Racial Profiling

Firstly, racial profiling will always exist in a diverse country, and it is ignorant to think that with the melting pot culture and races America has, that everyone will be treated the same way. From the beginning of mankind to the current times today, people have and will always keep being identified by their color. Stereotypes will always stay, since the old generation teaches their thoughts to the next, and when the next generation has their children, they too will teach what they learned. Stereotypes towards multiple races are known by everybody, so when meeting new people, past experiences and teachings already create

Since way back in the day, racial and ethnic minorities have received a good amount of exposure to the police. In the recent times, people have been attaching the term “racial profiling” to the practice of picking out Blacks and other racial and ethnic groups for increase of police exposure in hopes of preventing and reducing crime. While I was doing research I read a poll and it said that 46.8% of respondents felt that the relations between Blacks and Whites will always be a problem. I thought that was a really interesting poll in my opinion and I agree with it only half way. A study conducted by Higgins took a New York poll that included a large sample of Hispanics. The poll concluded, “Blacks were more likely than other groups to express the view that racial profiling was widespread. Blacks also were more likely to view racial profiling as unjustified. They also were more likely to believe that they had been profiled. Hispanics also were more likely than non- Hispanics to believe that racial profiling was pervasive. (Higgins 14) In 2004 the data

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.

So before I can answer this million dollar question I need to establish what racial profiling is. According to the American Civil Liberties Union it is “when law enforcement and private security target people color for humiliating and often frightening detentions, interrogations, and searches without evidence of criminal activity and based on perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion.” In plain English this means a person is perceived to have committed a crime only because of their race.

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.

In 1994 Polly Klaas was kidnapped from a slumber party at her home in California and later murdered by Richard Allen Davis who already had 2 prior convictions for kidnapping on his record. The public was outraged that a repeat offender was able to attack again. Politicians catered to this outrage and sold the public on a bill that would repeat offenders off the streets for good with the three strikes and you’re out legislation.

Racial profiling is an ongoing issue in US today and will continue to be an issue if incidents with laws enforcements and improper racial profiling will not narrow down. To prevent racial profiling incidents from occurring some states but not all have made it a law that racial profiling is illegal. Although there are laws banning racial profiling, racial profiling still occurs, that is where heated debates occur, is the police officer wrong for wrongly accusing? Or did he have enough evidence to make an accusation? That is all decided by the Supreme Court.

Racial profiling is discrimination, and discrimination is wrong. Discrimination taints the entire criminal justice system. Racial profiling is nothing but public stereotyping. Therese extreme tactics make the justice system look bad in cases which their racial profiling was incorrect. It publicly puts all races in once category, bad or good. Discrimination has being going on for years and years in history. African Americans are one group of people who have worked so hard not to be discriminated against, and with racial profiling they are constantly being brought back down to the Jim Crow Era. When will it ever stop?

In New York City’s police department report in December 1999, the stop and frisk practices showed to be greatly based on race. In NYC, blacks make up 25.6% of the city’s population, Hispanics 23.7% and whites are 43.4% of NYC population. However, according to the report, 50.6% of all persons stopped were black, 33% were Hispanic, and only 12.9% were white. As you can see, more than half of the individuals who were stopped were black, 62.7% to be exact (ACLU, 2013). In Orange County, California Latinos, Asians and African Americans were more than 90% of the 20,221 men and women in the Gang Reporting Evaluation and Tracking System (ACLU, 2013). Clearly this database record shows racial profiling occurred when the total population in the database made up less than half of Orange County’s population. This is when the California Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the ACLU stepped in. One other instance of racial profiling I’d like to discuss occurred in Maricopa County, Arizona. A court ruled in May 2013 that “sheriff Joe Arpaio’s routine handling of people of Latino descent amounted to racial and ethnic profiling”; according to CNN, the sheriff’s office had a history of targeting vehicles with those having darker skin, examining them more strictly and taking them into custody more often than others (CNN, 2014). Judge Murray Snow ordered a monitor to oversee retraining in this

Before any argument can be made against racial profiling, it is important to understand what racial profiling is. The American Civil Liberties Union, 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"(Racial Profiling: Definition). Using this definition we can determine that racial profiling excludes any evidence of wrong-doing and relies solely on the characteristics listed above. We can also see

The problem with racial profiling is that it allows law enforcement to focus on specific individuals that they believe are more likely to be involved with criminality. In the article “More Training and Police Consolidation Would Improve Racial Profiling Stats,” by Editorial Board, mentioned that “In 2014, blacks were 75 percent more likely to be pulled over in the state of Missouri than whites.” People of different races and ethnicities get stopped and accused with suspicion more times than whites do because of the stereotypical belief that any other race would cause more danger than the other. Everytime an innocent individual is stopped by a police officer or taken by security officials in an airport because of their race it increases their risk of being on danger themselves. Board also explained that “Blacks and Hispanics were more likely to be searched as a result of such stops, even though whites were more likely to be in possession of illegal contraband, such as drugs or weapons.” Racial profiling does not belong in law enforcement because it endangers and influences the minds of other people. By portraying different races as unsafe and threatening it manipulates people into believing different races are more likely to be a threat than other ethnicities.

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

Racial profiling is when someone’s race is used by law enforcement to assume criminal suspicions (Spagnoli, Filip). Law enforcement has used racial profiling to “help” prevent criminal activity. For instance, a survey done by the department of justice when officers focused more on African-American and Latino drivers they found that less of them had drugs the when they least focused on white drivers (The Truth About Racial Profiling: FIVE FACTS). Some officers assume that Hispanics and African-Americans are carrying around illegal substances and weapons. This is not always true! As the survey revealed, most of the people who did have prohibited items were white Americans. Law enforcement should begin stopping drivers by suspicion not by their race. In another survey done by Ian Ayres and Jonathan Borowsky they had found very similar information. “We also found that, once people were stopped, officers were more likely to frisk, search, or arrest African-Americans and Latinos than whites…when these frisks and searches are substantially less likely to uncover weapons, drugs, or other types of contraband” (Borowsky, Ayres). Officers are spending more time on race than focusing on real criminals who are ousting the reasons why this country is remarkable. Other cases like these have been confirmed as well. “Relative to stopped whites, stopped blacks is 127% more likely and

While racial profiling is used to solve many crimes, using race as a description of the criminal being pursued does not constitute discrimination. “Racial profiling does not refer to the act of a law enforcement agent pursuing a suspect in which the specific description of the suspect includes race or ethnicity in combination with other identifying factors.”1 Identifying and defining racial profiling simply on the basis of race can raise several issues. Using this definition solely based on race fails to mention when police act on the basis of race along with a violation. For example an officer who targets African Americans who were jaywalking would not be considered to be racial profiling because the people that were stopped were jaywalking and happened to be African Americans.

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.”(Jealous, 2015). I couldn’t agree more with him. In today’s society more and more Black men and women suffer from police bias. Police is a powerful organization that was meant to serve and protect. Enforce laws and keeping communities safe. The problem is we fail to acknowledge that police are humans with real life bias. The problem with police is how much racial profiling is going up,