The bill to prohibit the use of racial profiling is known as the “The End Racial Profiling Act” as introduced by Benjamin L. Cardin. Cardin widely addresses the deceptive practice of racial profiling by law enforcement on five levels. First, it visibly defines the racially prejudiced practice of racial profiling by law enforcement at all levels. Second, it generates a federal prohibition against racial profiling. Thirdly, it mandates data collection so we can completely assess the factual degree of the problem. Fourth, it provides funding for the reinstruction of law enforcement officials on how to stop and avoid the use of racial profiling. Fifth and finally, it holds law enforcement agencies that continue to use racial profiling…
Racial Profiling in the Criminal Justice system. Racial Profiling has been argued to be a very ineffective style of community policing in the criminal justice system. Using the New York City Police Department, “Stop, Question & Frisk” Policy as a model, I will show that profiling has led to lower crime rates which is shown from a current and historical point of view. Using history as a tool, in time periods where New York City seen the highest peaks of crime, through interviews and official documents, I will show data on different races being profiled for crimes in different communities. Some would argue that…
In 1999 a Gallup poll of citizens found that 59 percent of Americans believed that “race-based profiling was widespread” (). In an additional study, Weitzer and Tuch found that 80 percent of African Americans believed that racial profiling was prevalent in their own city and 90 percent believed that racial profiling was widespread within the United States. Additionally, 59 percent of Hispanics believed that racial profiling occurred in their city, and 77 percent believed that racial profiling was widespread within the United States. These perceptions are damaging to the police profession and addressing the issue heals wounds and builds trust within their communities. While the Blue Ribbon Investigation was not conducted due to specific allegations brought against the Portland Police Department, the investigative team assumed that Portland is “no different from other cities in the United States, where the perception that police unfairly target people of color is common and has been documented” (). Therefore this investigation was a proactive examination of the Portland Police Departmentto determine if racial profiling was occurring, either confirming or denying citizen’s beliefs that racial profiling was a widespread issue within the United…
Racial profiling has influenced many people across the world; it has been a huge problem which needs to be resolved. The points discussed in this paper basically touch on why racial profiling is unacceptable and how it needs to be sustained. Why minorities shouldn’t have to suffer because of false stereotypes; also shouldn’t have to deal with bias opinions of the law. America is the land of the free also a place where second chances are embraced. There’s points made on how people reacted to racial profiling, and some resolutions. The ultimate goal is to minimize this epidemic in hopes people can start raising more…
Did you know that an appalling, unconstitutional and pernicious attack happens continuously in today’s society against innocent citizens and nobody does anything about it? This practice is called racial profiling. Mr. Bob Herbert, a journalist for the New York Times, discusses this in his article, “Hounding the Innocent”. This article is an insightful and informative. He informs his readers about many actual situations of innocent citizens becoming victims of this cruel practice. Mr. Herbert is correct, racial profiling is unnecessary and hurtful or is sickening and should not even exist. Racial profiling is the practice of using one’s skin color as evidence for grounds of suspicion. How can one say that this practice is fair? Racial profiling should be eliminated; it is insensitive, unconstitutional and has a detrimental effect on society.…
Racial Profiling is a controversial law enforcement practice that brings about numerous complex ethical and policy considerations. As defined by report for the Department of Justice (Tamir 2009), racial profiling is “any police-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than the behavior of an individual or information that leads police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity.” Generally, the use of race in conjunction with other evidence has been a common method of investigation for law enforcement officials. However, the use of race in targeting potential suspects has been the center of a complex legal and ethical debate. Specifically, the debate surrounding racial profiling offers the issue of the proper use of race in targeting a suspect in a criminal investigation. Though the use of race can be important in investigative and law enforcement tactics, the practice of racial profiling leads to the potential of abusive actions by law enforcement in the pursuit of apprehending criminal suspects.…
In the United States of America racial discrimination still exists to this day. Minorities in our country are not seen as equal people. When a person is deprived of their human rights it makes them feel degraded and troubled. In order to become a more civilized country, we must forget the color of our own skin and live with each other as one. In the article “Why Racial Profiling is a Bad Idea” by Tom Head, discusses the way cops pay more attention to those of minority races and how they usually find them guilty of crimes they didn’t commit. Even though many officers will deny their participation in this type of profiling, a lot use this tactic to pull over and arrest Minority races. The article “Racial Profiling Lives On” by Devon Carbado, Cheryl Harris and Kimberle Crenshaw, also displays examples of how racial profiling continues to this day. There are many ways cops can search/arrest African Americans or other Minorities for no reason and still keep from breaking the Fourth Amendment and the authors of “Racial Profiling Lives On” supports there claims with emotional examples that appeal to a pathological type of audience.…
The issue of Racial Profiling in America by our Police Force is an undeniable truth and tragedy. Steve Holbert and Lisa Rose in their book the color of Guilt & Innocence recount a story of a Caucasian woman who is forced to walk alone with her young daughter down dark unfamiliar San Francisco streets at night in the dark. We’ll call this woman Lisa. She had just exited a train car with her young daughter and was walking down the dark streets unsure of her surroundings when she noticed that a stranger man, whose features she couldn’t make out, was following her and her daughter. Lisa had heard and seen reports about a young man in his mid-20s that was dark complected and had been robbing tourists. She felt her body tighten as she began breathing rapidly and she had quickened her pace pulling her daughter along without realizing it, until her daughter started pulling her in the opposite direction because she had dropped her candy cane that she had gotten from the cable car employee earlier that evening. “After her experience in the city, she began to question whether the irrational fear of monsters conjured up in the mind of a four year old was so different from the “monsters in the closet” we perceive as adults, the only difference being that the “monsters” we see as adults have a face and the face is of those who are different or those whose skin color is darker than our own. (Holbert, S; Rose, L 2004). This begs the question, “Did she fear this man because it was…
In the United States, ‘The land of the Free’, racial profiling of minority groups seems all too common. Many Americans believe that law enforcement as well as many other people often discriminates on minority groups simply because of their color of their skin. Civil rights activist and many leaders of minority groups are pressuring Enforcement agencies to eliminate racial and ethnic profiling during traffic stops and supposed random pedestrian stops. However, many law enforcement representatives claim that the complaints about these activities are overstated and are simply in the heads of the accusers. As a nation with a history of racial slavery and racial segregation, particularly towards any group that is not Anglo-American or fair skinned, African-Americans have long complained of racial profiling. Although racial slavery has been over for over one hundred years, and segregation that ended over fifty years ago, there is still tension between many people over race. Hispanics and Muslims are two other ethnic groups that feel the racial profiling, often being suspected of being terrorists or being illegal immigrants.…
While the term “racial profiling” has only recently come into play, law enforcement has always used ethnicity and race as a basis for law enforcement to act upon. Overtime, conflicts between law enforcement…
The judging of an individual’s character by their race did not become relevant because of the Rodney King beating, the attacks on the World Trade Center, or the illegal aliens crossing the Mexican border. Racial Discrimination has been a reoccurring issue for centuries. Throughout time, these judgments and discriminations have led to unwarranted searches, racial riots and unjust prosecutions. Racial Profiling not only adds to this overwhelming issue but is upheld by the U.S. government and prominent leaders. Racial profiling has caused divisions between black men and the police, negative effects on immigration and race relations, and false imprisonment, further proving that racial profiling is not defensible public policy.…
In the wake of unjust police brutality occurring throughout the United States, racial profiling has transpired into an even larger issue than previously perceived. It has led to the targeting of specific minority groups in order to counter terrorism and danger. One can easily manage to see why racial profiling is utilized. Many argue that the police may appear racist when making charges, but are actually being objective. Others believe that all information available in a case is necessary to come to a conclusion and unusual activity is most often associated with particular ethnic backgrounds. Lastly, some feel as though law enforcement officials have the mental capacity to exercise their own professional judgment. These arguments appear valid,…
Racial profiling is destroying the U.S. because in every single one of the cases about this profiling no justice is served; none. After both of the unarmed men were shot or brutalized, Freddie Gray and Michael Brown, none of the police officers were convicted of murder. The six officers in the case of Freddie Gray were either acquitted or not guilty. The officer in the case of Michael Brown, Darren Wilson, was found not guilty. The continuous theme of officers killing unarmed black men and pleading not guilty is a process that needs to be stopped…
Since the 1970s, racial profiling has been used as a “necessary police tactic” to catch criminals before the crime has been committed. When racial…
Racial profiling is a controversial topic in today’s society. Many minorities feel targeted by governmental officials such as police officers and U.S. courts. “Statistics have shown that blacks in the U.S. are arrested and imprisoned for committing crimes at higher proportions than any other racial group” (“Crime and Race”)Even though minorities feel targeted by governmental officials and have higher crime rates than whites, racial profiling is just an alleged practice. Minorities feel singled out by law enforcement. Governmental officials are suspected to use the practice of racial profiling; the government activity directed at a suspect or group of suspects based solely on race. Is there use of racial profiling within the United States justice system? In 1976, during the court case United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, a Hispanic man had been stopped by Border Patrol while he was driving in his car near the California-Mexican border. The statistics also show that these experiences are not simply disconnected anecdotes or exaggerated versions of personal experiences, but rather established and persistent patterns of law enforcement conduct. It may be that these stops do not spring from racism on the part of individual officers, or even from the official policies of the police departments for which they work. Nevertheless, the statistics leave little doubt that, whatever the source of this conduct by police; it has a disparate and degrading impact on blacks. But racial profiling is important not only because of the damage it does, but also because of the connections between stops of minority drivers and other, larger issues of criminal justice and race. Put another way, "driving while black" reflects, illustrates, and aggravates some of the most important problems we face today when we debate issues involving race, the police, the courts, punishment, crime control, criminal justice, and constitutional law.…