Arguments Against Racial Profiling

Racial profiling has been and will continue to be a problem in the United States. Many believe that racial profiling is more prevalent in today’s society; however, this issue has been a part of our society since slavery. Moreover, African American males are mostly the targets of racial profiling, especially in larger cities like New York City and Los Angeles. Racial profiling is becoming a huge problem within the police departments. Police officers are conducting more traffic stops on African Americans males than on any other racial group, for the reason that many police officers believe African Americans males are most likely to be engaged in some sort of criminal activity. Thus, racial

Racial profiling in the dictionary is “the assumption of criminality among ethnic groups: the alleged policy of some police to attribute criminal intentions to members of some ethnic groups and to stop and question them in disproportionate numbers without probable cause (“Racial Profiling”).” In other words racial profiling is making assumptions that certain individuals are more likely to be involved in misconduct or criminal activity based on that individual’s race or ethnicity. Racial profiling propels a brutalizing message to citizens of the United States that they are pre-judged by the color of their skin rather than who they are and this then leads to assumptions of ruthlessness inside the American criminal justice system. With

The concern about racial profiling is erupting throughout the nation. Many cities and states have decided to study racial profiling, or how race and ethnicity may play a part in traffic stops by law enforcement in their jurisdictions. There seems to be a generally accepted understanding of what profiling is. Profiling is the law-enforcement practice of scrutinizing certain individuals based on characteristics thought to indicate a likelihood of criminal behavior. Yet there are two variations concerning the application of racial profiling. Profiling either utilizes race as a sole means of directing police attention, or uses race as a part of a larger set of characteristics and behaviors that lead to police involvement (Chan, 2011, pg. 75). Regardless of the definition of racial profiling, the debate over racial profiling centers on two questions. Does racial profiling actually occur? and Is racial profiling being used and is profiling a legitimate tool of law enforcement?

The concept of racial profiling has its wide range of definitions. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, racial profiling means “the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual 's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” In other words, racial profiling has its assumptions that particular individuals are more likely to be involved in transgression or unlawful activities based on individual’s race or background. Racial profiling does not just exist today; it thrives and mostly propels a brutalizing message and inhuman misconception to citizens of the United States whom they are pre-judged by the color of their skin. The primary cause of profiling is racism or race-related discrimination. Unfortunately, this unwarranted approach is now commonly used by law enforcement officers, even though it could be both unjust and unconstitutional. Not only does it violate the core principles of this country, but it can be dangerous and deadly because it threatens our privacy and security. It is also a threat to racial equality, where many influential and prominent people have fought for to accomplish. Although many heroic activist leaders have ended racial division to its certain extent, yet many African-Americans all over America still face the rigid unequal world because of unjustifiable race-related tragedies that tremendously affects African-Americans.

One of the many controversial topics is racial profiling. For centuries, America has looked down and discriminated minorities and it still continues today. It began when minorities started to immigrate to America in search of better lives. Most whites believed in white supremacy and thought minorities were aliens. The police use racial profiling mostly towards minority groups. Racial profiling is the use of race or a skin color to suspect someone of doing an offense. While some people think that racial profiling is beneficial because it lowers crime rates, racial profiling creates false accusations against minorities; therefore we should limit the use of racial profiling.

When people act on their stereotypical views, that is when stereotyping becomes a big concern and can affect others.Stereotyping is the main cause that leads to profiling. Anyone of any race can experience profiling, and racial profiling discriminates and victimizes people who may not necessarily be committing a crime.

Racial profiling exceeds the legal limits, Latino communities are afraid of going out because they have a higher risk of being arrested, based in the way they look. Ranjana Natarajan a clinical professor and director of the Civil Rights Clinic at The University of Texas School of Law, writes the article, “ Racial Profiling Has Destroyed Public Trust in Police. Cops Are Exploiting Our Weak Law Against It” where she explains how police brutality is against the law but is still happening. Natarajan mentions, “Whatever else we have learned from the recent tragedies of police violence, it is clear that we need comprehensive federal, state and local policies that outlaw racial profiling and rein in police excessive force”. This shows how police

People in law enforcement use race, ethnicity, religion or nationality as a factor in determining if an individual has committed a crime, this is called racial profiling. Many in law enforcement believe that racial profiling is an efficient way of screening someone who is suspected of a crime. They fail to see the problems with profiling someone based on how they look or their backgrounds. Racial profiling is wrong in any circumstance because crime comes from all different types of people, it causes distrust between law enforcement and the people of that community, and it violates citizens constitutional rights.

Clearly identifying and acknowledging the existence of racial profiling is critical to understand its value or lack thereof in society. Racial profiling is not a new practice or term, the origins of racial profiling can be traced back to the days of slavery in America. African-American slaves were viewed as subservient and therefore inferior to whites. This view of African-Americans came with stereotypes such as laziness, ill-mannered, uncontrollable and predisposed to crime and violence. In 1693, Philadelphia courts enacted laws which allowed constables to stop and detain any “negro” seen walking around without their master (Maclin, 1998). The historical context of laws such as those passed in Philadelphia and elsewhere in the United States have a clear nexus to the subject of racial profiling.

Racial profiling has gotten worse over the last decade. The issue of racial profiling has been one of the most important, if not the most important issue for a number of years throughout the U.S. Racial profiling has spread throughout the U.S. fast and it is still spreading as we speak. Evidence shows that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to be stopped and searched by police, even though they are less likely to be found possessing contraband or committing a criminal act(Natarajan). The police’s use of excessive force is a national and systematic problem. They need to put all of the officers into a class which shows them that racial profiling is bad, considering how often it happens and how worse its getting. Racial profiling

I strongly believe that racial profiling should not be used in law enforcement. Racial profiling is irrational and leads to discrimination by targeting individuals based on race, ethnicity, or religion. In the United States, everyone has the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty, but racial profiling allows the authorities to consider people guilty until proven innocent. Racial profiling is exceptionally unethical, unreasonable, and ineffective.

Being an Officer of the law is dangerous profession. Many officers are killed in the line of duty every year and because of this sometimes police are put in situations that require excessive force. Recently what we have seen is that excessive force has ended in the death of an unarmed suspect. I want to address one of topic being spoken on the News right now, Police Brutality in American and if it correlates with racial profiling.

There are major suspicions that minority groups of people are being treated unfairly by law enforcement, through a concept called racial profiling. Racial profiling is focusing blame for a crime onto a group of people based solely on race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. This is only a suspicion in the U.S., but in other countries, this is blatantly going on now in 2017. The reason law enforcement officials tend to racially profile is because there is a common belief among many that certain people commit certain crimes more often, therefore it is a way to (in theory) catch more terrorists, drug dealers, etc. It occurs when officials such as the police will take someone into suspect just because of race, ethnicity, religion or national

Police officers get credit for doing racial profiling which is consider “lazy” work when there are other officers out doing actual police work. It also is an abusive practice that only targets people for how they look. The majority of law enforcement officers are ethical and professional, however, there are those officers that abuse their power to target individuals of certain ethnic groups for unequal application of the law. Also it derails the trust in the community between police and civilians such as when some of the “good” officers come into the community looking answers/clues to find a real criminal they will be denied anything from mostly everyone in the community because of what those “bad” officers had done. Racial profiling isn’t just traffic stops

The belief in race is nothing new to society. However, the idea that race is a social construction is a fact that is turning the idea of race on its head. Studies have shown that race is not a biological concept, it is a social one. Even though this idea is starting to circulate more and more these days, the medical community has not evolved with it. Physicians judge their patient’s race as soon as they enter the examination room, and their race plays a major role in diagnoses of illnesses. People of color are receiving below average healthcare because of their race and that is a serious issue. Race is not a biological factor. When the Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, scientists did not find any genes that grouped human beings into different races. In fact, there were instances where a black person and a white person had more similarities than two black people or two white people. This idea of race is something that society has created just to further political means.