Controversial Issues Regarding Racial Profiling

Racism has been a big problem in the U.S. for all races for a very long time and continues to be a problem to this day,. Racism has been a big part in U.S. history and has changed over time, some of these races were African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans, for American Indians it was how they were treated wrong socially and economically.

Racial profiling remains a dormant issue in the United States. It is the act of the authority, mostly, police officers linking minority status to criminal behaviour (Glover, 2007). Several police officers in the United States target specific groups because they don’t display characteristics of typical Caucasian individuals (Glover, 2007). To put history into context, before 9/11, not many police officers profiled individuals based on their ethnic backgrounds but after the attack, there was an increase in racial profiling (Harris, 2006). A racial profiling method that became prevalent in the 1980s in the United States was administered by the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration. Operation Pipeline was a program that they launched to help police officers catch drug traffickers (Harris, 2006). In a video, they taught police officers to look for clues that would help them recognize criminals. It was noticed that police officers made a majority of stops to people with Hispanic last names (Harris, 2006). Marshall Frank, a former police officer was asked what police officers should do if they saw an African man driving around a white community. Frank responded by stating that the police officers should stop the vehicle and investigate the reason to why he was there even if there was no occurrence of a crime (Harris, 2006).

What makes America? Is it the freedoms granted to any American citizen? Is it the way the founding fathers fought for their own freedom against Britain? Is it instead the racial history behind this nation? America, since its origins has been a country of immigrants and for immigrants, yet since its origins, there has been discriminatory laws against blacks, Latinos, Asians, and every other race that is not considered white or Caucasian. Has this country that has been based upon racial profiling, that has fought wars as one nation (and even against themselves at one point), and has triumphed through the Civil Rights movement finally succumbed to justice or is racial profiling just as prominent today? Racial profiling still exists in America because ____________________, ___________________, and _____________________. (3 reasons stated in thesis)

. Racial profiling has always led to heated debates, but in general, there is a consensus that it is an offensive tactic that must be stopped, nevertheless if the argument is about profiling in airports, the public opinion is divided. It seems that many are willing to sacrifice their convictions and civil rights for a sense of safety in this war against terrorism.

According to the 11 Facts about Racial Discrimination, “The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that an African American male born in 2001 has a 32% chance of going to jail in his lifetime, while a Latino male has a 17% chance, and a white male only has a 6% chance” (11 Facts about Racial Discrimination 1). Racial profiling, or discriminating against a whole group of people based on their race, is an unjust act and a big problem in our society today. Arresting people because of how they look like, or what they believe in is absurd. According to ACLU, “Racial Profiling refers to 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” (ACLU 1). Although law enforcement assumes they are doing their job, they need to remain objective and fair in all situations, because they are violating rights, lacking protection and risking lives.

In the Justice System there are a lot of flaws that affect many people of color, and from past history, it has shown how these practices can lead to very unfortunate events, one of these practices is racial profiling. Racial profiling is when law enforcement uses race and ethnicity as grounds to determine if someone, typically of color, is guilty of doing something illegal. Racial profiling is a major problem in this country, this as well affects many citizens that are mainly of color because law enforcement usually sees them as targets, and it is important to improve and fixed this issue because there are many tragic incidents that have been caused of racial profiling.

Since the birth of our nation, racial profiling has been an issue longstanding and troubling among minority groups and still continues to exhibit severe consequences in communities.

“In 2005, a study analyzing data accumulated statewide in Texas reveals disproportionate traffic ceases and searches of African Americans and Hispanics, even though law enforcement authorities were more liable to find contraband on Whites.” (The Reality of Racial Profiling) The utilization of personal characteristics or comportment patterns to make generalizations about a person is called racial profiling. Throughout time, the utilization of race by law enforcement agencies in their policing activities has received considerable attention across the nation. The 4th amendment right that one has as an American, which is protecting against unreasonable search and seizure, is becoming contravened; one reason for the way one looks. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that racial profiling violates the constitutional requirement that all persons be accorded equal protection of the law, but it is still occurring in our society. Racial Profiling has caused the violation of our rights whether it maybe from a terry stop that was originated for the case Terry vs. Ohio, stop and frisk, racial vehicle stops, and the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act also known as Arizona SB 1070.

There are many types of racism in America that cause people to make accusations against law enforcement for discrimination. One type of racism is racial profiling. It is a strategy that encourages police officers to stop and question minorities only because of their race. It takes place in a variety of routine police encounters. Unmotivated searches occur everyday among the minority groups. Could you imagine waking up and being scared to walk outside your house because of the color of your skin? This is a fear of almost everyone belonging to a minority group. This continues to be a widespread problem throughout the country.

In today’s world we deal with multiple cases of racial profiling seemingly on a daily basis. Turn on the television, check the internet, or simply have a discussion with someone and you’ll hear about it. "Racial Profiling" describes discriminatory practices by law enforcement officials who target people for suspicion of crime based on their ethnicity, race, origin, or religion. The term first came about during the War on Drugs in the 1970’s and 1980’s when law enforcement were accused of pulling over motorists simply because of their race, then unlawfully searching their vehicles for illegal substances. There are varying opinions about this topic and as the year’s progress, it seems acts of racism, labeling, and profiling increase. Many of the instances of racial profiling that occur today involve criminal justice.

Racial Profiling is a social issue that is capturing more and more attention worldwide but especially by North Americans. Racial Profiling is the assumption that someone has committed a crime based on their physical appearance and the stigma that surrounds that culture or group. Racial profiling, therefore, affects everyone in society as it is about humanity. Everyone deserves the chance to be free of stereotypes and even those who aren’t amidst racial profiling should realise that they are affected as those who are guilty may not belong to said stereotyped racial group or those who are not guilty may be profiled without actions to warrant so. Growing evidence has shown that in a study conducted by the Canadian government “participants who identified themselves as a visible minority felt that they had been the target of racial profiling over the last four years compared to non-minority participants (20% vs. 6%). When asked the extent to which racial profiling occurs unofficially, 20% of the participants felt it happened "all the time" and 62% felt that it happened "sometimes".” (Canadian Department of Justice). These statistics illustrate that even in a country where it is claimed that we are equal and without a biased system people still are treated as if they are something they are not and due to their ethnic background. The article “Ottawa teen claims he was a victim of police profiling” featured on CBC news will only further serves as a real-life example to help

This article interests me because they are eager to respond in this kind of situation by suspending the priest, whose mistake only is to used the product of modern technology as a way of reaching his young parishioners during mass, while the diocese authorities never suspend priests who keep molesting children.

The source relates to the question, “What are some of the controversial issues in racial profiling by the police?” more in the sense of depending on race, ethnicity, other background information, and where people live can relate a lot to how police racially profile people. If it is a high crime area, police are more likely to be suspicious and react differently to people in the community. If it is a high crime area where a lot of the population is a certain racial group, then police may profile more towards that racial group then other groups in that community. One of the authors, Whitney, did research and found, “Whenever black or whites had been compared with Orientals in roughly the same geographical areas, Orientals had always had the lowest

Read the article: "Racial Profiling: A Survey of African American Police Officers"(Barlow & Barlow, 2002). Using concepts from chapters 1-6 as the basis for your analysis, in a narrative format of 750 or more words, summarize: 
(a) the research problem, 
(b) the literature review, 
(c) data-gathering strategy, 
(d) any hypotheses, 
(e) the dependent and independent variable in one of the cause-effect relationships tested by the researchers, 
(f) how the dependent and independent variable were operationalized, 
(g) other variables that should have been measured and/or controlled, and 
(h) the key findings and/or policy issues.

According to research obtained by Cornell University scientists, 92% of Americans watch TV, 87% read newspapers, and 81% specifically watch local or national televised news stations…