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Irelynn Scruggs

Professor Bruce

English 301

11 December 2018

Annotated Bibliography (MLA)

Working Title:

Law Enforcement, Dealing with Racism

Research Question:

Racism, the discrimination against a race based on one’s own belief, has been a problem in law

enforcement. What can law enforcement do to ensure that they do not exhibit racial bias while

policing their cities?

Thesis:

Despite the common belief that all law enforcement officers exhibit racial bias, policies and state

laws that are implemented to combat racial bias should not interfere with the duties of police

officers.

Introduction:

There is not a week goes by that there is not something on the news about an officer

involved shooting and many times it involves a black victim or offender. In 2013 alone the

United States had 458 deaths from officer involved shootings whereas Great Britain had none

and Germany only had eight (The Economist, 2014). Many people claim that officers are killing
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African Americans as well as other minorities because law enforcement officers are racist. Many

news media platforms understand the triggers for viewers when they highlight incidents where

officers, typically white, shoot a black suspect which makes it seem like most if not all officers

are racist. Racism may not be as big of a problem in among officers as it seems based on news

media, but it is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. Law enforcement agencies all

around the country are working tirelessly to come up with and implement new polices for

dealing with people of all races. Despite common belief that all law enforcement officers exhibit

racial bias towards people of minorities, policies and state laws that are implemented should not

interfere with the duties of police officers.

Annotations:

“AB 953: The Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015.” State of California - Department of

Justice - Office of the Attorney General, 14 Feb. 2018, oag.ca.gov/ab953.

The California DOJ has been collecting complaints against police officers since 1981 and the

RIPA Board is releasing their first annual report pursuant AB 953.

I will use the data on this website in my body paragraphs to show that there have been steps

taken to ensure that officers do not racially profile citizens while performing their job duties.

This law, AB 953, which has been put in place by California is a good example of a law that will

not interfere with the duties of officers or cause much more work for them.

Baker, Al. “Confronting Implicit Bias in the New York Police Department.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 15 July 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/nyregion/bias-training-police.html.
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This year the New York Police Department implemented a new training to combat racial bias

throughout their department.

I will use the information that is in this article in my body paragraphs when explaining different

ways to implement laws and policies to ensure that officers are not racially biased towards

anyone. This will also help to show that there are things that other departments can do to

properly train their officers.

De la Cruz, JC. “Not All Police Officers Are Bad, But That Doesn't Mean They're Immune to

Bias.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Oct. 2016,

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/not-all-police-officers-are-bad-but-that-doesnt-

mean_us_57fbd0dfe4b0d786aa52b9c1.

The environment in which law enforcement officers work has a big impact on their attitude

towards specific races.

I will use this information in the beginning of my paper to explain how and why many officers

form a racial bias towards certain races. This will also help explain ways to prevent officers from

forming the racial bias in the first place.

“Don't Shoot.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 11 Dec. 2014,

www.economist.com/united-states/2014/12/11/dont-shoot.

This article shows the statistics from officer involved shootings based on the of the victim’s race

in both the US and other countries.

I will use the statistics in my introduction paragraph to introduce that there is a problem, even if

it is not as big of a problem as the media makes it seem, that needs to be addressed. The statistics

will be very helpful in making my point that this issue is a growing problem in the US and that
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there are ways to combat this problem based on some of the things US departments have

implemented and the things that other countries do so that their officers are not racially biased.