Eighth Grader Executed by Cop

[Dean-o]

Frankly, that's always the inherent problem with cops. When they say "us versus them" they mean "cops versus anyone else." We have given the cops way too much power in this country. I often think it attracts the wrong element to the job.

This is explained well in social psychology. Give a jobless and ordinarily mild-mannered man off the street a symbol of authority, a uniform to make him stand out and easily recognisable allegiance to a group, make laws that enable him to enforce their authority onto the public, give him a gun to defend himself, a badge to command respect, sit back, and watch just how fast he will turn into a complete arsehole and abuse his civic duty.

I once saw the results of a study that a professor did on the effects of authority. It was in a mock prison setting. Some students volunteered to be prisoners and others volunteered to be guards. The students knew they were playing a role, but they got so into it that the professor saw them go from normal students to people with detainment issues and authority issues. The guards started making them do crazy shit, yelling at them in their cells, etc. All of this, while knowing that they were only part of a study. That is how strong the inclination to abuse authority is in human beings. It is rarer to be compassionate in a position of authority than it is to be a tyrant. I wish I could remember the name of the professor and the study. I'm sorry, guys, but I assure you, it was real.

It was the Stanford Prison Experiment.