Paul Brakke – författare

COPS AREN’T SUCH BAD GUYS features a series of blogs I have written about cops and fatal shootings.  As discussed in these blogs, most of these killings are actually justified, because of the use of force guidelines which cops follow in the face of a deadly threat, despite the widespread anger and protests against the cops.  But this reaction is fueled by misinformation and sensational media coverage, while the cops involved in these shootings have their lives upended by extensive hearings and huge financial expenses. 

            The chapters in this book are designed to provide a more incisive look at the truth behind these fatalities.  It covers these topics:

            - cops and fatal shootings

            - how misinformation leads to anger against cops and the system

            - the extensive hearings after a fatal shooting

            - the role of the media in promoting violence in police fatalities

THE PRICE OF JUSTICE IN AMERICA features a series of blogs I have written about problems in the criminal justice system and how they might be fixed.  I have been writing these blogs for my website (www.americanjusticethebook.com) as a follow-up to my book American Justice? 

The chapters are divided into the following sections:

            - the rising racial tensions, especially between the police and the black community

- problems in the prison and correctional system

            - differences in the homicide rate in different communities and groups

            - the relationship between homicide rate and drugs

            - the role of the media in sensationalizing crime and contributing to problems in the criminal justice system

THE GREAT NATIONAL DIVIDES discusses the many divisions in the United States and how to fix these divides to reunite this great country.  It begins by tracing a first divide back to the origins of the racial divide going back to Civil War times.  Then it discusses our bleak present, reflected in the controversy over the killings of blacks by cops and the Black Lives Matter movement.  It describes the difficulty of ending segregation and ending or delaying affirmative action.

            Additionally, the book points out other divides based on geography and politics, including the nationality and language divide caused by undocumented immigrants, the great schism caused by the North-South divide, and the division between the Coasts and Middle America, between rural and urban America, and between different ethnic groups and generations.  Then, too, there is the income inequality divide between the rich and poor which is getting wider.

            So what to do about all these divides?  The book concludes with some ways to reform the system, a fix that is especially critical today, as the uncivility and toxicity only gets worse, unless something is done to heal the rift.