Police Profiling And Arrest Records Of African Americans

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

Paraphrase: The author stresses how the shooting of a law enforcement officer by an African

This paper outlines the studies, incidents, facts and statistics that have found evidence of racial profiling which causes distrust in the law enforcements (police, government etc0. Studies of racial profiling shows that blacks, Hispanics, Middle Eastern and other racial minorities are more likely to be stopped than those who are white. They are more likely to be stopped and searches, traffic stops, license and registration checks. In addition they are more likely to be ticketed or arrested after being stopped and search. Some scholars and studies believes that minorities being that are frequently stopped and searched has nothing to do with them being racially profiled. According to Roh and Robinson,” studies raise the possibility that minorities may be more involved in criminality (Gaines, 2006), some drug crimes (Lichtenberg, 2006), and speeding offenses (Lange, Johnson, & Voas, 2005), thereby justifying higher stop and arrest rates by police of some groups.” (Roh, S., & Robinson, M.)

Racial profiling is simply, “the unlawful police practice of using race, color, or ethnic background, as the reason for conducting a traffic stop on an individual.” (Michigan Civil Rights Commission) This definition can be extended to any kind of discrimination mainly based on myths and stereotypes towards a certain race or ethnicity. However, the term racial profiling is commonly used when a police officer or any other law enforcer stops, questions, searches or arrests an individual purely on the basis of their race. African Americans or simply blacks have been the major racial group that has suffered much of racial profiling. Much of this is based on the stereotypes against the blacks are perceived as more likely to engage in criminal activities. For instance, in a 2013 Racial Profiling Data from Ferguson Police Department, out of 5384 police stops, 4632 were against blacks. (Ferguson Police Dept. 1) Despite the low population of blacks in U.S. compared to other races, the former continues being subjected to more racial profiling. Racial profiling against African Americans continues to expose the blacks to humiliation and racial injustices, as this paper will expose, thereby calling for the responsible authorities to address and find solutions for the problem.

Numbers suggest that, for instance, while Blacks compose six percent of population in St. Clayton city, they represent 57% of overall police arrests. Similarly, the probability of Black arrest in Berkeley (CA) and Madison (Wis) cities is nine times higher than other racial groups compared to their corresponding population. In addition to this, Bureau of Justice statistics report that at the national level, Blacks are two times more likely to be arrested compared to Whites. Concurring with media reports and national statistics institutes’ estimates, empirical studies also report high proportion of minority arrests compared to their representation in the population (Golub, Johnson, & Dunlap, 2007).

African Americans in the U.S. consist of the majority race incarcerated by police officers. Due to the Stop and Frisk program, several of them have been in the spotlight for police stops. The Stop and Frisk Program is a policing strategy that stops anyone with reasonable suspicion and then frisks them for any illegal paraphernalia. Wagner shows the several stops, and then compares it to the statistics that out of all these stops African Americans take the overwhelming majority of these stops consistently. For example, African Americans are 12 times more likely to have forced used against them than Caucasian people and, 11 times more likely to get stopped and frisked than Caucasian people. (Page 1). Some may say the cops are the doing the right

Cooperation from members of the public is important in order for police officers to effectively fight crime within the community. In order to obtain cooperation from members of the public, police officers must gain their trust and confidence. It has been known that African Americans and Hispanics have lower levels of trust and confidence in police because of racial disparities and racial profiling. This paper will discuss the public opinion of police by different ethnic groups and how racial minorities hold lower levels of trust and confidence in police.

Knowing the possibility of being stereotyped for ‘“Driving While Black” puts people on edge when anticipating coming into contact with a police officer. Media coverage of police officers abusing their power alters community perceptions of their local police and police motives. There has correspondingly been a steady decline in how law enforcement personnel are perceived and in the trust that black community members have in their local police. Weitzer (2002) assessed attitudes and public opinions about highly publicized incidents of police misconduct in Los Angeles and New York and found that opinions about the police differ depending on the neighborhood where a person lives, age, ethnicity, and personal experiences had with police officers.

Martin Luther King Jr., an American Baptist minister, African-American civil rights activist, and non-violent protest leader, once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Ali-Dinar 1963 p.1). Such an iconic and fearless leader recognized the unjust behavior within society as a result of racially motivated police brutality and societal discrimination. Though his efforts were not in vain, today’s media representation of law enforcement impacts the societal cultivation of police officers in a negative way. Media outlets, in the forms of television, radio, or social websites, create a cynical view of police officers, which influences societal beliefs and creates negative connotations.

Facts: a) negative racial stereotypes of African Americans in media, have reinforced negative attitudes and fears among many Caucasian citizens. b) The judicial system’s refusal to convict “bad” cops in cases involving African American victims reinforces the belief that African American citizens aren’t afforded equal protection under the law. c) Due to unethical profiling practices, law enforcement agencies interaction with people of color are often based on the presumption of guilt.

Police officers were implemented into society to be protectors of the public and to serve the community whenever they were in need of help or justice. They are here to enforce the “laws of the land” and to keep society safe from any harm. The police are suppose to be our “unsung heroes.” With this knowledge, citizens should respect these individuals and trust the officers to implement justice and protection. However, not all citizens respect the law enforcement or trust them. Many would like to see police officers like this, but there are a lot that happens in society that make’s one rethink their image of a police officer. There are many people in the community that have negaitve attitudes towards the police and see them as corrupt or brutal (Brown & Benedict, 2002, p. 551). The individuals that are unfavorable towards the police are those from a low social statues, minorities like blacks, from areas of high crime, single or divorced or widowed individuals, and especially juveniles. Juveniles that have had high contact with officers, minorities, tolerance to illegal behavior, and low socioeconomic group status believe that they are treated unfairly, targeted by the police, and believe that they were wrongly accused (Janeksela, 1999, p. 314). Juvenile attitudes toward the police is an important issue to examine because these children are the next generation and outline the perception of authority to future generations and a negative attitude towards police can lead the youth

Conducting ourselves as mature individuals could determine whether or not we’re taken seriously within society. Since the beginning of time, black, white, Hispanic, etc., have filed complaints against police officers, regardless of their maturity level or regardless of their own fault level. Is society too disrespectful to law enforcement? If civilians could walk in police officer shoes for one day would the complaint level decrease? This paper will focus on the perception of the police by measuring public complaints and identifying two key aspects that affect the relationships between law enforcement and civilians.

The excessive use of force and racial profiling by police are amongst the top controversial issues in politics and cultural studies. Racial profiling by the police is not a recent phenomenon. Urban ethnographies have been describing vividly the extent in which the police target most of the young black men, particularly in the poor urban centers. In the United States, racial profiling has been prevalent, with practitioners providing different explanations on the prevalence of racial profiling. Evidently, minority groups such as the African Americans are likely to be victims of police frisking and consequent arrests as compared to their white counterparts.

Has history changed on how U.S. citizens view African Americans? The criminal justice system purposely targets people of color with the same laws as the Jim Crow. Racial-Profiling for African Americans relates to todays legal system on discrimination and exclusion. Mass incarceration is one form of racial discrimination to gain social control. Police brutality should be resolved immediately because many people in African American communities are afraid to call the police when they are feeling endangered. Many African Americans have been kept in prison while taking away their freedom for opportunities. The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that it “protects personal privacy, and every citizen's right to be free from unreasonable government intrusion into their homes, businesses, and property whether through police stops of citizens on the street, arrests, or searches of homes and businesses”. The abuse used by police officers is a serious offense that violates human and civil rights. U.S. citizens have their freedom to express their rights and police brutality violates human rights. The main targets of police brutality are African Americans by white police officers. Many African Americans have experienced racial discrimination and are viewed of having a bad reputation by many ethnic groups, individuals argue if these issues should be corrected because it effects the African American community, which are: preventing racial profiling, stopping police brutality from

There have been several explanations proposed about why African American minorities and police officers have disagreements when they come in contact with each other. Social media, peers, and family members can influence African American minorities to retaliate against police officers. Many outdated studies regarding racism and behavior towards African Americans from police officers have examined African Americans views of police officers as a whole, such as African Americans of any age, but comparatively fewer have examined the minorities of the African American population. African American minorities between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four should be the main focus in any further research because majority of this specific age group have an attitude of us versus them towards police officers (Smith & Holmes, 2014).