Dr. Zimbardo was forced to intervene at this point and take the prisoner out of solitude and return him to his cell. In the following days, the guards dramatically increased their abuse towards the prisoners out of mere boredom. For entertainment purposes, the guards subjected the prisoners to both pornographic and degrading abuse. The prisoners were marching, with hands on each other's shoulders and bags over their heads, performing a toilet run. The guards, even though allowed by Zimbardo to work in shifts, worked overtime in order to accomplish ‘peace' in their prison. However, the guards were causing anything but peace in the mock prison. Zimbardo's experiment was out-of-hand and outsiders were demanding he discontinue the torture of these students. By the fifth night, Dr. Zimbardo was forced to end his experiment entirely. The two-week experiment ended on day six.
The Stanford experiment set out to examine life inside of a prison with a focus of what goes on the in the mind of a prisoner. It ended in a complete annihilation of innocent college students. Moreover, the experiment showed what can happen when normal, healthy, ordinary students are given power.
The Stanford experiment closely relates to what occurs in police brutality. The guards in the experiment began as healthy young college students, as are many new recruits into law enforcement. Then, they were given power, just as cadets are given the power to enforce the law. Soon, the power overwhelmed the guards into believing they were above the rules. This is much like police officers whom see themselves over the very law that they enforce.
The experiment even went so far as to show the power figures engaging in abuse merely for entertainment purposes. How many times have you seen an officer speed by you on the interstate just to get where he was going faster? If it was in the line of duty, he would have his lights on. Lastly, like the guards who were given their billy clubs, police officers are given a gun, mace, and a night stick. A gun possesses an unquestionable amount of power. An individual who has a gun is likely the individual who succeeds, not necessarily because he is right, but because he possesses the most power. Now think about carrying a gun around with the power to enforce laws over another for eight hours a day. This, essentially, is what police officers do day in and day out, not just for six days of a supervised experiment. The Stanford experiment proved that possessing power of another alters one's attitude and personality and defies personal morals.
At the heart of police brutality are the actual incidents. Incidents can be seen daily flashed over television screens and portrayed in all aspects of media.
Let us first look at the Calvin incident referenced above. "Calvin admitted he had sex with a woman in a station break room after she was picked up on a drunk-driving allegation" (www.katv.com , 2005). While this may not be considered physical police brutality, it still consists of police abuse in that it is an abuse of power. Mr. Calvin, while on-duty, and receiving pay and benefits coming from the American citizen's tax dollars, unable to control his sexual urges, felt compelled to act them out with a female who was obviously in an obscured disposition, being intoxicated and in trouble. Many argued this case as being consensual and not judiciable. Many blamed the victim of the assault as being responsible just as much as Mr. Calvin.
This is simply not the entirety of the case. Not only was Mr. Calvin having sex while on the taxpayer's dollars, but he was setting precedence for the officers also in the police station on the night the act was committed. This opens the door for the community to wonder what else these officers have time to do while on their shift. It leads one to wonder what crimes in the city were being committed while this incident occurred. Does this police department deserve and increase in city taxes to raise funds for more policeman, better cars, and larger jails? This act questions the officer's moral fiber. How would you feel if you received a speeding ticket from this officer thirty minutes before he went to his break room and had sex? Was his judgment in giving you a speeding ticket impaired by his urge to have sex? He was a 17-year police veteran.
How many other judgments were skewed by his sexual desires? The entire act committed by a respected veteran leaves room for any offender he has ever convicted to turn the table on his judgment. Then, the victim, obviously intoxicated, probably scared of what a drinking conviction might do to her, probably naïve, perhaps young, was violated by someone who, at the time, was superior to her. He was the authority to which she was to obey and respect. Perhaps she thought she could get out of her conviction. Perhaps she honestly thought his command was one she had to obey at the moment. Perhaps she was in a state of mind where she felt the time and place were right. Any excuse given by the victim, in no way, makes Officer Calvin's actions right. The entire incident goes to show the community, who respected the officer, what goes on in the mind of a police officer who is given power over another; Calvin believed he also had power over the law.
