The Trayvon Martin case is a very disturbing murder case. When watching this video (see also this video) it is very sad that this young boys murder may go unsolved because of certain laws in the state of Florida. This brings to question a question that was posed at the very beginning of class, Who are the Police? and What is Policing?. The murderer in this case admits to killing the young boy, but claims that this was a case of self defense. To me self defense and the actions that are perceived okay in that kind of situation vary with the situation. In this case it could have been self defense, but the victim that was killed was said to not have any kind of weapon on him and all he had was a pack of skittles. Of course when handling and evaluating a case like this you must look at all the possible actions by both parties and I really don’t see the use of a gun to kill the young boy as okay. The fact that the police have let the murdered go free even though they have a confession because of certain laws is atrocious and not fair at all. The family also brings to light a very controversial topic which is racial profiling. They feel as though if the roles in this murder case would have been switched then their son would have been arrested and booked immediately without question. Although this could be a potential problem in this area and could be part of the reason that the murderer is not arrested, it is hard to believe that they would just let a cold stone murderer rome free on the streets just because of racial profiling.
For me this is where I feel that the police must use their discretion in making a decision on this case. I’m sure they have laws that stop them from incriminating the murderer, but if someone admits to murder and the victim had no weapon on him then that must be murder and that person must pay the price for what they did. The behavior of the murdered in this case is the main point in the police’s decision and the fact that it was a so called self defense act is the main behavior influencing the decisions of the police in Florida. This is just a very unfortunate story that I really am baffled at and am wondering why the murderer hasn’t been arrested, but it also brings the question up in my head who is policing the police. Bringing up the racial profiling topic is something that shouldn’t happen and obviously it will continue to happen and the police need to be policed better so that this doesn’t happen. I’m sure there will continue to be cases like this that are appalling and unfair, but I feel it is the police’s job to bring justice and they didn’t bring justice to this family in my opinion.
The same argument can be said for those militia men patrolling the borders. A lot of illegal immigrants tresspass into private property, therefore they have the right to self-defend their property. It is not just the situation of illegal immigrants crossing the border, but the War against Drugs and Cartels that worry a lot of people along the border. By constitutional right they have right to bear arms and right to shoot anyone that is a threat to them or their property. I believe there is too much power invested into citizens and also too much responsibility to take the situation into their own hands since they are not state-agents. The real battle is at the Mexico-U.S border not in the middle easy. Fortifying our borders with military personel is a better decision for national security reasons. Let the state take the responsibility of securing the borders not our citizens, where there is alot of liability.
ReplyDelete-AAA
I definitely agree with you that the police did not handle the Trayvon Martin case well. The racial profiling reminds me of Maynard-Moody and Musheno book that we're reading in class because it talks about how frontline workers make moral judgment calls rather than abide by the law. In the book, it discusses how workers use mental associations attached to race and ethnicity that relate to a person's character and culpability. I definitely think this is a good example of how stereotyping does not work and is actually harmful to getting justice. Rather than basing judgments on color, the police should focus on body language, facial expression, and other less stereotypical cues for deciding whether a person looks suspicious. I think this should be practiced particularly in Eldorado, where the police is taking a more aggressive approach to policing. There is a danger that this may lead to racial profiling - just like in this case. In order to avoid this, frontline workers should be more aware of common stereotypes and the dangers behind them. - ML
ReplyDeleteI was unable to access the video. But from the explanation you provided on the case, it sounds like
ReplyDeletethe murderer took a "gun to a knife fight" and as such should be punished. In my view, the state agent narrative would be the best measure to apply. While the laws aren't fixed per-se on what qualifies as self-defense, an act as describe is obviously not self-defense. It is disproportional use of force. Thus, the cops should straightly apply the laws to appropriately punish the murderer. I think El Dorado community needs to be on the watch for cops and situations like these, especially since the community is struggling to provide security for its citizens. How the police handles cases like this may likely affect how they handle future cases in El Dorado. Let's also remember that precedents are important in forming the judgments for citizen-agents.Thus, it is important that they set the right precedent.
Y-LG
I think that this case gives a perfect example of how many of the concepts that we have discussed in class are related and work together in everyday situations. There is clearly an issue over the regulation of private policing, as the murderer was the neighborhood watch commander. There is also an issue of racial profiling at work. There were many possible outcomes in this situation, had Trayvon Martin been white, had the chief of police been black, had the population of the city been different. It is clear that the make up of the city will influence the treatment of individuals by frontline workers and by the letter of the law.
ReplyDeleteA very similar situation occurs in the city of Eldorado, wen the city is faced with the problem of street sex workers and a homeless population. As a post-industrial city, their regulations have to be focused on removing a particular type of people, leaving the door open for stereotyping and profiling. Once this door is opened, it becomes hard to control the behavior of individual frontline workers because, as discussed in Cops, Teachers and Counselors, their decisions will be based on their ideas of a persons worthiness and the confines of the law, not the letter of the law alone.
Khalidah Shaheed-Muhammad
I first heard about this story on the morning of our midterm, and I think an important thing to point out is that the shooter is a neighborhood-watch volunteer. I agree that this is a case of racial profiling. When a young black male is seen in a gated community, the shooter's natural reaction was that he did not belong there and that he is a potential threat to the community. When the police failed to respond, he took control and assumed the role of a state-agent.
ReplyDeleteSiqiao Che
I also like how Devon mentioned that due to certain laws in the state of Florida, it is very difficult to prosecute George Zimmerman. In our post-industrial society, private policing is again on the rise as people feel the need to secure themselves behind gates. Even though private police agents do not have the same level of legitimacy as state agents, they can be potentially more dangerous because they are not bound by many of the constitutional restrictions. In Trayvon's case, Zimmerman did not even identify himself before approaching the boy. Had Trayvon been approached by a police officer, the officer would be required to identify himself and Trayvon might have reacted differently given the officer's identity as a state-agent.
ReplyDeleteSiqiao
This incident brings up one of the major flaws of private policing: who appoints and regulates private policing? It goes back to one of the first questions posed, to us in class "who are the police". In this case some media are referring to Zimmerman as a self-appointed or self-identified watch commander (whatever that is). Whether he was self-appointed or recognized by others in his community as such the reach of his self-protection rights didn't seem to be under any sort of regulation given the cops "let him go". In what other scenario is this acceptable? A person can follow another person in a public space (public being subjective since it was a gated community) and go as far as to shoot and kill the unarmed person under the guise of "self-defense"? It definitely feels as if the police involved are operating as civil agents and making judgements based on their personal perceptions of the individuals involved rather than following the guidelines of the state to investigate the situation. Perhaps this city could benefit from the example El Dorado is setting by modernizing it's police force. It would not only most likely change the mentality of those on police force but improve their policing and investigative methods as well.
ReplyDeleteDC
Three things. First, I'd like to share how I, too, was strongly disturbed by the Travyon Martin case. Second, I'd like to point out that in spite of my grievance, I don't agree with some people's linking it to a problem of private policing just because Zimmerman was a local crime-watch. Third, the usual linking to El Dorado.
ReplyDeleteFirst, my biggest problem with the Trayvon Martin case is how the police handled the situation. I'm not going to refer to the case as murder without all the evidence yet, but that the police would not even arrest & question the killer properly when he was the only witness to the case is preposterous. The "Stand your Ground" law disturbs me as well--if the use of lethal weapons is to be justified by self-defense, shouldn't there be a stronger regulatory/investigative system assessing the actual "self-defense" of each case?
Second, as much as I have all these raging anger against the case, I don't think the fact that Zimmerman was a self-appointed neighborhood watch leads to a debate on private policing. The issue at hand is that police let a potential murderer loose on the grounds of self-defence after responding to a phonecall that identified Trayvon as a "suspicious guy".
I don't think the gravity of the case lessens or intensifies by Zimmerman's status as a neighborhood watch--would we have more reasons to be angry? DC asked above who watches the private policing--but isn't that what this whole TM case is about? the police's regulating the private police?
Third, for Eldorado reference, at this point I would actually like to deny connecting my comment to ElDorado because I know it would be a forced, contrived effort as none of the points I made above would be relevant to Eldorado. I could force it and talk about the relationship between police and race, but I'd rather not.
JHN