This thesis explores the municipal politics and race relations in Birmingham, Alabama, from October 1963 to November 1979. While Birmingham is a centerpiece of the traditional Civil Rights Movement for its staging of the Bull Connor and Martin Luther King, Jr., confrontation in 1963, there has been little examination of the continuing struggles between the black and white communities in the years after the media spotlight. Of particular concern are the battles between the black community, white power structure, and the city’s police department over black policemen, professionalization and modernization, and police brutality. The changing role and tactics of black leadership in the city is also a major interest.

The relationship between the police and African Americans has been fraught for some time. In the 2010s, amid the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the relationship between African Americans and the police was marked by serious tensions including racism, White privilege, and perceptions of police brutality. The purpose of this case study was to explore the current relationship between the police and the Black Lives Matter social movement and assess movement activists' perceptions of police actions. The theoretical framework for this qualitative case study was based on procedural justice and the reason of actions component of Derrick Bell's critical race theory. Data for this study included more than 1,000 social media postings from Facebook and Twitter; 205 public documents, which included police interactions, incident reports, and interviews; and 25 observations from public gatherings between 2013-2016. Data were coded into a priori themes and then content analyzed. Findings indicated that the Black Lives Matter movement generally increases the tensions in the relationship between the police and African Americans, creating emotional strain due to activists' messages of racism, White privilege, and violence. Recommendations included expanding open communication with the police, providing more training for the police, and encouraging police officers to control their actions when having interactions with African Americans, all of which may result in positive social change. The study findings provided a blueprint for community policing in minority communities.

Following the 1992 LA Riots, the LAPD underwent institutional reform, with Community-Policing as a lead programmatic effort to bridge tensions between the community and the LAPD. Conceptually, Community-Policing was designed to improve community relations and create shared responsibility. Following the early 90’s, several programming efforts were made to support the Community-Policing approach. Following the reform period, one must wonder whether Community-Policing proves effective. In order to assess the effects of community-policing, this paper is formatted as a Case Study, conducted in Watts, California. The Watts Case Study analyzes the effectiveness of Community-Policing, and how Community-Policing has shaped community-police relations over time.

Positive community-police relations, which are based on mutual trust, are key to equitable and just policing. Use of force that is perceived as unfair and biased can quickly undermine relations between the police and the public. In an attempt to understand what psychological factors contribute to police use of force decisions and potentially racially biased use of force application, this study proposed masculinity threat as an important psychological factor that influences police behavior. Masculinity threat occurs when a man's status as a man is threatened, and threats to masculinity are often associated with increased aggression and dominance as a way of restoring the threatened status. Policing is a male-dominated field, and because most victims of officer use of force are men, the current research examines how threats to male police officers' masculinity, including verbal and physical manifestations of threat, contribute to officer force against civilians. Past research has explored how high levels of trait masculinity threat (as measured by the Male Gender Role Stress scale; Goff, Martin, & Gamson-Smiedt, 2012) in police officers is associated with higher levels of force against racial minority suspects, however, no such research has examined state level masculinity threat (e.g., in the moment threats) as they occur in real world police-suspect interactions. Focusing on understanding the associations between use of force and state level masculinity threat, it was predicted that officers who have their masculinity explicitly and publicly threatened by male suspects will use more force against suspects compared to interactions where no such masculinity threat has occurred. It was also predicted that minority suspects who threaten officers' masculinity will receive more force than White suspects. To test these hypotheses, reporting officers' (RO) narratives of use of force interactions (excluding lethal force) from a large police department on the West Coast were coded and analyzed. Contrary to the hypotheses, results suggest that masculinity threat within an officer-suspect interaction may relate to lower levels of average officer force and higher number of sequences (e.g., back and forth exchanges) between suspect and officer. While results are in the opposite direction of the hypotheses, they provide new information regarding the association between personal threats to officer manhood and their subsequent actions. Specifically, results suggest that masculinity threat has a more complicated relationship with force than previously predicted and future research would do well to investigate a potential interaction effect of trait level and state level masculinity on police use of force decisions. Several other areas of further research are outlined, such as the need to examine other suspect-level and officer-level variables such as age and tenure. Overall, the results of this study suggest the need for continued clarifying research.

Racial justice activists in Tampa Bay comprise a community and culture structured as a movement of social transformation. Data from eleven interviews and more than 100 hours of participant observation show that activists consist of a diverse array of Tampa Bay residents of varying ages, genders, sexualities, racial/ethnic identities and livelihoods. This community is best described by their beliefs and practices of ideology steeped in intersectionality and anti-capitalism, and are motivated by or empathetic to racial injustices directly experienced by them or those around them. The intention of this paper is to describe activists as they are rather than as they are depicted in the popular imagination, as well as to share the insights of racial justice activists to the public for their own use in resisting injustices.

The American Indian Movement (AIM) was established in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July of 1968. During this time, AIM organized around a variety of urban Indian community grievances, particularly police brutality and accountability issues. This thesis provides discussion of the nature of police brutality and police brutality's context in 1960s communities of color. There is also examination and analysis of how AIM organized around the issue of police brutality, direct action tactics, how police brutality impacted specific group members (specifically Clyde Bellecourt), and newspaper coverage of AIM and the police. The purpose of this thesis is to review how and why AIM organized around police brutality.

D.Ed. / The research nature of this study was primarily explorative, and also descriptive. The objective of this study was to explore and describe community experiences of aggressive behaviour exhibited by police officials towards them. This research was of a qualitative nature. Four steps of psycho-educational programme development were followed. In the first step a situational analysis was carried out. The sampling component was purposively selected police officials working under the jurisdiction of specific police stations in Gauteng Province and community members as victims of aggression at the hands of police officials. Data gathering methods used in this research were phenomenological individual and focus group interviews and observations. The researcher conducted the observation for this study during interviews and field notes were written during interview process. The researcher conducted interviews with victims of aggressive behaviour by police officials and other participants were police officials and stakeholders who are dealing with inappropriate behaviour of police officials. The participants had to comment on their experiences of aggression exhibited by police officials and other participants who are police officials in the South African Police Service talk about their experiences when they were involved in aggressive action towards the community. These interviews formed the basis of this study to facilitate the attainment of the primary objective, which was to explore and describe the experience of aggression behaviour exhibited by Police officials towards the community. The data from these interviews were analysed using an open coding method. An independent coder did an analysis independent from the researcher. A consensus validation discussion was held with the independent coder on the codification of the data. The detailed discussion of results obtained from the interviews and observations were presented in verbatim quotes, descriptive and reflective notes and the illustration of emergent themes and categories. Rigour and adequacy were ensured by data collected and the results obtained from data analysis indicated convergence and saturation. The integration of trustworthiness, that is, credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability were applied throughout the study. Ethical considerations and consent letters were presented to the participants, including preserving of anonymity, confidentiality, voluntary participation, understood consent and the ethical role of the researcher has adhered to. The research is very important as the experiences of aggression by community members were explored and described. The research results indicated that there is tension among the community and police officials in the South African Police Service. The Police officials under study are demoralised and tend to become negative towards the public because they are of the opinion that enough is not done to support them in performing their difficult duties. It is evident from the results that there is lack of effective communication stakeholders who are dealing with inappropriate behaviour in the South African Police Service with other structures like the Independent Complaints Directorate. In step two the psycho-educational programme was developed. Firstly a conceptual framework was derived from the result of step one. The conceptual framework served as framework of reference for the description of a psycho-educational programme. In step three the programme was implemented and in step four the programme was evaluated. In conclusion, it is evident that aggression really exists in the workplace and officials are affected by such aggression. The recommendations of dealing with aggressive behaviour exhibited by police officials towards the community was done in line with the situational analysis after the conclusion drawn from the findings and were described in a psycho-educational perspective.

Human Security and Police Brutality via the Lens of Critical Race Theory Leah Gideon Kuttu 47472109 'Equality' and 'dignity of persons' are common language in the legal lingo on rights and freedoms of all men. However there seems to exist, a large magnitude in discrepancy with the actuality of these ideals in the way that all people are treated, particularly in this work, in the American society. The death of George Floyd was momentous in refocusing light on the issue of police brutality and seemingly, institutionalized racism in America. That one post showing how Floyd was killed by Police, showed just how much Black America was treated in contrast to the stipulated rights for all persons noted in America's legal apparatus. There began for international security a marked turning point in the pivot with the human being- as opposed to the state- becoming the core object for security and protection. This new turn is pointed to the 1990s in the aftermath of the Cold war. Human-centric occupations in security connote that threats to international security begin with the individual and so the individual must first be prioritized when assessing threats to security in the state and the international system. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR, 1948) is the foremost pillar on which human security is...

This study created the new Collateral Consequences Survey on Marijuana-Related Stop, Question, and Frisk Experiences tool. The tool was administered to a sample (N = 73) 65.8% (N = 48) male, 31.5% (N = 23) female, 68.5% (N = 50) Black, 31.5% (N = 23) Latinx, with 90.4% (N = 66) born in the United States—with a mean age of 30.04 years (min =18, max = 55, SD = 9.42). Some 46.6% (N = 34) completed a Bachelor’s degree or higher, while 63% (N = 46) were employed—with a mean annual household income of $40,000 to $49,000 (mean = category 4.23, min = 1, max = 11, SD = 1.899). Participants suffered multiple long-lasting damages as collateral consequences from Stop, Question, and Frisk. Pearson Correlations showed the higher the global collateral consequences scores, then lower Age (r = -.572, p = .000); darker Skin Color (r = .281, p = .016); lower Income (r = -.269, p = 023); lower Life Satisfaction (r = -.469, p = .000); more Negative Impact on Physical Health (r = -.264, p = .024); more Negative Impact on Mental Health (r = -.413, p = .000); lower BMI (Body Mass Index) (r = -.439, p = .000); greater frequency of various types of marijuana-related police contact (r = .580, p = .000); and greater extent of invasive experiences with police (r = .117, p = .000). While controlling for social desirability, the significant predictors of the study outcome variable of the Global Collateral Consequences Score (GCCS-8) were as not born in the US (β = -.607, SEB = .294, p = .044); lower life satisfaction (β = -.141, SEB = .044, p = .002); lower Body Mass Index (β = -.042, SEB = .010, p = .000); more positive attitudes on marijuana equity and reparations (β = .347, SEB = .099, p = .001); greater frequency of various types of marijuana-related police contact (β = -.232, SEB = .099, p = .024); and greater extent of invasive experiences with police (β = .324, SEB = .084, p = .000). This model accounted for 62.4% of the variance (R2 = 0.669 and Adj R2 = 0.624). Qualitative data expanded on the quantitative data findings. Implications and recommendations covered how the new tool created for this study may be used in future research and for screening purposes to identify those needing interventions from police stress and trauma.

A qualitative research approach and the reliance to a large extent on existing literature are used in this study to demonstrate Zambia's stagnant position in becoming a true democracy. While the country is seen as a beacon of peace in Africa, reflected in the peaceful transfer of power after elections, police brutality is rampant. Those with divergent views are not spared and suffer at the hands of police using the Public Order Act in instances of ‘breach of peace' and as an excuse for maintaining ‘public order'. Zambia continues to have a poor human rights record, reflected in the perpetration of violence against its citizenry with impunity by government officials and the political elites. Alleged cases of corruption rarely end in convictions despite overwhelming evidence of illegal practices. The Electoral Commission of Zambia and the judiciary are often accused of being biased towards the political establishment. A failure to appear autonomous has not only negatively affected their operations but has created negative perceptions and a loss of public confidence in these critical institutions. This, in turn, has resulted in the further undermining of democracy, as these important agencies are seemingly ineffective in ensuring that Zambia becomes a true democracy.