Featured in Issues & Controversies:
POLICE BRUTALITY AND REFORM: Does Policing in the United States Need to Fundamentally Change?
SUPPORTERS ARGUE
Police officers regularly abuse, harass, and brutalize Americans, particularly black men, without repercussion. Demilitarization, body cameras, bias training, accountability for bad cops, and limits on when officers can use force are all necessary reforms. Governments should defund and downsize police departments and shift those resources to services that actually help the public.
OPPONENTS ARGUE
Reports of widespread police brutality are exaggerated, and charges of pervasive racism in law enforcement are simply unfounded. Only rarely do officers use excessive force, though they must often make instant decisions in tense situations. Defunding police departments will only endanger the impoverished, minority neighborhoods activists proclaim they want to protect.
Let your students review the facts and decide for themselves: Does policing in the United States need to fundamentally change? Be sure to check out Issues & Controversies’ complete and unbiased coverage of this divisive issue. Enhance the debate with the discussion questions, “By the Numbers” data, audio and video content, infographics, editorials, and newsfeed that are linked to the article.
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Are your students and patrons discussing the Black Lives Matter movement and the critical issues it raises such as racism, diversity, civil rights, protests, freedom of expression, and global citizenship? Check out our Understanding Racial Literacy in the U.S. page, where we’ve compiled packages of relevant content available in Infobase resources including Issues & Controversies, each with an easy-access Open Trial so that you can see the content.
