being the victim and Wilson being the victim. I will also use different victim theories to explain...
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...Shooting of Black Teen Sparks Protest Darrel Kessler Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication Instructor Kelli Kapp Everest University December 14, 2014 On August 9th 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri a police officer shot an unarmed teen named Michael Brown. The shooting has caused an outrage because Michael Brown was an 18 year old black man and he was shot by a 28 year old white police officer named Darren Wilson. Some protesters are calling this a racial shooting, claiming that the only reason the police officer shot Michael Brown is because he was a black man. Michael Brown was walking down the street with his friend Dorian Johnson when Officer Wilson pulled up and asked them to move to the sidewalk. That is when Michael Brown got into an altercation with Officer Wilson through the window of his cruiser. A shot was heard and then Michael Brown and Dorian Johnson took off running in opposing directions. Officer Wilson began firing rounds and fired a total of 12 rounds; seven or eight of them hit Michael Brown. There are conflicting stories from witnesses as to what happened that day. Some say that Michael Brown had his hands up surrendering to the officer, and others are not sure whether or not he was surrendering. The shooting sparked civil unrest in Ferguson, people were looting, protesting, and vandalizing. By doing those things people are expressing their anger towards the police officers, their concerns for their own safety, their need to have their opinions...
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...killed also by police officers; their names are Michael Brown and Oscar Grant. There was also a claim that police officer was beat. Body-cams can help solve the problem of false claims not only for citizens but officials as well. One case in particular that would better support body-cam would be that of Trevon Martin. Martin was born on February 5, 1995. He was a junior at Dr. Michael M. Krop High school and he lived with his mother and his brother in Miami Gardens, Florida. George Zimmerman was born on October 5, 1983 in Manassas, Virginia. He was employed as a fraud investigator for insurance. The retreat at twin Lakes was a gated community in Florida. Trevon Marin was visiting his father’s fiancé’ and her son along with his father on February 26, 2012. At 7:09 p.m., George Zimmerman called the police nonemergency number to report what...
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...After the controversial Michael Brown shooting, police officers’ interactions with non-white citizens have received national attention. Police violence has remained a prominent issue with the Ferguson and Baltimore protests causing people to either support or oppose the protest. Some people criticized the protesters for being violent while others saw them as an effective attempt to bring about change in the interactions between police departments and citizens of color. To evaluate the validity of the protesters’ actions, the issues that gave rise to the protests must be fully appreciated to understand if the protest response was justified and will be capable of promoting beneficial change. In Baltimore the focal point of the police violence was the homicide of Freddie Gray. In this case Gray, a 35 year old healthy black man, was arrested. He was then transported in a police van where he sustained injuries to his neck and spinal cord leaving him in a coma. At this point, he was taken to a trauma center where he died a week later. Initially the police officers were unable to account for the injuries or produce a consistent timeline for the arrest, transportation, and medical treatment. This angered the residents of...
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...It was known that the tensions between the minorities and police had been high due to the zimmerman shooting. All it needed was one event that would cut the issue right open. On August 9, 2014 Michael brown, an unarmed black teen was shot six times. Considering the wounds that were sustained in the incident it is very clear that there was a hidden racial tension in Ferguson. This tragic event brings up many questions that deal with discrimination in the police force and police brutality. This is only one of a few rising police shootings, and many more police brutality cases. Michael brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, were walking down a street in a close suburb of St. Louis, Ferguson. From the account of the Policeman, Wilson, he asked them to move onto the sidewalk. Brown reached into the...
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...Police brutality in America is an everyday truth of life. The issue posed by the illegal exercise of police power is a current reality for individuals of color and class. Like the Patrick Lee case, a twenty-one-year-old who was allegedly acting in a strange manner, the officers decided to tasered him nineteen times, spray him with pepper spray and beaten with batons to death for resisting arrest. The jury found that the police did not use excessive force in this case and lawyers said that they (police officers) had done their best with the tools they were given. Another victim was Sean Bell; he was killed by the NYPD when his car was shot at fifty times because they saw a gun inside the car. These two men that were shot at by the police have...
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...Missouri Teen Shooting Josue Solis Business Communication And Critical Thinking/BSAJ1E54Q0 October 6, 2014 Rhonda Waters Teen Shooting I was reading an article about Micahel Brown, the teen that was shot and killed in Missouri. The article states that the teenagers parents are wanting a renewed call for a special prosecutor. I will discuss why I feel that that his parents should let it go and be satisfied with whatever verdict is given My Thoughts As they get closer to deliberating on this case the victim’s parents have requested to have a special prosecutor for this case. I read this article and I see a hurting family and I understand why they feel this way. At the same time I see that there son was not the model citizen and he was already in trouble with the law. This does not justify being shot and killed but that cannot be changed. The events of that fateful day are already history. I don’t feel that changing the prosecutor will have a great change in the outcome of this case. Conclusion Many people have a strong opinion of what took place the night of the shooting. It has been said that there was an altercation between Michael Brown and officer Darren Wilson. Other witnesses state that Michael Brown had his hands up in surrender while he was shot multiple times in the back. What no one knows is if officer Darren Wilson feared for his life and if he had probable cause. Once this case goes to court the truth...
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...America Today By: The most important achievements of African-American civil rights movements have been the post-Civil War constitutional amendments that abolished slavery and established the citizenship status of blacks, and the judicial decisions and legislation based on these amendments, notably the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision of 1954, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. These legal changes greatly affected the opportunities available to women, nonblack minorities, disabled individuals, and other victims of discrimination. The Brown decision demonstrated that the litigation strategy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) could undermine the legal foundations of southern segregationist practices, but the strategy worked only when blacks, acting individually or in small groups, assumed the risks associated with crossing racial barriers. Thus, even after the Supreme Court declared that public school segregation was unconstitutional, black activism was necessary to compel the federal government to implement the decision and extend its principles to all areas of public life rather than simply in schools. The initial phase of the black protest activity in the post-Brown period began on December 1, 1955. Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Alabama, refused to give up her seat to a white bus rider, thereby defying a southern custom that required blacks to give seats toward the front of buses...
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...injuries. Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson and Justices Harriet O’Neill, David Medina, Paul Green and Eva Guzman also upheld the jury’s decision. Justices Phil Johnson, Dale Wainwright and Nathan Hecht issued various opinions in dissent. Johnson said Smith could have simply walked away from the fracas. He also said that Smith should have went out from the place where this incident occurred to save himself. If I would be the Texas supreme court justice, I would rule this case in a same way just like how the...
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...Michael Brown and the 1st Amendment “A shot rang out in the Ferguson sky”. Although this line resembles a line from a song, the events that unite the two are real. Happened August 9th Michael Brown was shot by an officer in Ferguson named Officer Wilson. Michael Browns case didn’t go unheard from the, the main story, violate protests and witnesses comments and the prosecutor’s story will be mentioned in this paper. Officer Wilson violated the first amendment by not reading Michael Browns rights so the situation was not dealt with appropriately. The main story has so much detail that makes it sound so true. Michael Brown was an 18 year old teen and was unarmed and this event happened or occurred on August 9th. Wilson left an apartment he...
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...different current global issues that effect the world, however there is one in particular that I feel is very critical and important. One issue that is becoming more of an upcoming problem in today’s society is racial profiling. In some of the big cities such as St.Louis and New York many people have been facing this issue. Two incidents in particular is the Ferguson shooting of Michael Brown and The killing of a Staten Island man by a police officer. The Ferguson shooting was taken seriously and caused many people to question racial profiling. While Michael Brown was a black teenager the killer happened to be a male, white police officer. This caused many people to have different opinions on whether or not Brown was killed do to his race. Brown was suspected to have done nothing wrong to Officer Wilson and it came to the conclusion that Brown was shot for no apparent reason. As this case continued to be seen through the government, many things didn't make sense to why Brown had been shot 12 times. Many people have came to the conclusion that Officer Wilson wanted Brown dead. No one really knows why this may be the case. Earlier before Brown was killed, he was seen causing a problem in a local liquor store. Once Brown arrived at the scene he should have addressed the situation in a better way however he chose not too. Aside from the Ferguson situation, there was similar situation just a month later. A black Staten Island man was killed by a white police officer due to an illegal...
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...Racially Biased Policing Turns Fatal B.J. Johnson English 102 December 2014 This past summer on August 9th, in Ferguson Missouri, Officer Darren Wilson heard a dispatcher report of a stealing in progress. Following protocol, Officer Wilson radioed in to offer help to the officers searching for the suspects in question. Wilson’s offer wasn’t needed due to the fact that the suspects had disappeared. Moments later Wilson drove past two young black males and ordered them to move off the street. After a second look, Wilson realized one of the young men matched the description of the stealing progress. Wilson radioed for backup and in little over minute and young man lay dead at the scene. He was unarmed. That young man was Michael Brown; the 18-year-old black boy who’s shooting this past summer sparked a major controversy and raised a lot of questions about Police Shootings in the U.S. and their undeniably pattern of racial issues. Currently young black males risk of being shot by police officers is 21 times more likely greater than young white males (Staples). Due to police tactics motivated by racial profiling, racially bias news and media that enhance minority stereotypes, United States law enforcement is targeting minorities that results in Police Shootings caused by racism. After Michael Brown’s tragic death, many realized that our country had seen similar circumstances like this before. A young, unarmed, black male shot dead, taking with him, the alternative...
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...two which is the main focus. Privilege as defined by Shaw and Lee is defined as “Advantages that people have by virtue of their status or position in society.” For example males have advantages that are inherent just because they are males that females do not have. In the case of my topic I focused mainly on the privilege that white people have over black people. In early August in Ferguson, Missouri, 18 year old Michael Brown, an unarmed African American male was shot multiple times and killed after a confrontation with a cop. The officer, Darren Wilson, drove by the boys walking in the road and told them to move onto the sidewalk. Wilson then reversed his car back to the two boys where there was an apparent confrontation as Wilson recognized Brown as a suspect for a convenience store robbery days prior and the boys split off running in separate directions. It later became known that the robbery was not the reasons for the encounter that led to Brown’s death. (Washington Post) When Brown was killed there was a public outcry for him because he had been unarmed and was shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson after what witnesses say looked like Brown surrendering with his hands up walking to Wilson. Shortly after Brown was shot protests and riots began and lasted for several days. This is not the first time that an unarmed African American male had been shot and killed. A few years ago George Zimmerman shot and killed an African American teen, Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman...
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...on today with differences between the police and communities around the united states? For instance, the shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. Mass murdering in public places. Such as, the movies where families go to have a good time. Schools should be a safe place where children go to get their education. Instead we have shootings in movies, schools and even at marathons. How can we trust a government that is letting innocent civilians die because their letting these problems happening over and over again? In that in mind I believed the government should try more to stop the violence to make a safe environment for our families. First the government should educate communities on how to cooperate better with police to help prevent problems in their community. In reality, if a black person gets stop by the white policeman they are less likely to cooperate with them rather than a black policeman. Black policeman understand how the african-americans have a history of not trusting the law, like what happen in Cleveland, Ohio. For example, A 12 year old boy named Tamir Rice was killed in November 2014 at a recreation center. Tamir was accused of point a gun at people at the park. When the...
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... Police tactics and training are in dire need to be revised in order to avoid fatal shots and unnecessary deaths. Some of these brutal scenes that show how the training of police departments is needing to be revised, are the cases of Michael Brown in Missouri and Rodney King in Los Angeles. The most recent death by an officer is the murder of Michael Brown, a resident of Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was shot in the back three to eight times by Officer Darren Wilson after Wilson had abused Brown and almost hit Brown with the police car he was driving at the time. This brutal killing of Brown begins when Officer Wilson rolls down his window and says to Brown and another man, Johnson, “Get the f*** out of the street.” The boys then respond that they will be both get out of the middle of the street in a few minutes, as they were just a few blocks from their destination and Wilson pulls off only to put the car in reverse and crash into Brown. As witness Johnson states, Officer Wilson attempted to open the driver’s door, hitting the two men. As he is unsuccessful, Wilson closes the door, rolls the window down, Wilson begins to pull Brown into the car physically assaulting him, all while...
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