Police Misconduct, Race, and the Need for Virtue Ethics
This paper examines racial bias and police misconduct in the United States criminal justice system, using the 1991 Rodney King beating and the 2020 death of George Floyd as central case studies. Drawing on conflict theory, the paper argues that African Americans are disproportionately targeted and incarcerated, citing Bureau of Justice Statistics data, the prison industrial complex, and coercive plea bargaining practices. The paper contends that the root ethical problem is the absence of a virtue ethics framework within the criminal justice culture, which instead operates through a punitive, us-versus-them mentality. It concludes by advocating for a shift toward restorative justice as the foundation for systemic reform.
- Introduction: From Rodney King to George Floyd: Frames police misconduct through Floyd and King cases
- Racial Bias and the Criminal Justice System: King case details and conflict theory applied
- Evidence of Systemic Inequality: Statistics, profiling, prison industrial complex, plea deals
- Punitive Justice vs. Restorative Justice: Contrasts punishment culture with restorative virtue ethics
- Societal and Individual Effects of Police Misconduct: Public anger, distrust, and historical patterns of oppression
- Conclusion: The Case for Ethical Reform: Calls for virtue ethics overhaul of criminal justice
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds abstract ethical concepts — virtue ethics, punitive vs. restorative justice — in concrete, well-known historical events, making the argument accessible and persuasive.
- It draws on a range of evidence types: statistical data (Bureau of Justice Statistics), scholarly theory (conflict theory, Angela Davis), and cultural critique, giving the argument depth.
- It maintains a clear through-line from the Rodney King case to present-day systemic problems, helping the reader track the argument's progression logically.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of ethical framework application — taking a real-world controversy (police misconduct and racial targeting) and analyzing it through a defined philosophical lens (virtue ethics and restorative justice). Rather than simply describing events, the writer evaluates them against an ethical standard and proposes a framework-based solution, which is the hallmark of applied ethics writing at the undergraduate level.
Structure breakdown
The paper is organized in three substantive parts plus a conclusion. Part One introduces the topic and thesis through comparison of the Floyd and King cases. Part Two presents empirical and theoretical evidence of systemic racial bias, including incarceration statistics, racial profiling, the prison industrial complex, and plea-bargaining pressure. Part Three analyzes the cultural and ethical roots of misconduct, contrasts punitive with restorative justice, and traces societal and individual consequences. The conclusion synthesizes these threads into a call for systemic ethical reform centered on virtue ethics.
Introduction: From Rodney King to George Floyd
The death of George Floyd sparked a tidal wave of protests and civil unrest across the United States in 2020, and the Black Lives Matter movement grew stronger in its activism at an international level. Floyd's death harkened back to the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1991, and it suggested to many Americans that nothing had changed in terms of criminal justice: Black people were still being targeted by police. In many ways, the Rodney King beating was even more severe than Floyd's death. Both Floyd and King had used substances prior to their arrests. Floyd's death was not the result of direct physical blows; King's beating, by contrast, was extensive and malicious, demonstrating far more overt brutality on the part of the officers involved.
The topic underlying both narratives is police misconduct. The King beating itself recalled another King — Martin Luther King Jr. — being arrested for protesting for civil rights decades earlier. Regardless of the differences among these cases, police misconduct is the common thread, whether real or perceived. Commentators such as comedian Chris Rock have pointed out that Rodney King ran from police, arguing that common sense dictates one should not do so. Regardless, it does appear to be the case that Black people in the United States are disproportionately targeted by the criminal justice system. This paper explains the evidence for that assertion and argues that the underlying ethical problem is the absence of a virtue ethics framework within the culture of the criminal justice system.
Racial Bias and the Criminal Justice System
Rodney King was pulled over in 1991 for driving under the influence, but he fled and attempted to evade arrest. He was also under the influence of another substance at the time and assaulted officers; four officers retaliated, and the retaliation was captured on video. The officers were charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney with assault and use of excessive force. A trial followed, and the four were acquitted of assault; one officer was found guilty of using excessive force. A riot in Los Angeles ensued, and federal prosecutors felt it necessary to bring the officers to trial for misconduct. Two officers were subsequently found guilty in federal court and were sentenced to 30 months of incarceration. King went on to sue the city of Los Angeles for nearly four million dollars. The case ignited a national conversation about race, particularly regarding the criminal justice system (Sastry & Bates, 2017).
Many people questioned why the officers were essentially acquitted by the local district but found guilty by the Department of Justice. Skeptics argued that it was because Los Angeles had a long history of police corruption — a culture in which the criminal justice system would protect its own, going back to the era of Police Chief Bill Parker (Sastry & Bates, 2017).
The ethical issues involved point to the absence of a virtue ethics system within the culture of criminal justice. Instead, the criminal justice system operates within an us-versus-them mentality, in which the minority population occupies the "them" side of the conflict. Conflict theory posits that in any society there are at least two groups vying for power, and that the dominant group works to prevent others from gaining resources or leverage. In the criminal justice system, there is substantial evidence that minorities are targeted by the established power structure and treated inequitably as a result.
Evidence of Systemic Inequality
This evidence is widespread. First, 37% of America's prison population consists of African Americans, even though African Americans represent only 12% of the overall population (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2014). This stark disparity indicates that Black people are disproportionately incarcerated. Racial profiling — the practice of targeting individuals based on their race — is used by law enforcement in ways that foster a culture of prejudice and bias, the very culture that was on full display during the Rodney King beating.
Moreover, there is the problem of racism embedded in the criminal justice system's prison industrial complex, as described by activist Angela Davis (2012). The prison industrial complex functions as a modern form of slavery in which inmates are compelled to work for corporations for minimal compensation (Pelaez, 2019). Because Black people are disproportionately incarcerated, the system appears designed, in effect, to re-enslave African Americans.
The prevalence of coercive plea bargaining is further evidence of inherent bias within the system (Nilsen, 2007). Too many people charged with crimes are pressured to waive their due process rights because they are made to fear harsher punishment if they refuse a plea deal and are convicted at trial. This constitutes an abuse of justice, and minorities are disproportionately affected by it.
Conclusion: The Case for Ethical Reform
The criminal justice system is in need of a deep ethical overhaul. It must promote restorative justice in place of punitive justice. It must address the problem of police misconduct, as exemplified by the King beating and other acts of violence. It cannot meaningfully confront these issues — including the disproportionate incarceration of Black Americans — unless it begins to cultivate a new culture grounded in virtue ethics, making that framework the foundation for all thought and action within the system.
References
Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2014). Prisoners in 2013. Retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p13.pdf
Davis, A. (2012). The Meaning of Freedom. San Francisco, CA: City Light Books.
Johnson, T., Quintana, E., Kelly, D. A., Graves, C., Schub, O., Newman, P., & Casas, C. (2015). Restorative Justice Hubs Concept Paper. Revista de Mediación, 8(2), 2340-9754.
Nilsen, E. S. (2007). Decency, dignity, and desert: Restoring ideals of humane punishment to constitutional discourse. UC Davis L. Rev., 41, 111.
Pelaez, V. (2019). The prison industry in the United States: Big business or a new form of slavery? Retrieved from https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289
Sastry, A., & Bates, K. (2017). When LA erupted in anger: A look back at the Rodney King riots. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2017/04/26/524744989/when-la-erupted-in-anger-a-look-back-at-the-rodney-king-riots
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