Chapter 2 Pt. 3 Militarization

• SWAT teams prioritize "strict fire discipline," with no tolerance for officers acting without orders (Greenstone, 1995).

• Kraska and Cubellis view this militarization as part of the shift to "high-modernity," characterized by standardization, routinization, and technical efficiency (Kraska and Cubellis, 1997).

• The criminal justice system can be viewed as shifting from a due-process model to a crime-control model (Packer, 1968).

• In the crime-control model, the criminal justice system functions efficiently and prioritizes justice that is mechanical and routinized (Packer, 1968).

• Wilson identifies three styles of policing: service, watchman, and legalistic (Wilson, 1968).

• Legalistic-style departments prioritize high arrest and ticketing rates and enforce "all" the laws (Wilson, 1968).

• "High modernity" can be seen as a reform of old-style police departments in response to the civil rights movement and the rise of minorities to political power (unspecified).

• Kraska and Cubellis argue that SWAT teams may instill fear but also reduce the use of force (Kraska and Cubellis, 1997).

• SWAT teams attract officers who enjoy action and want to avoid mundane police work (unspecified).

• SWAT teams were used in the 1980s and 1990s to save poor, minority neighborhoods from the crack epidemic (unspecified).

• Public opinion on police violence has recently come under severe criticism (unspecified).

• The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics is a comprehensive resource for data on the entire criminal justice system (unspecified).

• Police in Latin America, particularly in urban areas, commonly victimized young males and left-wing political activists.

• According to WHO data, Latin America had the highest homicide rate in the world in 2011 with an average of 16.8 per 100,000 population.

• Machismo tradition is a proposed explanation for the high homicide rate, however, social inequality, poverty, discrimination, drug and alcohol abuse, and paramilitary activity are considered better explanations.

• Government agents, political groups, militias, and terrorist organizations contribute significantly to the number of homicides in Latin America.

• Brazil had a high rate of homicides due to "legal intervention" by police, with a rate of 18.45 per 100,000 population in 2011.

• Human Rights Watch conducted a study on police violence and public security in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, finding 10,000 victims of "intentional homicide" in these cities in 2008.

• Drug traffickers and police-linked militias are responsible for violent crime in Rio and Sao Paulo, leaving many neighborhoods, particularly in Rio, under the control of drug traffickers.

• Police corruption is rampant in Brazil due to low salaries and extreme danger of the job, leading to numerous extra-judicial killings and impunity for police.

• Human Rights Watch found instances of police planting or destroying evidence, witness intimidation, and police "rescues" where police take shooting victims to hospitals to "save them."

• Police-linked militias control numerous neighborhoods, particularly in the state of Rio, and are responsible for numerous extra-judicial killings, torture, corruption, extortion, and drug trafficking.

• Police raids into dangerous favelas are sometimes "oddly nonconfrontational" and conducted by BOPE, a paramilitary unit of the Rio police, using black helicopters and an armored vehicle called "The Beast."

• Shoot-outs and torture occur during police raids in favelas and are meant to show the police's restoration of order.

• Police in Latin America, particularly in urban areas, commonly victimized young males and left-wing political activists.

• According to WHO data, Latin America had the highest homicide rate in the world in 2011 with an average of 16.8 per 100,000 population.

• Machismo tradition is a proposed explanation for the high homicide rate, however, social inequality, poverty, discrimination, drug and alcohol abuse, and paramilitary activity are considered better explanations.

• Government agents, political groups, militias, and terrorist organizations contribute significantly to the number of homicides in Latin America.

• Brazil had a high rate of homicides due to "legal intervention" by police, with a rate of 18.45 per 100,000 population in 2011.

• Human Rights Watch conducted a study on police violence and public security in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil, finding 10,000 victims of "intentional homicide" in these cities in 2008.

• Drug traffickers and police-linked militias are responsible for violent crime in Rio and Sao Paulo, leaving many neighborhoods, particularly in Rio, under the control of drug traffickers.

• Police corruption is rampant in Brazil due to low salaries and extreme danger of the job, leading to numerous extra-judicial killings and impunity for police.

• Human Rights Watch found instances of police planting or destroying evidence, witness intimidation, and police "rescues" where police take shooting victims to hospitals to "save them."

• Police-linked militias control numerous neighborhoods, particularly in the state of Rio, and are responsible for numerous extra-judicial killings, torture, corruption, extortion, and drug trafficking.

• Police raids into dangerous favelas are sometimes "oddly nonconfrontational" and conducted by BOPE, a paramilitary unit of the Rio police, using black helicopters and an armored vehicle called "The Beast."

• Shoot-outs and torture occur during police raids in favelas and are meant to show the police's restoration of order.

Test your knowledge about SWAT team technology and their use of 'less than lethal' tools such as percussion grenades, tear gas, pepper spray, and bean-bag shotguns.