I have respect for the police, and the job they do. Policemen are a selected few who do a dangerous job. Police have done many great things to help improve communities, help people during their off duty hours and stand strong in face of many fears. The police trying to enforce the law are on the streets in all types of weather. Instead of being at home with their families on holidays they are working to keep peace. Everyday, they step out in a world where violence is considered appropriate.
Our laws have allowed individuals to slip through the cracks of our justice system. Criminals who have raped and killed have walked on technicalities. The results have left the officers with a sense of failure by the system. Some police officers have taken matters in their own hands.
Across America, police have been involved in scandals and drugs. They are abusing the power that they have been given. The communities have begun not to trust the police because of their conduct toward the citizens. People have been beaten and harassed by the guys in blue. People in the communities have seen the police push individuals around and take things from individuals for no reason. People receive the wrong message. The public no longer can see a difference between the police and criminals.
Problems like police corruption have no easy answer. However, there are steps to target the root of the problem. We must start by holding officers accountable for their actions. If an officer uses too much force, he should be put on probation. The people must show the police that misconduct will not be tolerated. The attitudes must change within the departments. When the departments no longer ignore the complaints of excessive force, then the police’s attitudes will begin to change. Screening of officers needs to be done more often. More psychologists and criminologists are needed to spot those officers who are in trouble or on the brink of mental illness. A good start would be to teach the superior officers to recognize warning signs like lateness or angry mode swings.
Abortion Reduces Crime
Abstract No one is certain why crime rates have plummeted in the United States over the last decade. But that fact has not prevented politicians from taking credit for the downturn. The newest theory about why crime is down, however, put forward in a report by two highly regarded economists, is drawing both outrage and intense debate. The economists claim that abortion may prevent the birth of unwanted children, who would have received very little attention from their parents and therefore would have higher probability of committing crime.
In the report, Dr. John J. Donohue 3d of Stanford Law School and Dr. Steven D. Levitt of the University of Chicago contend that a large share of the drop in crime in the 1990’s — perhaps as much as half — can be attributed to the sharp increase in abortions after the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973. Fewer crimes are being committed now, the researchers say, because many of the children who might have grown up to commit those crimes were never born. Within a few years of the Roe v. Wade decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion, up to a quarter of pregnancies ended in abortion, statistics show. Dr. Donohue and Dr. Levitt base their thesis on economic analyses of crime rates from 1985 to 1997, examined as a function of abortion rates two decades before.
The timing of the decline in crime, they found, coincided with the period when children born shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision would be reaching the late teen-age years — the peak ages for criminal activity. States that were the first to legalize abortion, Dr. Donohue and Dr. Levitt found, including New York, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii, were also the first to experience a decrease in crime. For example, in states that legalized abortion in 1969 or 1970, the researchers found, the cumulative decrease in crime from 1982 to 1997 was greater than for the rest of the nation. The decrease in murder was 16.2 percent greater, the decrease in violent crime over all was 34.4 percent greater, and the decrease in property crime was 35.3 percent greater.
Also, states with the highest abortion rates, the researchers found, had larger reductions in crime than states with low abortion rates. The most likely explanation for these findings, the researchers assert, is that abortion has occurred selectively, decreasing the number of children likely to commit crimes as adults.