Each year thousands of reports are being filed against police officers who assault and ill-treat suspects. Inquiries into some of the largest urban police departments have uncovered systematic brutality. However, it is difficult to assess the true extent of police brutality because there is no reliable national data. Most United States police departments have very strict guidelines on the use of force. International standards state that force should only be used as a last resort, proportionate to the threat and designed to minimize injury, but unfortunately these standards are not followed, and too often officers turn a blind eye to abuse.

Police brutality and misconduct are merely the major contemporary fo

Despite laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender, women suffer continual discrimination and violence. Women face abuse at the hands of police and prison officials, and are the victims of rape and domestic violence. To date, more than 138,000 women in United States prisons and jails have been exposed to some form of sexually related intimidation or assault by correctional officers while serving their time. This means rape; it means coerced sex in exchange for cigarettes, tampons, or phone calls to their kids; it means guards who stand outside showers, cells and bathrooms leering and making lewd remarks about the women's bodies; it means guards who stop women in the halls, in the cafeteria, on the yard to perform pat-searches that include groping of breasts and groins; and it means guards who corner women to conduct strip-searches thirty times a day. Stripped of their rights, money and contact with the outside world, they are powerless, helpless and easy to manipulate. Often, they get little support from the police and judicial system in prosecuting their offenders. Who is going to believe the word of a convicted felon over a correctional officer anyway?

There is a widespread case of an abusive use of restraints in United States prisons and jails. These restraints result in unnecessary pain, injury or even death. Without proper authorization of supervision, mentally disturbed prisoners have been bound and spread-eagled on boards for prolonged periods in four-point restraints. Restraints are deliberately imposed as punishment, or used as a routine control measure rather than as an emergency response. The use of chains and leg-irons is not prohibited by United States law, and they are often used to shackle prisoners during transportation. Women who are pregnant are usually held in some type of restraint while being transported to the hospital to give birth. One report in Washington D.C. states that a woman was placed in handcuffs and leg shackles immediately after delivering her child and before delivery of the afterbirth.

Many people are ignorant when it comes to police brutality. They aren't even aware of what is going on. Every incident should be reported and also brought to the public's attention. Unfortunately, reporting an incident doesn't actually do too much. The US Justice Department receives thousands of complaints every year. Those whose rights have been violated often receive financial compensation in out of court settlements, which means the taxpayer is paying for authorities' right to abuse their power with impunity. Cops who have committed these acts will face no serious prosecution, if any at all.

There is also a widespread of rape of male inmates by other prisoners, due largely to overcrowding, and the confining of prisoners with no regard to their backgrounds. In a 1994 survey of Nebraska prisoners, 10% of male prisoners were found to be "pressured or forced to have sexual contact" with other prisoners. In some cases, prison officials

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