Alexis Shapiro

October 16, 2018

Period 3

Police Officers who Break the Rules

Research Question:

Do police officers have less sentencing time when they commit crimes compared to other

criminals?

Hypothesis:

Police officers who commit crimes will have less or no punishment and will continue to commit

crimes and not be held responsible because they are in a position of power.

Background/History of the Issue:

There have been many cases where police officers have beaten or killed suspects and have gotten

away with it. Police officers have stolen, committed acts of violence and even murdered and not

been given the same amount of punishment as non police officers. However, the data may be

biased because each case is different and not all of the cases are public so the results of some

cases are unknown. 873 out of 3,328 police officers on trial for violence were convicted. There

are 1.7 officers arrested per 100,000 population compared to the 3,888 citizens per 100,000

population. Out of all of the officers arrested throughout the period of a seven year study, only

54% were fired. Of the officers arrested for domestic violence, only 37.5% were fired.

Rationale:

I believe that this issue is important because it means our system is corrupt and that effects

everyone. If the police officers that you trust your life with are murdering people or selling drugs
we shouldn’t be trusting them with our lives. The police who are corrupt and committing crimes

aren’t just in one area, they are all over the US. I believe that we all deserve to feel safe around

the people who are supposed to be protecting us.

Basis of Hypothesis:

I stated in my hypothesis that police officers who commit crimes and get away with it will

continue to do so because data showing that 54% of police officers who were fired were able to

transfer to another department and keep their law enforcement certification and they just go to a

neighboring county.

Operational Definitions:

Sentencing time- the time served in jail after being convicted for a crime

System- police using their power to control us, but being dishonest and breaking that trust

Descriptors Used for Literature Search:

Cases of police officers getting arrested

Police misuse of power

Police committing crimes