Re:A Test of Police Body Cameras Defies Expectations
by matt4077 on Saturday October 21, 2017 @05:40AM
(#15521307)
"Brusque questioning" will obviously be applied completely subjective.
Once you start deferring to police officers' immediate judgement, the legal process is tainted to amplify every single stereotype police officers hold.
White victims will obviously be treated with more deference than blacks, Spanish-speaking people will all be assumed to be illegal immigrants etc.
So the young man accused of something will be "brusquely questioned" within the first minutes and confess to the crime. While the old woman is treated with deference, has a chance to talk to a lawyer, and never gets convicted.
And the worst thing is the spiral, self-amplifying nature: start like that, and the sort of people already suspect will be the only ones actually being charged with crimes and convicted, which will reinforce all the ideas the process started out with.
Once you start deferring to police officers' immediate judgement, the legal process is tainted to amplify every single stereotype police officers hold.
White victims will obviously be treated with more deference than blacks, Spanish-speaking people will all be assumed to be illegal immigrants etc.
So the young man accused of something will be "brusquely questioned" within the first minutes and confess to the crime. While the old woman is treated with deference, has a chance to talk to a lawyer, and never gets convicted.
And the worst thing is the spiral, self-amplifying nature: start like that, and the sort of people already suspect will be the only ones actually being charged with crimes and convicted, which will reinforce all the ideas the process started out with.