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July 9, 2024

Who Does Police Brutality Affect?

Written by Pointer & Buelna, LLP. Lawyers For The People, reviewed by Adanté Pointer

Who does police brutality affect..? In a word: minorities. Most of us are sadly not surprised to hear that, according to The Guardian, young black men are killed by police at the highest rate. However, CNN calls Native Americans the “forgotten minority” in law enforcement shootings, stating that they actually suffer from the highest amount of lethal force per capita. While states like California and Texas may have the highest number of police killings year to year, Montana has the highest amount of police killings per capita. 

Regardless, police brutality is a pervasive issue that affects primarily young and poor minority males and the mentally ill throughout California and the United States as a whole. As California police brutality lawyers, many clients we serve are in line with this data as well.

Police Brutality as a Public Problem

Police brutality is a systemic problem that affects society at large. Like Martin Luther King Jr. said, “No one is free until we are all free.” When police misconduct goes unchecked, public trust is eroded, which only leads to more hostility. Communities that experience higher rates of police brutality face economic, educational, and social hurdles, perpetuating the cycle of injustice.

Communities Most Affected by Police Brutality

Generally speaking, marginalized communities face the highest degree of police brutality. There is one exception—women. 95% of lethal police brutality is inflicted on men, reports Statista. Here are some telling statistics:

• One in four police shootings involves someone with severe mental illness, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center.
• According to the People’s Policy Project, white people in the poorest neighborhoods have a police killing rate of 7.9 per million, whereas whites in other areas are only killed by police at a rate of 2 per million.
• Research from the National LGBTQ Task Force shows that 29% of transgender people reported harassment by police and 12% reported harassment by judges.
• Individuals living with disabilities are more likely to experience excessive force from law enforcement officers, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Psychological and Emotional Impact on Victims

Survivors of police brutality often suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions as a result of the trauma they have experienced. When the people who are supposed to protect you and ensure you live in a safe world turn around and take away your safety and violate you, it changes how you see the world, how you feel about people. These emotional wounds can deeply affect their overall well-being and quality of life, requiring support and specialized care. We know the Black Lives Matter movement is one of the big social movements that recent years has shown us how police brutality affect communities. Learn how has the Black Lives Matter movement brought attention to police brutality. 

Societal and Cultural Implications

National Louis University reports that acts of aggression by law enforcement triggered retaliation from oppressed minority communities, such as the 1992 LA riots after the Rodney King beating or the global protests after the George Floyd killing. Police brutality does not exist in a vacuum—it has far-reaching societal and cultural implications. High-profile cases in particular spark entire movements of people demanding justice. 

How to Know If You’ve Experienced Police Brutality in California? Contact a Lawyer

If you experienced unnecessary physical violence such as tasers or batons, were racially profiled, verbally abused, illegally detained, or your search and seizure rights were violated by police, talk to a California police brutality lawyer as soon as possible. Our caring, passionate team at Pointer & Buelna, LLP is eager to step in the ring with you, so to speak. To set up a free legal consultation and find out for sure if you experienced police misconduct, contact us now.