There have been disputes regarding the police's use of force while controlling the public in the present day. The claims on the police using excess force have continued to generate headlines in the media, creating more public attention. Also, recent deaths have been associated with the police use of force, which has powered more debates nationwide (Wihbey & Kille, 2016). The public has been criticizing the police department for exercising unequal justice to all people. The police actions have resulted in disputes towards the police department engaging in using excessive force, such as deadly force, and violating the fourth amendment. Conventional policing exercises need that law enforcement develops a positive association with the public, respect civil rights, and evade plans that encourage the use of excessive force against the public.
Police officers must justify their arrests by providing tangible evidence of probable cause before arresting individuals. Law enforcement officers are required to follow a specific process while making the arrest. They should apply force if they have the presume that a suspect is a threat can cause serious harm to them or other people. For example, if the suspect threatens the police officers with a gun, they should use force to protect themselves and the general public. Also, while arresting the suspects, the police officers must have handcuffs or place the suspect in their cruiser (ULCA, 2021) . Additionally, they should inform the suspects about their rights during the arrest. They should use force if they believe the fleeing suspects that the suspect poses an impending danger to the public. In law enforcement, reasonableness means the qualities of care in which a reasonable well-judged individual would observe under a given set of conditions. A person who accepts to such levels can evade liability for negligence. A police officer who presumes that the individual is arrested has committed an offense can apply reasonable force to impact the arrest, prevent escape, and control resistance.
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Freedom of speech is vital to people as it enables them to communicate their thoughts and opinions and participate in democracy. However, the government may limit individual's freedom of speech at certain points like in public health, order, and morals (Gutatilleke, 2021) . People's freedom to express their convictions, opinions, and presumptions is jeopardized in the US when states are not needed to achieve a considerable vindicatory struggle when limiting such freedom. The freedom to express oneself is closely associated with other rights and can sometimes be restricted when it conflicts with other rights. For example, it is impacted during court proceedings and fair trials whereby an individual can be limited to gaining access to information. The right is also related to media in which the right to press does not allow the right to expression. The press restricts the freedom of speech by regulating the publication mediums or stifling the diversification of voices implicit in the freedom of speech.
Although the first amendment safeguards almost all speech, I think sometimes the speech surpasses the line causing incitement that causes violence. Speech can sometimes lead to violence through incitements by creating an instant risk of harm to other people. The first amendment poses an ultimate high bar in the speech, which can be illegalized as an incitement. However, unless there is an acute and instant risk to a certain identifiable individual, the speech cannot be regarded as a criminal offense according to the first amendment. The amendment has led to incitements due to its protection of all speech. For example, Brandenburg incited the African Americans by encouraging and fantasizing about violence against them. After being charged for incitement, the Supreme court determined that he had not incited them because he never specified any individual to be hurt or made any plans to attack the people of color. Therefore, the amendment has protected the freedom of expression, and it has encouraged incitements to hate speech and the ability for people to encourage lawlessness and violence.
The criminal justice system requires the jury to determine guilty sensibly to prove the defendant culpable for a crime. The attorneys in criminal cases apply various defenses. Some of the defenses include the mistake of fact used if the mistake concerned a fact and is true. The defense is integrated with another defense in which a mistake is identified and justified by the second defense. Self-defense is another defense in which sensible actions are carried out for one to protect themselves. Duress is applied in cases of crimes, such as attempted murder and treason. The impossibility of murder is applied if the appellants are accused simply because the crime was lawfully impossible to commit.
The defense of necessity applies when people commit crimes in emergency environments intending to protect more severe harm from happening. The legal system excuses people from criminal actions as it was justifying and no criminal action has taken place. The necessity poses the belief that the defendant has reasonably believed a certain or real threat that needed a sudden action. Also, it provides the belief that the defendants had no alternative to finishing the criminal action. Additionally, it ensures that the harm caused by the criminal action should be less than the harm avoided (Schwartz, 2008) . Also, it ensures that an individual involved in criminal action never initiated the threat or made any contribution.
In conclusion, law enforcement should develop a positive relationship with the community and develop plans to reduce their use of force against the public. The police officers are obliged to use force against a criminal if they have destructive weapons and pose a threat to the public. Additionally, the rights of individuals to free speech should be respected. Freedom of speech is intertwined with other freedoms, limiting people the right to express themselves. However, the freedom of expression may lead to violence and lawlessness, which is not protected by the first amendment. Besides, the judicial system has the defenses like necessity and duress. The necessity helps in safeguarding an individual when they commit criminal activities intending to prevent more severe harm.
References
Gutatilleke, G. (2021). Justifying limitations on the freedom of expression. Human Rights Review volume, 22 , 91-108.
Schwartz, S. S. (2008). Is there a common law necessity defense in federal criminal law? University of Chicago Law Review, 75 (3), 1259-1293. https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.libdatab.strayer.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=88f793c6-a777-45b1-aa22-da19ae70ad77%40sdc-v-sessmgr02
ULCA. (2021). Police Department: Use of Force . https://www.police.ucla.edu/other/use-of-force
Wihbey, J., & Kille, L. W. (2016). Excessive or reasonable force by police? Research on law enforcement and racial conflict. The Journalist's Resource . https://journalistsresource.org/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics/
