New Outline
New Outline
Specific Goal: My audience will learn about police brutality, as well as measures that can be
taken to prevent it.
Application: The audience may be more able to recognize police brutality in real life, which will
not only cause them to be more aware, but also perhaps want to work for a way to help prevent
it.
Ethos: Primary Ethos: While I have no personal experience with police brutality, it is an issue I
feel very passionate about.
Secondary Ethos: I will cite ten references out loud in my speech.
Pathos: By quickly referencing to some of the victims of police brutality my audience may have
heard about in the media, I hope to not only create recognition for my audience, but also relate
a feeling of outrage and injustice when recalling the specifics of these events.
Logos: I will use statistics of police brutality in America, as well as cases where preventative
measures have been applied how they succeeded.
Audience Assessment: My audience may know about certain cases of police brutality as heard
in the news, but they may not know how frequently occurring police brutality is or know any
solutions to prevent it.
Adaption to Audience: I will use statistics as well as reference incidents, which give a story
and a face to a statistic as well as explain further how these cases were acts of police brutality,
instead of a mishap.
Pattern of Organization: Problem-Solution
Introduction
I.
Hook: During 2015, collected data found that encounters between police officers and
suspects, which end in the death of either the officer, or suspect, 97% of the time it
was the suspect who was killed (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2015).
II.
III.
Preview:
A. First, I will define what police brutality is.
B. Second, I will explain the results of police brutality.
C. Third, I will go over ways police brutality could be minimized.
Transition: Now that Ive introduced the main topics, lets explain what exactly police brutality
is.
Body
I.
If police brutality were just a matter of a few bad apples, it would be a lot easier
to solve. But it isnt. Protecting bad cops is built into the fabric of police culture,
and is a structural issue that has to be corrected with structural solutions. (Starr,
2015).
A. During police brutality trials there should be a mandatory jury instruction.
i. California (People v. Vuyacich, 1922) and New York (Muldoon,
2014) have statutes regarding the testimony of a uniformed officer.
ii. These states both are attempting to eliminate any bias the jurors
may have in regards to police testimonies.
B. Police officers should wear body cameras where police interactions can
be sent to local headquarters and stored incase it is needed as evidence.
i. When wearing body cameras officers are more likely to be aware
of their actions, and think twice.
V.
Conclusion
If everyone is entitled to equal justice under the law, then we should not tolerate
a criminal justice system that values the lives of police officers more than the
lives of suspects (Gross, 2016).
A. It is important to be able to identify police brutality when it happens
whether in the news or in your own neighborhood.
B. Police brutality creates a society full of mistrust, which will make legal
enforcements difficult as well as compromising community safety.
C. When police departments and court systems make changes to overcome
police brutality, as a nation we can overcome the tension building
between law enforcement and the civilians.
You can truly grieve for every officer whos been lost in the line of duty in this
country, and still be troubled by cases of police overreach; those two ideas are
not mutually exclusive. You can have great regard for law enforcement and still
want them to be held to high standards (Stewart).
References
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Briscoe v. LaHue [1983] United States Courts of Appeals The Seventh Circuit 460.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (2015) Arrest-Related Deaths Program: Data Quality Profile
Chaney, C. and Robertson, R.V. (2014) Can We All Get Along? Blacks Historical and
Contemporary (In) Justice With Law Enforcement, Western Journal of Black Studies,
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