Racial Profiling

There have been many attempts to make racial profiling illegal, but all have failed. Racial profiling is defined as suspecting an individual of a wrongdoing based solely on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin (Racial Profliling: Definition 2). Racism spreads throughout all dimensions of life in American society; therefore, the history of racial profiling is extensive, but it was at an all-time high after the September 11th attacks (Persistence of racial and ethnic profiling in the United States: a follow-up report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 10). It can be used in both positive and negative aspects, but is mostly used negatively. Racial profiling negatively effects society and the very existence of racial profiling is erroneous, discriminatory, and unjustifiable.

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

The National Institute of Justice (“Racial Profiling”) stated that racial profiling, which is a form of discrimination, racism, and stereotypes is when law enforcement, based on a person’s race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion targets a person for suspicion of crimes. Today people can turn on their television, go online, and even listen to their radios and they will hear about racial profiling. Racial profiling is not anything new and has been going on throughout history; it goes all the way back to slavery. Racial profiling has recently started being recorded, which is why it has become such a huge national issue today, because people can no longer ignore it. This issue is not specific to one race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin. People of many races, religions, ethnicities, or national origins have been affected by racial profiling for years since the start of this country, but one group that has been affected by racial profiling at a high rate is African Americans. The goal of this paper is to analyze this main group that has and still is being affected by racial profiling and acknowledge other groups that are being affected as well.

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.

Racial profiling is a very prevalent issue within the criminal justice system that is quite controversial, but there is a significant number of evidence that shows that racial profiling has been present since the 1600’s and continues to be a significant issue. Racial profiling is evident in the criminal justice system in various ways such as in interrogations, jury selection, misleading statistics, stops, and immigration laws. Racial profiling within interrogations and jury selection can be seen with the Brandley v. Keeshan case. Racial profiling within statistics can be seen in instances where the numbers focus on arrests and incarcerations that do not necessarily mean a crime was committed. Stops are seen as evidence showing racial profiling with a personal experience, and lastly, immigration laws are seen as showing racial profiling by the encounter of a Mexican American women had with an officer in Arizona.

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.

Racial Profiling has been around for many decades, but over the past few years it has gotten even worse. It has gotten to the point where children are supposed to be the most comfortable and open. Also, it has gotten to the point where even children's sports games are having a racial issue. Children shouldn’t feel like outsiders, just because of the color of their skin. Lastly, they shouldn’t they should stop doing what they love the most just because someone out there is making a racial or racist statement.

Racial profiling is still an ongoing issue that occurs and such an issue has led to many problems for the minority groups of this country. Whether it be African Americans, Indians, Asians, Mexicans, or Muslims, all have faced profiling at some point in time. The problems caused by this controversial subject include the impending distrust between black communities and law enforcement, unfair treatment towards all minorities by law enforcement, verbal and physical abuse of minorities by police officers which can sometimes lead to death, emotional unstableness of the victims whom have faced such a terrible judgement, and the negative impact it has on children of the minority groups.

Racial profiling in law enforcement is referenced when a law enforcement officer targets an individual for suspicion of a crime. A broader definition of racial profiling in law enforcements is when a law enforcement officer, uses an individual’s race or ethnicity, age , time of the day (usually later in the day), dress code and also location to accuse a person of a crime. In today’s world the term racial profiling can be viewed in various view points, because of people having different opinions on the term, many disagreements occur. Some people believe that specific incidents are not cases of racial profiling and others think otherwise, needless to say an argument occurs.

Over the last twenty years the issue of racial profiling has become extremely combative with regards to law enforcement practices. A common misconception begins as some people are unaware of what racial profiling actually is. Racial profiling typically deals with incarceration, miss education, and to certain extent slavery. The topic of slavery is relevant in the conversation of racial profiling because like slavery, African Americans have suffered just due their own identity. Profiling is essentially the selection of an individual and categorizing them due to a specific racial group. The ever growing issue of racial profiling has become more evident to the public with the increasing number of instances that have been reported regarding

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.

What is racial profiling? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defines racial profiling as “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” (2005). Do not confuse racial profiling with criminal profiling; criminal profiling is usually practiced by police in which they use a group of characteristics that are associated with crime to target individuals (ACLU, 2005). Examples of racial profiling include using ones race to target specific drivers for traffic violations and pedestrians for illegal contraband; another prime example is the targeting of Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians since 9/11 in

Throughout history, minorities have always suffered from discrimination by other ethnic groups. This discrimination still occurs today, especially in the form of racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime of offense. This degradation of ordinary people is a serious issue and needs to be dealt with. This controversial practice that law enforcement are doing has certainly created sides to this discussion throughout the centuries. Whether racial profiling is a legitimate practice or not, it is still spurring turmoil on the streets, in the classroom, and through the media. While racial profiling may seem to be an acceptable way to promote public safety, it is ultimately ineffective and unconstitutional; therefore, we should seek to end racial profiling by government institutions.

An accurate definition of racial profiling must include discriminatory omissions on the part of the law enforcement as well as racially discriminatory acts. The failure of the enforcement to act on the behalf of a minority is unconstitutional but has been happening even farther back than the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.The lynchings of African Americans that occurred during this time are a horrific example.Many “southern sheriffs sat idly by while racist organization, such as the Ku Klux Klan, terrorized African Americans. At times, the sheriffs would even release black suspects to the lynch mobs.” 1 A more recent example of this discriminatory omissions is seen with an African American man in Maryland. This man moved into a predominantly white community and faced harassment and property damage. The local police failed to respond to his complaints and eventually arrested him for shooting a gun into the air. His reason for

Federal agencies and Airline companies should not be allowed to remove people from a plane and detain them for their skin color, making this a wrongful practice of racial profiling. The American public forms and influences Iron Triangles into spreading their own beliefs that are then practiced within certain government agencies. Policies are then written and passed that allow such acts as this to be used on the general population. Shoshana Hebshi and two other men became victims of these acts while on a plane in 2013. These acts of discrimination can be changed only if the American public will stand up and force these Iron Triangles to push the Federal agencies and Airline companies to change their ways.