Taser Guns
By: Max • Essay • 762 Words • December 21, 2009 • 906 Views
Essay title: Taser Guns
Police misconduct and abuse of power has always been an issue in the American Society. As time progresses so does the world around us, in particular, technology advancement plays a major issue in our everyday lives. With the rapid advancement in technology, issues of law enforcement and its power have to be addressed. The issue is, whether problems created when new technologies and the criminal justice system meet a positive one or do the negatives outweigh the positives. The main focus is the use of tasers by law enforcement. “The Taser is a hand held “conducted energy weapon” that uses propelled (i.e., shot) wires to send out or conduct energy that affects the sensory and motor functions of the central nervous system (Paul V. Stearns, J.D., Associate Police Training Specialist).” Over the years this has become the modern alternative to deadly force, looking deeper into the issue you may find that the “lesser lethal”, alternative is rather dangerous and may be greatly misused. To explain, it is necessary to look at key aspects pertaining to this device and law enforcement, how has it been used since implemented, are health studies showing positive or negative results and lastly do the positives outweigh the negatives in using this “alternative” source.
Taking a look at our general surrounding we find that our everyday lives revolve around obeying the law. We act certain ways and obey certain laws that the government sets in play for the general society. What happens when you disobey the law? Once you break the law the government has the right to peruse action against what you have done with equally equivalent force. Depending on how severe your actions are also depends on the equal return of force if necessary, the government will use in return. With that established lets take a real life scenario and tie it in with regards to how the taser, has been used in recent times and whether it is being slightly abused by law enforcement. This was an incident that happened so very close to what a lot of college students would consider a second home, college library. “An incident late Tuesday night in which a UCLA student was stunned at least four times with a Taser has left the UCLA community questioning whether the university police officers’ use of force was an appropriate response to the situation…A six-minute video showed Tabatabainejad audibly screaming in pain as he was stunned several times with a Taser, each time for three to five seconds. He was told repeatedly to stand up and stop fighting, and was told that if he did not do so he would “get Tased again. Tabatabainejad was also stunned with the Taser when he was already