Stop and Search Controversy

Stop and Search Controversy The power to stop and search has been a prominent policing tool since the Vagrancy Act of 1824. The briefing, Series 2, Edition 3 March 2012 , it has come under regular legal, political and societal scrutiny because of its broad and discretionary use by its police officers. However has also been praised as it has not only combated crime however prevented criminal acts happening as police can stop and search anyone who they have reasonable suspicion are carrying weapons, stolen goods or going equipped for stealing. Stop and search is extremely subjective in the view that we must trust the officers views are wholly unbiased and prejudice and there is no untoward intent of the officer when using stop and search legislation. Since the very onset of the enactment of legislation in this area of police discretion, there has been controversy because of the subjectiveness afforded to police officers; the controversy being this discretion may be abused. Also the broad term of reasonable suspicion and what is seen as reasonable. There are also fundamental human rights breaches that have been evident in much of the case law. Stop and Search is now governed by 2 statutes; stop and search with arrest situates under the police and criminal evidence act 1984 whilst a stop and search without an arrest comes under section 60 of the criminal justice and public order act. Section 60 of the 1994 criminal justice and public Order Act was introduced to originally tackle people going to illegal raves which were a major problem in the 1980s and early 90s. It gave police the power, if they feared violence or disorder, to stop and search suspects at a specific time and place. I will further be discussing the controversies surrounding Police stop and search and concluding with my own views on this subject. Before the introduction of the police and criminal evidence act in 1984, the police stopped and searched individuals under what was called the sus law. This being because the police only had to have suspicion on their part in order to stop and search an individual, it did not need to be reasonable. The only national stop and search legislation was for the pursuit of drugs and firearms, unlike now with the introduction of the Terrorism act and Sporting event act. Eventually the Brixton riots in 1981 brought a stop to the use of the sus provisions due to the negative relationship it caused between the police and the public, in particular, ethnic minorities. Lord Scarmans Inquiry into the Brixton riots acknowledged that stop and search was a necessary tool to combat street crime and petty crime but expressed genuine concerns over the extent to which the sus laws were used in regards to the police officers own prejudices and views. In 1999 Stop and search came under scrutiny yet again du ring the Steven Lawrence murder enquiry, when Lord Macpherson revealed the shocking disproportionate amount of stop and searches in ethnic minorities, which in turn led on to accusing the police of holding prejudices and being institutionally racist. Lord Macpherson called for stop and searches, whether or not they resulted in an arrest to be recorded so that officers could be monitored and held accountable for if any racially aggravated stop and searches were made. Police work and especially stop and search works on the provision of reasonable suspicion and discretion. Discretion, although many may disagree, is not doing as you please. Discretion is bound by norms, thus including; professional norms, correct community norms, legal norms, and moral norms. Philosophers such as Ronald Dworkin and H.L.A. Hart have cleverly referred to discretion in the police force as the hole in the doughnut ; doughnut theory of discretion, Dworkin described discretion as a donut because it is not free-standing but part of a process. Discretion, like the hole in the doughnut, does not exist except as an area left open by a surrounding belt of restriction. Discretion is not outside the law but internal to the law  [1]  and where the law runs out; natural law theory. Thus meaning unwritten law that is more or less the same for everyone everywhere, based on customary behaviour. In other words Unwritten law is the body of morals and principles everybody obeys and lives by. This idea refers to discretion as the empty area in the middle of a ring consisting of policies and procedures. It is an empty space inside of the law surrounded by statues and rules. Police discretion and the way it operates can be explained by 3 broad terms; individualistic cultural and structural. Individualistic explanation states that police work and the macho image of the police attracts people with authoritarian personalities, research however carried out by Waddington (1999a) does in fact not support this view and states that police recruits are not more authoritarian then normal civilians. Brown and Willis (1985) and Fielding (1988) explained how the training process for these new recruits has a temporary liberalizing effect however exposure to permanent practical police work leads to an authoritarian perspective and outlook. The work of Zimbardo may give some explanation as to the sudden behaviour change in these new police recruits. Zimbardo (1973) conducted the Stanford prison experiment as he wanted to study conformity and was interested in finding out whether the rough treatment reported among guards in American prisons was due to the authoritarian personalities of the guards or had more to do with the prison environment. He took a group of 75 volunteers whom he tested for psychological normalitys, and assigned them to either the role of the prisoner or prison guard. For every 9 prisoners they had 3 guards. They put them in a prison environment and watched as each volunteer began adapting to their roles. The findings were phenomenal, Within hours of starting the experiment the prison guards began to act in a sadistic manner, dehumanizing the prisoners and some even began tormenting and bullying them and alongside this the prisoners began conforming to their newly established roles by taking the rules very seriously and become depressed and telling tales on their fellow inmates. Perhaps this experiment and its findings can give an explanation on the alleged view that police recruits adopt an authoritarian perspective perhaps due to its macho nature and the control they have suddenly been ascribed. Zimbardo concluded after the experiment that people will readily conform to the roles they have been ascribed, especially when they are strongly stereotyped. Canteen Culture could also give an understanding of the individualistic explanation and racism. The police must work as a united front to not only protect the public however to also protect each other so therefore, therefore due to the close proximity of the officers in the police force it is only inevitable officers will begin to conform to certain beliefs and values held by their colleagues, especially if they are outspoken about these. Canteen Culture, Ike Eze-anyika, Faber and Faber (20 Mar 2000). Police sub-culture ( Canteen Culture) is often portrayed as a pervasive, malign and potent influence on the behavior of officers. The grounds for this portrayal are, however, insubstantial and appear to rely more upon the condemnatory potential of the concept than its explanatory power. The cultural explanation of police discretion as said by Skolnick talked about this in a different way by identifying 3 main aspects of police culture and discretion, there is a suspiciousness which they have against certain groups of potential criminals that they treat with prejudice, there is the internal solidarity and social isolation which I believe both internal and support each other; solidarity in which the police must remain a force which supports each other as police individuals against danger in the streets and also the social isolation in terms of because of this solidarity the police have it creates more of a rift in society between the protectors and the protected. This creates citizens feeling like they are just stereotypes viewed by the police and they cannot complain about the police because of this solidarity they have or that they are just merely subjects without autonomy.   New research from the official human rights body reveals racial disproportionality in the amount of Stop and searched being made. Police forces are still more likely to use stop-and-search powers against black people than white people, stopping black people up to 28 times more and therefore may be breaking the law due to breaching their powers and wasting police time. The police force has been accused of being predominantly occupied by white middle class males with old fashioned work practices and whos face fits. A report by the equality and human rights commission reviewed the police force 10 years after the Steven Lawrence inquiry, in which Lord Macpherson branded the Police and Its Officers as institutionally racist. The report found a huge amount of black men on the national DNA database as appose to other ethnicities. The power is used most by the Metropolitan police, which carried out three-quarters of the stops between 2008- 2011, almost 258,000 in total. Although they could hold the largest amount due to the population size in the metropolitan districts. The next heaviest user of these powers was Merseyside with 40,940 stops.   Due to these extortionate figures it was established that something must be done and also perhaps that many of the people they stop may not be educated in this subject and may not necessarily know their rights. A mobile application was introduced early 2012 to inform the users of their rights when being stop and searched. Many people may be unaware that The police have to follow the correct code of conduct when stop and searching an individual; An officer should tell you their name, the reason why you have been stopped and the power that you are being stopped under. They should also give you their badge number, the name of the police station and provide you with a receipt at the end. This app tells the user their rights when being stop and searched. This could be either a blessing or a curse. Perhaps if the user of the mobile application was aware of their rights they could stop any mistreatment or exploitation, However on the other hand if there is a large amount of clued up young p eople then when they do get stop and searched they may feel very confident and start telling the police how to do their jobs and maybe even state that the police did not follow one of the rules even when done so just to get out of an arrest or fine etc. h Although the police force have been branded institutionally racist It could be argued that the police get these racist perceptions from the media. If one crime has been reported, eg- a mugging, the media have been known to blow this story out of proportion and create a societal panic. Pearson was writing in the 1970s, during the time when muggings and the moral panic surrounding it was rife. The word mugging was an invented word to describe a theft against a person, the media stated that muggings were spiralling out of control and were a new dangerous crime.   The media were also highly racist and said the crime was committed most by young black males thus resulting in the police using their stop and search powers more and especially on young black males, which in turn led to the police recovering more illegal articles and led to more arrests. This only because the police stop and searched more people. With these new figures young black males were then labelled as thugs and deviant and therefore left people and also the police with a negative perception towards young black males. This has also been seen lately with the knife crime moral panic and also the London riots as the media stated that working class undeducated young males from broken families decided to revo The police force is stereotypically renown for being a macho profession, and there perception of their job role should be on the streets searching for true criminals; murderers, rapists etc, however they are on the streets stop and searching individuals for petty crimes in most cases. They therefore perhaps to gain some job satisfaction feel they have to find prohibited articles or make an arrest and fight crime therefore they want to find criminals instead of being satisfied that there are no criminals which could result in a high amount of stop and searches. They have work pressures that determine their career on the basis of how many arrest they make and illegal articles they find. They therefore obtain their job satisfaction by finding criminals, by stop and search, rather than being satisfied that they live in a society where there are no criminals. On the other hand with the higher volume of stop and searches results in a higher amount of arrests which shows that justice is bei ng done and therefore heightens the morale of the police officers who are fighting the more every day street level crime.   Along with lord Macpheresons statement he released during the enquiry into the steven Lawrence case and also Lord Scarmans statement during the Brixton riots in which he claimed that the police abuse their powers yet again Stop-and-search powers have come under criticism again when they were ruled illegal by the European court of Human rights in January 2010. The Strasbourg court has been recently hearing a case involving two civilians who were stopped near an arms fair in London in 2003. The court heard the case of Kevin Gillan and Pennie Quinton who had been stopped outside the Defence Systems and Equipment International exhibition at the Excel Centre in London Docklands in 2003, Both individuals were held for twenty to thirty minutes. The court stated that their right to respect for a private and family life was violated. The European Court of Human Rights also said their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated. Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 gives power to the home secretary; Theresa May, to authorise the police force to make random searches in certain circumstances, but The court said the stop and search powers were not sufficiently circumscribed and there were not adequate legal safeguards against abuse. Subsequently both individuals were awarded 33,850 euros ( £30,400) to cover legal costs. Lord Carlile; the governments independent reviewer of anti- terrorist legislation stated, In my view, section 44 is being used far too often on a random basis without any reasoning behind its useThe fundamental point that the court is making is that it increases the possibility of random interference with the legitimate liberties of the citizenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦On the other hand, we have to be safe against terrorism. There is therefore a very difficult balancing exercise to be done and Im sure Section 44 will come under intelligent scrutiny in the coming months. Speaking to BBC Radio 4s The World At One, Ms Quinton said Its not about saying that theres no need for stop and search. What were really saying is people have a right to privacy and there needs to be a balance between police powers to ensure our safety but also our rights to a private life. To conclude; the police force and more specifically the stop and search powers they hold have come under regular scrutiny by many different proffessionals; Lord Scarman, Lord Macphereson and the European court of human rights, to name just a few. The Police force works mainly on discretion and they are trusted upon to make the right decisions, act subjectively and have reasonable suspicion however it is hard to define what is reasonable. This term is too broad and vague and a police officers perception of what is reasonable may differ from his colleagues. Another important point to remember is that each police officer has his own views and prejudices and even if they do not consciously work upon these prejudices they are still engrained into the officer and this may change or dim their view on certain individuals. I believe police should work with discretion to not only to protect the public however also themselves against any foreseeable danger. Police officers get into numerous situations daily and therefore too many laws would be needed to govern every situation in which discretion is used. On the other hand, the stop and search figures brought to the publics attention over the last two decade do indicate levels of racism in the police force however with more and more ethnic minorities and also women beginning to occupy the force there is no room for racism or sexism. Society is rapidly changing alongside peoples perceptions of other races. Finally, I strongly believe that stop and search over the past years has caused a lot of controversy. The concept of stop and search; stop anybody whom you believe to be reasonably suspicious, does seem to work on paper however in practice the officers deeply engrained morals and prejudices seem to subconsciously effect their work which is evident in past figures. Further along Stop and Search does also need reforming due to the very public way in which the individual is stopped which leads to labelling by passing people, even if the individual is completely innocent.

History 1500-1800 Essay

Europe underwent several massive changes after the exploration of the Americas, the Columbian Exchange, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and several religious wars. Before these events, the Europeans lived under monarchies where religion and government were one in the same and world trade was non existent. These events ushered in early modern Europe and changed the continent forever. In the 1450s, rapid changes overtook Europe. Some of these changes were technological, involving advances in firearms and sailing, economic, involving the development of trade networks, and religious, leading to the exploration of the Americas. Before the exploration of the Americas, the farthest Europeans traveled was northwest toward Ireland. Europeans had always been followers of the sea, but the bold exploration into the Americas was their greatest achievement. Before these changes, ninety percent of Europeans were farmers living in small villages. There were food shortages due to war and low grain yields which produced a society that was prone to disease. There was a blend of desperation and ambition that lead the Europeans to the Americas. The Americas meant salvation and security from a war-torn and disease-ridden land. Early modern Europe was a world of inequalities. One quarter of all children died within the first year of life, peasants and craft workers made several hundred times less than aristocrats and nobles, and kings were weak and warrior lords ran small towns. The upper classes provided protection and land for the lower classes and homicide, rape, and robbery were commonplace. Most feared change because early modern Europe lacked order and security; order and security were so fragile that society clung to these things to keep their lives stable. The sudden deaths due to the Black Death, which began in 1347, restored the balance between resources and people. People realized that the more people died, the better wages were, prices were lower, and there was more land. When Christopher Columbus explored the Americas about 150 years after the outbreak of the Black Death, the Europeans that settled the Americas experienced the same problems. There was a shortage of food and land. In the Americas, Europe’s desperate and hopeful population believed that the New World would provide jobs, land, and wealth. Advances in technology made settling overseas attractive to those looking for power and wealth. More efficient ways of establishing credit and transferring money came along with world trade. (Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, Stoff, 2006) The Columbian Exchange was both cultural and biological. The Columbian Exchange was the exchange of European products, such as livestock, food, and diseases, to the Americas and the exchange of the same products from the Americas to Europe. The Catholic church, horses, gunpowder, African slaves, and diseases were introduced to the Americas. The Americas introduced foods such as corn, peppers, pumpkins, turkeys, and tobacco to Europe. Products from Asia, such as grapes, coffee, sugar cane, rice, and olives were introduced to both Europe and the Americas courtesy of African slaves and European traders. (Harrison, 2006) The Columbian Exchange was extremely important to the changes in Europe. In the 1450s, Europeans wanted to study the world around them, including art. It was a new age in Europe that was dubbed the Renaissance. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread throughout Europe. This movement including not only studying old art, but influencing new artists. Master artists, such as Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo, focused on realism rather than religious topics. (â€Å"The Dawn of a New Age†, 2005) Because artists focused less on religious topics, the Renaissance was not only about art, but also about religion. During the second decade of the sixteenth century, radical religious changes were taking place in Europe. The Roman Catholic church defined religion in Europe in the Middle Ages. The Catholic church was a hierarchy. Religious institutions in the Middle Ages were decentralized and local. The popes of the Catholic church grew more powerful, and by 1500, the Catholic church had land throughout Europe and collected taxes from church members. Parish priests neglected their duties while popes and bishops flaunted their wealth. Out of this came the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation began with Martin Luther. The Catholic church taught that one had to live a life of good works in order to achieve salvation, but the Bible said that salvation came by faith alone. Martin Luther, due to this notion, became critical of the church. He posted his infamous 95 theses attacking the Catholic hierarchy in 1517. (Davidson et al. , 2006) After Martin Luther’s attacks, the Catholic church proposed its own reforms. This was known as the Counter-Reformation. Some reforms encouraged society to return to ethical living, but others were only reactions to reformers’ criticisms. However, during this time, an important group known as the Jesuits was formed. This group was officially recognized by the Catholic church in the 1540s. â€Å"The Counter-Reformation†, 1996) The Scientific Revolution was the most influential of all the changes in Europe during this time. The Scientific Revolution changed European thought in every aspect of human life. For example, the view that the world functions like a machine was introduced at this time. Human knowledge was also separated into different sciences. (â€Å"The Scientific Revolution†, 1996) In short, the Scientific Revolution fine-tuned human thinking and got people to see the world differently. Many religious wars were also a part of the changes in European life. When referring to â€Å"religious wars†, ten different wars involving religion come to mind. These wars lasted from 1562 to 1598. Religion was the basis for the wars, however, it involved several other aspects of life. In people’s minds, religion was intertwined with society. Religious tolerance was non existent, therefore, new ideas led to destruction. (â€Å"The Wars of Religion†, 2004) All of these events happened for a reason. The Europeans were a desperate people; they longed for security and happiness. The entrance into the Americas was a welcome opportunity for a better life. The Renaissance and Scientific Revolution made individuals think about the world around them instead of only accepting what they were given or taught. The Reformation, Counter-Reformation, and religious wars expressed different ideas on religion, creating religious tolerance that the world has come to rely on today. Without all of these events, Europe would still be in the Middle Ages. The exploration of the Americas, the Columbian Exchange, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, the Scientific Revolution, and the religious wars all helped to usher in modern Europe. Before these changes, Europe was a war-trodden and disease-ridden country plagued by poverty and intolerance. These important events helped to enlighten Europeans and gave them hope for a better life. All of these factors showed Europeans a different way of looking at the world and their role in their society. After these events, Europeans looked forward to wealth, security, and order. They had a greater understanding of what the world held and how it worked. People began thinking instead of just living.

The Death Penalty Is A Sensitive Subject - 1197 Words

The death penalty is a sentence applied judiciary that consists of legally withdrawing the life of a person who has committed or is suspected of having committed a crime that it is considered by the power sufficiently serious and cruel to be punished with death. Death penalty is a sensitive subject. But in my opinion it is the only rational way of dealing with a capital crime. Many argue that this form of punishment is cruel. That a savage should pay for his or her crimes by staying in jail for the rest of their lives, since according to the people who are against capital punishment staying in jail for life is worst than dying; Since having three meals a day, a bed, a library, a TV room, no bills or taxes to pay, getting an education, not having to go to work, is definitely better than death! These individuals kill, rape, torture, rob and traffic. Then once they get caught they get to eat food at our expense, at the expenses of someone who cant even afford their own meal, who’s conditions are deprived but yet we are the ones funding them. If a criminal murdered a 15 year old, took her rights, her opportunities to get an education and her right to live why would society want to give this person his rights? The same rights he took from someone else? When people think of capital punishment they think of a hypothesis, of an untrue scenario, and that is why they are against this punishment, but if they were to think that the 15 year old girl was a daughter to someone? a sister?Show MoreRelatedShould The Death Penalty Be Mandatory?925 Words   |  4 Pagesbelieve the main reason for that, was that I was interested in the subjects and learning other people point of view and opinions on the subject. 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However, deathpenalty.org noted that â€Å"numerous familiesRead MorePolitical Ideologies On Current Day Topics That Are Disputed Between Politicians And Members Of Society969 Words   |  4 Pagesarticle â€Å"Conservative vs. Liberal Beliefs† from the Student News Daily. In this paper I will discuss my political ideologies on current day topics that are disputed between politicians and members of society. To start off I will start with a sensitive subject, abortion. From my moral feeling and religious background I would say no abortion because it’s murder; I believe life starts at conception. This being said I think it should be legal, to a degree. If a woman is raped or has been part of incestRead MoreCapital Punishment Controversy1553 Words   |  7 Pagessubjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment† . 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