There were
differences in the state and federal cases involving the police
officers charged in the Rodney King incident. The primary
difference in the two trials is that the state cases were based upon
charges of criminal acts violating the
state's legal code. The federal cases were based upon charges of
violating civil rights; United States v. Stacey C. Koon, 833
F. Supp. 769 The second difference is that this was a case of
double jeopardy. “The Double Jeopardy
Clause of the Fifth Amendment commands that no person shall "be
subject for the same offence to be twice
put in jeopardy of life or limb. “(Amar & Marcus, 1995, p. 1).
Individuals police
officers can be held responsible for acts of police brutality.
Officer must use “objective reasonableness” in their use of
force. This standard was set for the use of deadly force, but almost
any use of force has a possibility for
lethal results. “Civil liability for use of deadly force is based
on an objective reasonableness standard.”(“Civil liability for
use of deadly force – Part One- General principles and objective
reasonableness,” 2007, p. 107)
There have been
broad changes that have taken place in law enforcement since 1991.
Community policing and evidence based policing have been attempts at
understanding what makes police work more effective. The results of
community policing are partly intended to
create better relations within the
community, and thus to lessen the potential for use of force
incidents ( and thus potential brutality incidents as well). The
negative changes to the law enforcement community have been driven
primarily thorough a news narrative which portrays
policemen in a negative light, particularly in editing footage or
failing to provide complete coverage of the events
being reported upon, as we will discuss shortly in relation to the
King case.
If the law
enforcement community seeks to make the criminal justice system more
effective, there are two priories for
action; first, to confront dishonest news reporting, and secondly, to
confront politicians that seek to use such
false media narratives to obstruct justice. Chief Gates of the LAPD
threw his officers to the wolves despite having access to the full
video, which shows King attempt to assault
one officer (Youtube, 2015). Gates should have shown that portion
of the tape, which the media edited out, at every press conference
discussing the event. When Gates refused
to defend justice, the line officers of LAPD needed to confront him
in turn. As an example of confronting politicians, we can look to
the Baltimore riots of 2015, in which the Mayor gave “space to
destroy” to the rioters. She should have been arrested immediately
upon obstruction of justice, incitement to riot, and malfeasance
charges. Policemen can not do their jobs while being lied about in
the media or sabotaged by their political “leaders”.
The issues of race
and accusations of brutality in the King
case are reflected in today's policing atmosphere. Not many people
considered race an issue in the King subdual, at first, including.
Even King's own attorney (Linder, 2001, para 13). However, Jacobs
describes the media “construction of the event as a crisis”
(1996, p. 1247). Sergeant Koon felt like
the media had edited the tape as an act of “political
bias”(Cannon, 1999, p. 23). Even so, the actions of journalists and
politicians do not represent the community
at large. South Central wanted police protection; polls showed that
the majority of the black and Hispanic
residents were supportive of police (Cannon, 1999, p. 17)
References
Amar, A. R., &
Marcus, J. L. (1995). Double Jeopardy Law After Rodney King. Columbia
Law Review, 1–59. Retrieved June 9, 2105 from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1123126
Cannon, L. (1999).
Official negligence: How Rodney King and the riots Changed Los
Angeles and the LAPD. Westview Press.
Civil liability
for use of deadly force – Part one - General principles and
objective reasonableness. (2007). Americans for Effective Law
Enforcement (AELE) Monthly Law Journal.
Jacobs, R. N.
(1996). Civil society and crisis: Culture, discourse, and the Rodney
King beating. American Journal of Sociology, 101(5),
1238–1272. Retrieved June 5, 2015 from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2782354
Linder, D. (2001).
The trials of Los Angeles police officers' in connection with the
beating of Rodney King. Retrieved June 9, 2015 from
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/lapd/l
apdaccount.html
Youtube. (2015). Rodney King beating video full length footage
screener. Retrieved June 9, 2015 from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb1WywIpUtY#t=17
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