Corruption in law Inforcement
Madelyn Tanner
Essential Question
Why would corruption in law inforcement be considered a "tragedy of the commons?"
Background Information
- Usually the officers who live in a bad area are the ones who are, or become corrupt
- Officers sometimes overlook an important law violation in exchange for money
- Alot of corruption cases are usually because of bribery
- Some corrupt officers injure citizens in unnecessary cases
Causes of Corruption
Bribery
Bribery is a huge part of police corruption. This can include bribery of money,cars, and other expensive objects that the officer might want or need. For example,if an officer needs money for his home or a surgery of some type he can use the money from a bribery to pay for it.
Influence
A cop can be influenced by political desisions and might act against a new law to show that he is upset. He might also injure someone who has a different opinion than him.
Status
Some officers take bribes because they want to have more money than their fellow officers, in order to be thought of as better than the rest. Another reason is, the officers family or friend might admired how smart or skillfull he is, because he got away with something.
Effects of Corruption
- Jail is the effect for some cops, more than likely because of bribes.
- Corruption can lead to local citizens not trusting their police force as much as they should.
- Because bribes have become the motivation of some court cases, crime can happen more than usual which negatively effects the people.
- Many people are loosing loved ones because their area might have alot of corrupt police officers working there.
Real World Examples
- In Nigeria citizens were told that they would not get help from the police unless they paid them.
- In California police were "preying on the poor" by fining them when it was unnecessary.
- In Latin America one out of five people reported paying officers bribes over the past twelve months.
Conclusion...
In conclusion, police corruption is considered a "tradgedy of the commons" because when an officer is corrupt it makes the rest of the police personnel untrustable. When nobody trusts the police, crime is not delt with because nobody called them. Some of the crime might kill innocent people, so in the end the police force is very weak and it is costing them citizen's lives.
Vocabulary
- Reforms- The improvement of what is wrong, corrupt,etc.
- Corrupt- Guilty of dishonest practices, as bribery or lacking integrity.
Resources
- Almasy, Steve, and Janet DiGiacomo. "Prosecutor: Cops in Rural California Town Preyed on Poor Drivers." CNN. Cable News Network, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
- Coombes, Thomas. "Crossing the Line: The Consequences of Police Corruption." Transparency International. N.p., 4 Aug. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
- "Download PDFs." Police Corruption. Ed. Brent E. Turvey. Stan Crowder, 23 May 2014. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
- "POLICE CORRUPTION: A LOOK AT HISTORY." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Sept. 1986. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
- Polinsky, A. Mitchell. "Corruption and Optimal Law Enforcement." Ed. Steven Shavell. Www.elsevier.nl / Locate / Econbase Corruption and Optimal Law Enforcement 81 (2001): 1-24. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.
- Www.transparency.org. Overview of Corruption within the Justice Sector and Law Enforcement Agencies in Bangladesh (n.d.): 1+. Anti-Corruption Resource Centre. Www.tranparency.org, 12 Feb. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.