Police brutality

Police brutality is excessive or unlawful force used by police against people in their custody or under their control. It includes physical violence and other coercive acts that violate legal or professional limits.

Use of force: The physical or coercive force that an authority uses to control a person or situation. Police brutality is defined by force that exceeds lawful or justified limits.
Police misconduct: Improper or unlawful conduct by police officers while performing their duties. Police brutality is a form of misconduct centered on excessive or unlawful force.
Rodney King: A Black American motorist whose 1991 beating by Los Angeles police was recorded on video. The footage made police violence a national issue and the officers' acquittals preceded the 1992 Los Angeles uprising.
Deadly force: Force likely to cause death or serious bodily injury. It is the most consequential category of police force and faces strict legal limits.
Use-of-force continuum: A framework that classifies force options by severity and relates them to levels of resistance or threat. Some police policies use it to guide escalation, though its stages do not guarantee proportional responses.
Civil rights movement: A broad movement to secure equal rights and end racial discrimination, especially in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. Police violence against civil rights demonstrators helped expose and challenge racial inequality.
Abner Louima: A Haitian immigrant assaulted and tortured by New York City police officers in 1997. His case exposed severe custodial abuse and led to criminal convictions of officers.
Self-defense: The use of reasonable force to protect oneself or another from an imminent threat. A claim of defensive necessity can distinguish justified force from brutality.
De-escalation: Communication and tactical practices intended to reduce conflict and avoid force. It offers an alternative to escalating coercion during encounters.
Black Lives Matter: A movement advocating against anti-Black racism and violence, including killings and abuse by police. The movement has made police violence and accountability central public issues.

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