Future Directions in Police Violence: What to Expect (From Policing and Violence, P 214-227, 2002, Ronald G. Burns, Charles E. Crawford, eds., -- See NCJ-193031)

• NCJ Number: 193041
• Author(s): Gene Stephens
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Prentice Hall Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter discusses the future of police violence: more of the same, new violence, and less violence.

Abstract

The real issue emerging for the next few years is whether the police and the citizenry are ready to turn away from the “crime and crime fighting on the frontier” mentality that dominated the 20th century. The major political battlegrounds will be the key indicators: guns and capital punishment. Only when the police and the public turn away from the approach that the gun is an integral element of the frontier law enforcer model will violence abate significantly. The willingness of citizens to use police powers to put fellow citizens to death, as in capital punishment, brutalizes society and inherently implies that violence is an acceptable means of problem solving. Another factor in near-future violence is simple demographics: The teenage population will increase some 30 percent during the first decade of the 21st century. Without major change in the way American society nurtures, rears, and socializes its youth and meets their needs, more violence might well be expected. Another factor is the “state of anomie” many people find themselves in as the new economic system displaces workers, many of whom find themselves unprepared technologically and emotionally to take advantage of the new system. The most difficult trend to reverse is the desensitization to the consequences of violence seen in many children, as they are besieged by daily violence in the mass media as well as in electronic games. The information technology and biotechnology age provide new opportunities and methods to commit violence, such as electronic con artists, identity theft, genetically engineered microorganisms that can disable or kill, or mindstalking. There are signs that Americans are increasingly seeking alternatives to violence. The best indicator is the decreasing crime rate, including violent offenses, which started in the mid-1990's and continues into the 21st century. Police departments are adopting community policing and problem-oriented policing--a proactive focus on preventing crime. The movement away from criminal courts toward offender-citizen mediation and arbitration programs will escalate under restorative justice. 43 references