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Alarming Facts and Statistics

Police Brutality in America -- U.S. Cited for Widespread Human Rights Abuses  According to Amnesty International: "There is a widespread and persistent problem of police brutality across the USA."  Ethnic and racial minorities--particularly young black and Hispanic males--are most frequently targeted, while the majority of police departments remain predominantly white.  Young people, particularly minority youth, are seen by police as criminals because of the way they dress, because they frequent certain areas, or simply because of the color of their skin.  Police officers and departments guilty of acts of brutality in most cases go unprosecuted and unpunished. Arrests and convictions of police officers for excessive force are extremely rare. While many cities pay out large sums to settle civil lawsuits, police departments and individual officers are rarely held accountable. View full text of the Amnesty International report at: http://www.rightsforall-usa.org/info/report/index.htm 

FrontLine Investigation: The Plea   Nearly 95 percent of all cases resulting in felony convictions never reach a jury, but instead are settled through plea bargains.  The push to resolve cases through plea bargains jeopardizes the constitutional rights of defendants, who may be pressured to admit their guilt whether they are guilty or not. Those who refuse to "cut a deal" and maintain their innocence, insiders say, are often rewarded with extra-harsh prison sentences.

Chicago Tribune Series on Prosecutorial Cheating   "The series disclosed that nearly 400 homicide convictions had been overturned nationwide since 1963 because prosecutors knowingly used false evidence or failed to turn over evidence favorable to the defense. The reports also showed that, on average, a Cook County conviction has been overturned once a month for the past two decades because of prosecutorial misconduct." 

Too Smart to be a Cop?   "A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit
by a man who was deemed to be "way too smart" to be a police officer, ruling that the New London, Conn., Police Department's rejection of Robert Jordan
because he scored too high on an intelligence test did not violate
his rights. In 1996, he scored a 33, the equivalent of an IQ of 125.
The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of
an IQ of 104."  Why would anyone prefer to employ police officers with low IQs when these are the people first exposed to a crime scene, who will make assumptions based on their observations, and will likely be more easily manipulated by a prosecutor? 

Study Suspects Thousands of False Convictions  "Some 90 percent of false convictions in the rape cases involved misidentification by witnesses, very often across races. In particular, the study said black men made up a disproportionate number of exonerated rape defendants.  But while only 29 percent of those in prison for rape are black, 65 percent of those exonerated of the crime are black. The study found that the leading causes of wrongful convictions for murder were false confessions and perjury by co-defendants, informants, police officers, or forensic scientists.  "Every time an innocent person is convicted," Mr. Scheck said, "it means there are more guilty people out there who are still committing crimes."

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