Ethics And Its Absolute Status

Racial Profiling, it’s been the buzzword of the decade, its being talked about every time the news is on, it’s thrown around high-schools more often than test answers, it’s what George Zimmerman was accused of doing to Trayvon Martin, and it’s what Darren Wilson was accused of doing to Michael Brown. Everyone seems to have an opinion on Racial Profiling these days, some arguing that its morally right or wrong, others that its statistically supported or disproved, and many people argue over both. In a room of fifty people if you ask what they think about it you’ll get fifty different answers. After the recent incidents in New York and Ferguson that have made Racial Profiling the new poster child of every single media outlet, and after hearing so much about it I decided it was time for me to figure out what exactly Racial Profiling is and come up with my own answer to the million dollar question; should Racial Profiling be allowed as a tool of the police in their investigations?

Even the United States struggles with issues of racial discrimination despite being a society highly based on immigrants and multicultural diversity. On one hand, people frown on treatment based on race, whether that is on an individual or group level. On the other, people are tired and annoyed by the seemingly constant call of discrimination. All of these feelings culminate into the debate pertaining to the use of racial profiling. Likewise, there are some individuals that hold a certain level of acceptance in regard to racial profiling. However, what is lost in the process because of that acceptance? There are many components that need to be thought about in reference to the use of racial profiling. In addition, it can be viewed

Racial profiling has been a recurring issue for quite a while in the history of America and it appears as if it will proceed the same. Many individuals do not know what racial profiling stands for and sometimes victims of racial profiling aren’t even aware of the meaning. Racial profiling is often identified as the use of race by any law pursuing organization to any extent, as a reason for unlawful conjecture in non-specific inspections. Every person is entitled to basic human freedoms and rights, which are undermined when discrimination based on religion, nationality, ethnicity, race, or other particular status occurs. It is unlawful to discriminate against citizens regardless of their race according to the United States Constitution, Civil Rights Act of 1964.

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.

I would argue with Peter Schuck because racial profiling undermines human rights. The Fourth amendment states, secure from unreasonable searches and seizures of property by the government. It protects against arbitrary arrests and is the basis of the law regarding search warrants, and stop-and-frisk. Law enforcement violates the amendment when they make a traffic stop. In a study done by the New Jersey Turnpike, fifteen percent of all drivers on the Turnpike were minorities, that virtually all drivers violated the traffic laws, and that blacks and whites violated traffic laws at almost exactly the same rate, but that forty-two of stops and 73.2% of arrests were of blacks’ motorists. The Attorney General of New Jersey said, “that the use of arrest statistics could not justify racially disparate stops and searches, as those arrests were the product of racially discriminatory law enforcement practices” (Rudovsky 300). The statics done by Turnpike and Attorney General one could see that people get pulled over by their race. Statics show that 15.4% of the stops failed to comply with Fourth Amendment standards. The people that were being stopped was based on suspicion of possession of a weapon, yielded a weapon in only 2.5% of all stops were considered African-Americans. Officers would Force young men to lower their trousers, or otherwise searching inside their underwear, on public streets or in

Criminal profiling is designed to help police spot criminals by developing a set of personal and behavioral characteristics associated with particular offences, with a better “profiles” it is easier to treat whoever as a suspect. (Harris,11). But while using this tactic, it can quickly become into harsh racial profiling, only because they both share the same techniques. But many law enforcements might argue back that it makes perfect sense in using these specific traits due to that fact that certain races have larger involvement in certain crimes (Harris,17). By saying this, the officials basically have a free pass at detaining anybody, only on the basis of a suspicion which is concidently related to their skin color. There have been countless situations where innocent people who are automatically assumed to criminals and were discriminated against. One example dating back to 1998, happened to Sergeant First Class Rossano Gerald, an African American who had devoted his life to the United States Army, was on the way to a family reunion in Oklahoma. During the roadtrip Gerald noticed several patrol cars who followed him for a little bits of times. Then, he was pulled over six times and the seventh time after being wrongfully accused of going over the speed limit and even after providing a valid licence, proof of insurance and a army identification, was detained inside a police vehicle. The police then said that he has smelled drugs and called the dogs to look for

Racial profiling has been used all throughout history, but with the use of media it has become a more open controversial topic to the public's eye. The big question that remains unanswered is, is racial profiling good or bad? There are people who believe racial profiling is wrong, claiming there is no indication that the people being racially profiled. And other people who justify their reasons to believe racial profiling is okay, but in what sense is it okay? Therefore, racial profiling is an enormous problem, specifically in the United States, that should be stopped.

Racial profiling has been a touchy subject for United States citizens. Racial profiling has been around for quite some time in America and it more than often benefits the majority population (white America). More recently, the controversial topic has been brought to light. The debate over Racial Profiling topic is whether or not racial profiling is wrong or right. Multiple opinions from notable sources have been debating over this topic for decades. Some sources give reasons and examples in order to debunk the idea that racial profiling is necessary for police officers to do their jobs, as well as for normal citizens to form an opinion of fellow United States citizens and immigrants. While other sources give reasons to support racial

Racial profiling is an example of police brutality, which is defined by Gross and Livingston (2002) as “the practice of some officers of stopping motorists of certain racial or ethnic groups because the officer believe that these groups are more likely than others to commit certain types of crimes” (p.1413). Therefore, individuals are treated unfairly by law enforcement solely based on their race. This type of mistreatment is unmerited and ultimately a violation of an individual’s rights. However, in many instances the courts do not find it a violation of their civil rights based on the fact that racial profiling is difficult to prove. Often, prosecutors are disinclined in bringing forth a case against officers on this particular matter. Officers are permitted to stop and search individuals and their vehicles whenever there is reasonable suspicion, however, there has been studies that prove that some law enforcement officers restrict these rights primarily to minority groups. Bowling and Phillips found that although there was no formal monitoring of use of these powers, it was concluded that it was particularly heavy use of these powers against ethnic minorities, largely of young black people (as cited in Sharp & Atherton, 2007, p. 747) . In several cases, officers argue that they reasonably pulled an individual over for other probable grounds such as: traffic violations, suspicious behavior, etc., with race never being an

It is hard to say whether racial profiling is ethical or not. Profiling based on gender, race, or ethnicity is just the way our minds work; it’s natural. We create ‘profiles’ of how we expect things to be by quickly recalling our past experiences. We know that not every experience will fit into the profiles we make in our heads- but a lot of them do. Whether we like it or not, racial profiling has a place in today’s society in regards to crime solving and prevention.

One of the most important civil rights facing our nation today is racial profiling. The main source of those accused of racial profiling are police officers. In the eyes of citizens, racial profiling by a police officer can be defined as “any police-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity or national origin rather than behavior of an individual or information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity” (Ramirez, 2000). For instance, concerning traffic stops, the use of racial profiling can be defined as when the race or ethnicity of a person is a

The most controversial issue related to law enforcement profiling is racial profiling. “Some law enforcement officers have created their own profiles based solely on race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than on the behavior of an individual” (Levinthal, 2012 pg. 123). For decades racial profiling has been a biased issue incorporated by a government system that discriminate on people who look a certain way or have been classified as a suspect. One would think individuals and agencies responsible for enforcing laws supposed to maintain public order and public safety. Instead to an extent individuals who think they are privileged and above the law have taken it upon themselves to target people for suspicion of crime by creating a profile

Today’s world we deal with multiple cases of racial profiling. Turn on the television, internet or just the latest talk and you’ll hear about it. "Racial Profiling" describes a discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting certain people for suspicion of crime based on the ones ethnicity, race, origin or religion. The term first came about during the war on drugs in the 1970s and 1980s, when law enforcement were accused of pulling over motorists over their race and then searching their vehicles for illegal substances. There’s a couple different ways on how racial profiling is viewed. As the years progress so does this predicament of racism, labeling and profiling. Most of the profiling that is common today would conclude

Racial Profiling is unconstitutional and illegal, yet it’s still used in law enforcement. The practice of racial profiling, as defined by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 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 2005). Racial profiling causes more harm than good, it can cause emotional, mental and more often physical harm to the person being subjected to the practice. According to the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments, racial profiling is unconstitutional. It causes distrust in law enforcement because ethnic

The supporters of this debate believes “Racial profiling reduces crime and helps police protect society” while the opponents argue “Racial profiling can also have tragic consequences and lead to the deaths of innocent people” ("Is Racial Profiling a Necessary Police Practice?"). The article proceeds by outlining both the supporters and opponents foundational beliefs on this crucial topic. I find this source very comprehensive as it provides me with a lot of great examples of previous racially profiled incidents like Trayvon Martin and others that occurred in the past. Racial profiling and the incidents that recently went on with Trayvon, Eric Garner, and the Michael Brown/Ferguson tragedies spark my interest to do further research. I also I find this source to be very reliable in helping me get a better understanding of why police officers act unethically when dealing with racially tense