Each day in the United States, people's natural human rights are being infringed upon. The causers of these violations are none other than the people who are supposed to protect society: police officers. This increase in police violence is a part of a toughened criminal justice system which includes the war on drugs, the building of new prisons, and the move toward quicker executions. That is not to say that violations are only infringed upon those who come in contact with these brutal officers, but also to prison inmates.
             Each year thousands of reports are being filed against police officers who assault and ill-treat suspects. Inquiries into some of the largest urban police departments have uncovered systematic brutality. However, it is difficult to assess the true extent of police brutality because there is no reliable national data. Most United States police departments have very strict guidelines on the use of force. International standards state that force should only be used as a last resort, proportionate to the threat and designed to minimize injury, but unfortunately these standards are not followed, and too often officers turn a blind eye to abuse.
             Police brutality and misconduct are merely the major contemporary forms of state-sponsored racist violence. Contemporary police brutality consists of deadly force, the use of excessive force, and it includes unjustified shooting, fatal choking, and physical assault by law enforcement officers. Police misconduct is inclusive of planting evidence, making untrue statements, filing untrue written reports, condoning untrue statements and/or reports by keeping silent, threatening suspects, arrestees, and witnesses, engaging in illegal activities, and committing perjury.
             A large majority of cases involve allegations of excessive physical force by patrol officers during the course of arrests, searches, traffic stops or in street incidents. Some of these alleged ill-treatment...