Racial Profiling Is A Special Case Of Discrimination

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 is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and a fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior (Meeks, p. 4-5). This practice can be conducted with routine traffic stops, or can be completely random based on the car that is driven, the number of people in the car and the race of the driver and passengers. The practice of racial profiling may seem more prevalent in today’s society, but in reality has been a part of American culture since the days of slavery. According to Tracey Maclin, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, racial profiling is an old concept. The historical roots “can be traced to a time in early

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

Racial profiling isn’t something new to today’s society. Most recently there were incidents in which the officers were accused of mistreating blacks such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. “Racism versus professionalism: claims and counter-claims about racial profiling” written by Vic Satzewich and William Shaffir discusses racism versus professionalism with officers. Their argument is more biased towards the police force and they argue that it’s part of their job. “

Some people wonder what is racial profiling. Racial profiling deals with miss-education, slavery, and incarceration. Since the beginning of slavery African Americans have suffered due to their identity. Racial profiling deals with selecting a person for their complaint of a specific racial group. The main reason in advocating racial profiling in the background of criminal study can enlarge the possibility of arresting criminals. Paul Bou-Habib stated, “If the rate at which members of a specific racial group commits a crime is higher than that of other criminals will be caught if the police concentrate their efforts on investigating members of the racial group in question?” (2011, p.34). It is injustice, when police officers, political officials, and judges have learned how to automatically have a racist attitude towards blacks. For example, my friend was in McDonald’s parking lot and he was in the process of switching seats with his friend because he was exhausted of driving. While leaving the parking lot, the officer had pulled them over because he seen a black guy get out of his car and thought something seemed suspicious. The officer implied that my friend did not use his right turning signal. The term “driving while black has been used to describe the practice of law enforcement officials to stop African-American drivers without probable cause” (Weatherspoon, 2004).

Racial profiling is very ineffective because it has contributed to countless deaths all over the nation. Michael Brown was a black, unarmed teenager and fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9th, 2014. In Chicago, in 2015, a police officer shot Laquan McDonald sixteen times plus while the teenager was on the ground helpless (“Black Lives Matter”). Here, two unarmed black teenagers were shot and killed. Many people feel they were singled out because of the color of their skin. The use of racial profiling is harmful to young adults families and to the black community.

Racial profiling is a tool used to pull over blacks and for reasons other than what the traffic stop should be. To the average person who does not experience this will view as a non-issue or not a big deal. But having an experience as a victim of racial profiling can leave a psychological scar for many years, depending on the severity of the traffic stop. The statistics show that these incidents are not random but shows a systematic pattern of law enforcement misconduct rather it’s coming from the individual officer or the police department, it’s clear that racial profiling has a disparate and degrading impact on blacks.

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

As the Civil Rights Leader and former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Benjamin Todd Jealous, once said, “Racial profiling punishes innocent individuals for the past actions of those who look and sound like them. It misdirects crucial resources and undercuts the trust needed between law enforcement and the communities they serve. It has no place in our national discourse, and no place in our nation 's police departments.” Racial profiling is the use of ethnicity as a basis for suspecting someone of having committed a criminal offense, which is both illegal and immoral. Police officers unjustifiably use their power to stop, frisk, and harass minorities based on their identity and appearance. According to statistics, Whites have the most arrests for serious and non-serious crimes yet African Americans and Hispanics are stopped far more frequently than any other race or ethnicity. Police officers need to be restrained from racial profiling because it unfairly disadvantages innocent people due to their ethnicity. As stated by Law Enforcement officials, these stops are described as a “crime-fighting tool” however, are rather a racially oriented tool of harassment. It is essential for police officers to know the difference between racial profiling and criminal profiling to further prevent police brutality from occurring.

Racial profiling is a discriminatory practice where individuals are being targeted by law enforcement based on their race or ethnic background instead of crime suspicion. Racial profiling dates back to the 1700s -- the slavery era. African Americans who were free had to prove it with documents and papers called “freedom papers”; whether they were free did not matter, as they were continually subject to racial profiling. Specifically in South Carolina, there were slave patrols who hunted for slaves and labeled them as being “runaways” simply because of their skin color -- these groups tortured and abused any slaves who attempted to escape. The extreme levels of racial profiling has changed over the years, but it is still significantly

Racism, discrimination, prejudice, and hatred are the things that stain law enforcement around the world. Blacks who are stopped by police fear that justice is never on their side. Racial profiling puts a dent in the trust between young black males and the police. According to Webster Dictionary racial profiling is the act of suspecting or targeting a person on the basis of observed characteristics or behavior. Racial profiling has always been an issue with police and the black community. Even though researchers agree on the causes and perimeters, there is no immediate answer as to why blacks are targeted by police. The United States has not evolved into a post-racial society (as by Bell, Hopson, Craig & Robinson, 2014). This information has put fear into black drivers because of the consequences

Dear next president i have a question for you . when will you prohibit racism and racial profiling, and prohibit discrimination . it occurs every 24 hours 24/7. A colored person is killed every day just because of their color.this country is supposed to be land of the home and the brave . not the land of the racists. I mean that there is some nice people that aren’t so mean.like one day a man brought food for a nice innocent homeless man. So it doesn’t have to be racial profiling or discrimination or racism.this needs to be stopped because this country will just be such a sad country with most of our police dying because of racism.but now the police can’t be trusted because of all of these hate crimes. Also some of the candidates are just

Racial profiling has been part of the American culture for a long time. Racial profiling affects people from various backgrounds. Racial profiling can occur at any point life including, walking, driving and traveling. Minorities living in urban communities are the most affected by racial profiling. The paper will mainly focus on the biggest group targeted by racial profiling, which are African Americans. Researchers agree that racial profiling is one factor that has led to high incarceration rates among African-American males. The purpose of the paper is explain several factors that has contributed to racial profiling. In addition, this paper will address the issues that come when failing to recognize racial profiling as an inefficient method to fight crime. Also, the paper will address ways of eliminating racial profiling.

Racial profiling consists of suspecting that someone has broken the law base on their race or ethnicity. It is a common practice among the law enforcement to use racial profiling to narrow down suspects. After all, old women on the bus have a much lower probability of peddling drugs than young African American men in the ghetto. Nowadays this topic has become a taboo for people believe that racial profiling is racist. This concept is false, one must acknowledge the fact that certain individuals are responsible for certain crimes. At one-point people must acknowledge these facts and understand that racial profiling is a necessity that has lasted due to its effectiveness, not because the police force is rampant with racists. Racial profiling is mostly based on statistics. It helps keeping potential law breakers in check and it is, without a doubt, an aspect we all take into account as a human race.

“Racism isn’t about how you look, it’s about people assigning meaning to how you look.” -Robin D.G. Kelley. Racial profiling has been used for centuries around the world. From the Mongols in 300 B.C.E., to modern day soccer moms, this method of discrimination is widespread. Racial discrimination dates back a long time, but has deep roots in Western culture. Modern racial profiling began in the 1970’s when law enforcement wanted to identify drug dealers, and was implemented in the 80’s by the DEA (drug enforcement agency) to intercept drug couriers on highways. This procedure led to shortcuts such as stopping people of a certain race, often a certain age group of black or Hispanic males. Officers would inspect the car, and search for more incriminating evidence. By the 90’s, these stops became routine for law enforcement officers. Racial profiling should be filtered out of law enforcement practices for three key reasons: it harms trust of law enforcement within communities, it increases unwarranted targets on minorities, and finally it increases civilian use of racial profiling.