photo by pingnews
In 1971, Stanford researchers had to cut short a legendary experiment looking at prison psychology and power dynamics. After advertising and screening candidates, the research team selected 24 college males to take part in the prison life study. Twelve participants were arrested and booked exactly like actual suspects before being incarcerated in a mock prison. The other twelve served as prison guards and were ” were free, within limits, to do whatever they thought was necessary to maintain law and order in the prison and to command the respect of the prisoners.” The guards quickly turned to psychological games to keep prisoners in line; prisoners quickly adopted the behavior normal in incarcerated males.
By the end:
There were three types of guards. First, there were tough but fair guards who followed prison rules. Second, there were “good guys” who did little favors for the prisoners and never punished them. And finally, about a third of the guards were hostile, arbitrary, and inventive in their forms of prisoner humiliation. These guards appeared to thoroughly enjoy the power they wielded, yet none of our preliminary personality tests were able to predict this behavior.
Given the rash of tasering incidents by law enforcement professionals nationwide, it seems these three types are present in all aspects of the criminal justice system. Let’s consider some of the reports on American keepers of the peace. . .
Dayton, Ohio — Police use taser on blind woman with cancer
Police visit her home in search of her son, a criminal suspect. Scared blind woman lashes out — having been robbed by burglars using the same ruse once before — and is tasered into submission.
Several armed police personal, who likely have some sort of conflict management training, felt the best means of defusing the situation would be to taser a weaponless, blind woman.
Utah — Man tasered in back for refusing to accept a ticket for a traffic violation
Disagreeing with an officer, a man refuses to accept a speeding ticket. After being asked to step out of the vehicle, the unarmed driver walks away from the officer and is tasered. The officer arrests the man for not following directions, while the man rationally explains why he shouldn’t be issued a ticket.
Bush & Co. will be signing this officer up as their first mate on the Good Ship Martial Law. Just because a weapon can’t kill some one, doesn’t mean you get to point it at anyone who won’t listen to you. I’m imagining elementary schools with taser-armed teachers. . .
Winfield, Lousiana — Black man tasered 9 TIMES IN 14 MINUTES by white cop
Suspect Pikes chased and captured (with help of taser), but dies en route to the station. Arresting officers claims Pikes complained of asthma and admitted to being high on crack cocain and PCP. An autopsy refutes both of those conditions, and a forensic pathologist confirms that the 9 applications of the taser (50,000 volts a piece) killed the young man.
Pikes was not resisting arrest. He was handcuffed while face down on the pavement. When did did respond quick enough to the officer’s request to stand he was shocked in the back. He administered 6 more shocks to Pikes who writhed in pain on the ground, instead of stood up at the officer’s request. The final 2 shocks were administered after Pikes had fallen unconscious.
Sounds like a dangerous criminal to me. Handcuffed and stationary. And an unconscious man — there’s not telling what kind of damage he could do! And good job, officer Nugent, using an old stereotype of African-Americans to cover up your crime — next time, you might want to get the coroner in on the game too.
Chickaming, Michigan — Michigan Police taser Durango newlyweds during reception
What’s a wedding reception without “assault and battery, disorderly conduct, resisting and obstruction of police officers, and damage to property” charges?
Seriously?! The only way the police officers could think of to handle rowdy party animals is to taser them? The odds typically are in favor of the sober person who has control over their faculties versus the staggering inebriated individuals. It shouldn’t be too hard to wrangle the wedding guests, especially since most dispersed pretty quickly.
Are you shaking your head yet?
Taser International promotes tasers as a means of subduing out of control suspects. As Canadian police psychologist Mike Webster notes
“My own opinion on this is that Canadian law enforcement, and its American brothers and sisters, have been brainwashed by companies like Taser International and the Institute for the Prevention of In-custody Deaths,” he added.
“These organizations have created a virtual world replete with avatars that wander about with the potential to manifest a horrific condition characterized by profuse sweating, superhuman strength and a penchant for smashing glass that appeals to well-meaning but psychologically unsophisticated police personnel,” Webster said.
Taser International is serving the same role as Stanford researchers who told their subjects to stay in control of the situation however they need to. And when looking at their options to take back the upper hand, it’s far too easy for police to choose the option that eliminates the unruly quickly. In the long run, it’s very dangerous to grant easy access to a tool that can shock and awe the norm.
“When you think the only tool you have is a hammer, then the whole world begins looking like a nail,” Webster told the inquiry in Vancouver.
Seems like police psychologists should be removing officers from field duty that fall into that third category of guard discovered in the Stanford Prison Experiment. Again,
about a third of the guards were hostile, arbitrary, and inventive in their forms of prisoner humiliation. These guards appeared to thoroughly enjoy the power they wielded, yet none of our preliminary personality tests were able to predict this behavior.
To maintain the integrity of the police force, and the keep up a more believeable sense of justice — those increasingly trigger happy officers need to be relieved from duty before they’re tasering the patently pregnant and non-suspects to maintain their authority through fear. It should happen sooner, rather than later, because deaf, naked men are no longer off limits.
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