Being Arrested: The Writing Assignment.
The mainstream news media, also known as the “legacy” media, or the “compliant” media -ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/MSNBC/The New York Times/The Washington Post/The Los Angeles Times and others – has condemned the police for trying to shut down riots and for arresting rioters. Also, this compliant media has been redefining arsonists and looters as many “peaceful protesters” who were only opposing the wrongful death of George Floyd by certain police officers in Minneapolis. This happened at the beginning of Summer in 2020 (and lasted for the rest of the year). A legacy of these ideas has lasted up until today that has called out to defund the police and has supported a national trend to abandon bail efforts for arrested violent offenders, and set early release dates from prison for violent offenders.
Please consider the following facts presented here from national Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data: by the time of the occurrence of the 2020 riots, for each preceding year in America before 2020, there were approximately 50 million police-civilian interactions. Out of these 50 million contacts, there were almost 11 million people arrested for committing crimes. During these arrests, about 60,000 of those accused committed assault against (meaning they attacked) the arresting officers, sometimes resulting in the hospitalization or death of the police officers. These attacks on the arresting officers are known as actions of “resisting arrest” by the arrested.
When fighting happens, because of those resisting arrest, the dangers rise for both parties. For those who physically fight against the arresting officers, nearly 1,000 were killed by the police; with nearly all having resisted arrest with a weapon, or they were resisting violently. Of the total 1,000 who were killed while resisting arrest, nearly 250 were black and nearly 500 were white. Nearly 250 black persons killed while resisting arrest vs. nearly 500 white persons killed while resisting arrest according to the data. Actually, you can see that a white person was twice as likely to die from resisting arrest than if they were a black person resisting arrest.
There are two (2) important statistics to conclude here. First, concerning deaths by police for all who are arrested we divide 1,000 by 11 million = 1,000/11,000,000 = 0.0000909091%. This means that out of the total of 11 million arrested in the United States in any given year, there is a nine ten-thousandths of 1% chance of being killed by the police when arrested. Second, for those who actually physically resist arrest: we divide 1,000 by 60,000 = 1,000/60,000 = 0.01666. This means for those “resisting arrest”, there is almost a two-hundredths of 1% chance of being killed when actively fighting with the police: What does this mean for the civilian and the officer?
What we have here are two statistics that are actually very small, much less than 1%, or less than 1 in 100 probability (chance) of happening. It might be easier to see it this way: for all of those arrested by the police, there is a 1 in 11,000 chance of being killed by the police. And the reason for this is because some people decide to physically fight with the arresting officers. For those people who actively threaten and violently fight with an arresting officer, there is a 1 in 60 chance of being killed by the police. These figures might be a useful way to visualize the actual risk of arrest by the police. Fighting with an officer increases the chance of injury or death to both parties involved.
Not all arrests end this way, for sure only a fraction do. Yet still today, many, many people have high anxiety when they think they might be stopped by the police and possibly arrested. An arrest may happen for something you might not be aware of doing or you might look like someone the police are searching for. Basically, this writing exercise is meant for you to consider your rights to remain silent, to have an attorney present when questioned, to have announced charges against you made public, to confront witnesses against you, and your right to protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Try to put your self in the position of being detained by the police. Think of how you would react, knowing what you now understand about your rights.
For the writing of your paper, please consider the following questions: Many people are fearful of arrest and lock-up by the police. If you are arrested by the police, would you resist arrest or would you allow yourself to be detained without a fight? Should you wrestle with the arresting officer(s), or should you rely on the “assistance of counsel” for your defense? Which path would you take? And, why would you take that path? Please reference the appropriate parts of the Due Process Amendments (4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th) when answering these questions. To earn your grade, please answer the above questions. Please discuss your rights as you wish to employ them or ignore them when arrested.
The paper must be a minimum of 2 pages, up to 3 pages in length, 12 font, and double-spaced. The footnote documentation, for a minimum of 3 sources, must include the name of the author, the title of the article, the publisher, and the date. You can number the footnotes in the paper and then list the footnotes on the last page, or on a last “works cited” page. You may use MLA, Chicago, or APA formats for your footnotes
