19: Policing Pt. 1

Question 1

UN definition of torture

Answer 1

suffering and pain inflicted with a particular goal specifically at the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity

Question 2

the problem in Ralph’s text

Answer 2

as agents of the state, police officers and military personnel kill and debilitate vulnerable people in ways that are systematic and predictable

rarely face repercussions for crimes they commit and generational trauma they inflict

Question 3

metaphor of the torture tree

Answer 3

leaves: incidents of police force

branches: police officers
- all susceptible to effects of a culture of racialised violent and threat by virtue of their connection to the system

trunk: use-of-force continuum
- guidelines the police are supposed to abide by when deploying force in an encounter with a civilian
- representation as a bureaucratic disinterested tool officers are meant to apply, but is suffused with human judgements that are tied to race

roots: culture of threat/feat
- broadly embedded into institutions of our government

Question 4

effects of the torture tree

Answer 4

serves to reinforce a racial caste system

erodes government’s legitimacy

makes the city less safe by punishing the most vulnerable, and enabling police harassment/violence of the most vulnerable

Question 5

police torture as an open secret in Chicago

Answer 5

primary actors able to intervene want to avoid risking their careers, safety and lives