The Advantages Of Racial Profiling In The Law Enforcement

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.)

Former President Clinton called for a national crackdown on racial profiling and ordered federal law enforcement authorities to begin an investigation. (1) Vice President Al Gore promised the NAACP that should he become president eliminating the practice of racial profiling by the nation's police departments would be a top priority. (2) New Jersey Governor Christy Whitman fired Police Superintendent Carl Williams after the 35-year veteran trooper said in an interview that minorities are more likely to be involved in drug trafficking. (3)

Second, police in our country do racial profiling. This practice of law enforcement is morally wrong and personally sickening. Racial Profiling is the idea that just because someone is a different race automatically makes that one person a suspect. Racial Profiling goes against everything that the United States Constitution is about. The constitution is about freedom, equality, and the pursuit of happiness. Our law enforcement is put into place to serve and protect the innocent. The constitution protects us of unlawful search and seizers as well. Racial profiling makes our law enforcement give in their minds probable cause when there really is not any in the first place. Also, it goes against the United States Constitution. The American Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberites Union Foundation said, “Racial profiling is a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem despite claims that the United States has entered a “post-racial era.” It occurs every day, in cities and towns across the country, when law enforcement and private security target people of 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. Racial profiling is

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.

One of the most discussed about issues in our society today is profiling based on race or ethnicity. But what is racial profiling and why is it so important? Racial profiling occurs when law enforcement agents impermissibly use race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin in deciding who to investigate for different crimes and offenses. It is being used unjustifiably wrongly in our culture daily. Based on the status of racial profiling currently, it seems as if racial profiling will always be a part of our society and there is nothing people can do to change that. With people making assumptions based on unjust rules, it seems like there will be no end in sight for racial profiling. Law enforcement should be held accountable for their actions, mistakes, and unjustified assumptions. Many instances occur with police officers taking wrongful actions solely based on race or nationality. Police and their practices have been going on for many years with the same outcomes repeating consecutively. A real- life instance of this includes police subjecting people to police brutality just because they are a “person of color” or even a “person of interest.” This has sparked protests and movements such as “Black Lives Matter” or “Hands Up Don’t Shoot.” Many people who have fallen victim to racial profiling and were wrongly accused and lost their lives as a result. Some of these people include, Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, with the list continuing on. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed at seventeen years old for “looking suspicious.” Mike brown was shot six times for supposedly running away from a police officer. Eric Garner was put in a chokehold and subdued by a police officer for selling cigarettes illegally. Oscar Grant was already placed in handcuffs and lying flat on the floor when he was shot by a police officer that only served five years in prison. With countless others’ lives lost the list going on and on, it appears that racial profiling and bias have impacted affected a wide group of people and their families who have also suffered from this widespread issue. Overall, racial profiling is a big issue that might not be possible to correct

Even tho segregation was ended in 1964 it still exists today. Instead of being called segregation it's called racial profiling. Racial profiling is suspecting or targeting a person of a certain race, culture, and ethnicity. Three reasons why racial profiling still exists in America are there are many people who are living in fears of cultural stereotypes, profiling black people, and it's not only happening outside it's also happening in an educational place like schools.

There are tons of cases of Racial Profiling. Now a days many people are being targeted or attacked by racial profiling. Laws are being passed but not every police officer is following up with it. And because of this more and more people are becoming irritated with the government system. Just because a particular person from a particular race does something wrong, everyone from that race is being discriminated by so-called other races. Racial profiling is getting worst by the years go by, it is becoming a hot topic. Ever since the major attack of September 11, 2001 many people have seen Muslims as terrorists. Racial profiling doesn’t just affect Muslims; it affects African Americans and Hispanics. Due to the action of just one individual, and from that individual affects the whole race behind it. It just doesn’t make that person look bad it makes they’re race look as bad as they do. That is why African American, Hispanics, and Muslims are being targeted. Racial profiling negatively impacts society.

We live in a society that has prospered generously over the years. America has opened its doors for so many different people by establishing itself as a free country. Not only have we progressed in technology and economically but we have created our own identity by becoming a free nation in which every individual has the same rights and eligibility as the other. This is the core of our countries success; we are not a nation unified distinctly by a specific race, religion or culture but by the compulsive efforts of our nation’s laws to uphold freedom in every aspect of a civilian’s life. People are not only allowed but encouraged to practice the religion of their choice, eat the food they desire, speak the language they prefer. There is even freedom in the most minute of things such as being able to listen to the music of your choice, these are the laws that promote diversity and strengthen our nation today. Our nation’s identity and prosperity is built upon multiculturalism and ethnic tolerance. However, this was not always the case it has taken many long and brutal years become the stable and versatile country that we are today. Specifically dating back to when this land was first founded and thereafter we see our nation has struggled with conflicts against politics, discrimination, and public affairs up till this very day.

The topic racial profiling is an ongoing debate that is currently being argued in America. Before being able to help understand the faults of racial profiling, one must know what it is. According to the National Institute of Justice, racial profiling in law enforcement “is commonly defined as a practice that targets people for suspicion of crime based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin” (“Racial Profiling”). Racial brutality tends to be an outcome of most racial profiling cases. Racial profiling will usually be most casually seen in traffic stops. Not only does racial profiling make police officers hypocrites for not protecting, and causing distress to, the society they sworn to abide to, but it also makes them breach the constitution of the United States of America. Racial profiling is an unethical, biased, and unconstitutional practice in law enforcement.

One of the many controversial topics is racial profiling. For centuries, America has looked down and discriminated minorities and it still continues today. It began when minorities started to immigrate to America in search of better lives. Most whites believed in white supremacy and thought minorities were aliens. The police use racial profiling mostly towards minority groups. Racial profiling is the use of race or a skin color to suspect someone of doing an offense. While some people think that racial profiling is beneficial because it lowers crime rates, racial profiling creates false accusations against minorities; therefore we should limit the use of racial profiling.

Recently, there has been an epidemic in which minorities are being racially profiled on a daily basis. Individuals are being arrested, pulled over, and gunned down, simply because of the color of their skin. People cannot even walk down the street without someone thinking that they look suspicious. Whether the person is African American, Hispanic, Indian, or Muslim, racial profiling is wrong. With all of the recent controversy surrounding the problem, one would think that it would occur much less but that is not the case. Racial profiling has caused a recent uproar in America, and it has become the reason why many people have turned their backs on law enforcement for good.

Racial profiling still exists in America. "Racial profiling" refers to law enforcement strategies and practices that single out individuals as objects of suspicion solely on the basis of mainly their race. Prejudice and racial profiling of law enforcement is responsible for many false arrests, convictions, and countless deaths of blacks in the United States. This is one of the main difficulties of life and obstacles minorities have to face in their life because for one they are a minority and two because of their skin color. Police racial profiling is an ongoing problem that blacks in America have been facing with for over thousands of years dating back to before Blacks got their freedom. With the recent acts that are happenings in Ferguson and Eric Garner, to what happened to Rodney King, I believe it is only right to discuss the history of prejudice and racial profiling and how it relates to the discriminatory acts of police and judicial system towards blacks in the United States. Most importantly, I will discuss how America can help make a change of action to put an end to the Police racial profiling and brutality that still exists in this nation.

An indication that disproves the claim that racial profiling is an essential policing tactic centers on the idea that it violates the constitutional rights of an individual. In “Rights and Wrongs,” Jeffrey Toobin demonstrates that racial profiling violates the constitutional rights of an individual, in that unarmed individuals and those of color are racially profiled for the way they look for no apparent reason. This article discusses the idea of whether or not racial profiling is or is not a constitutional tactic for law enforcement. It is unclear as to why law enforcement chooses to target those who look suspicious without knowing their purpose. Those of color are being unfairly treated and accused of crimes for no apparent reason. Toobin states, “An officer got out of an unmarked van and came up to me,” Bradley recalled. “I just accommodated the officer to the best of my ability, and, in turn, what happened was, he went into my pockets… There was nothing in my pockets except my house keys, my cell phone, my wallet. The thing about it that was so appalling was that I had spent my last dollar to see my loved one. And then he said, ‘Fuck that, you’re going in” (Toobin 30). This quote is a perfect representation of racial profiling, where an officer decides to target individuals based on his appearance, which is unconstitutional. When Scheindlin stated, “I just accommodated the officer to the best of my ability, and, in turn, what happened was, he went into my pockets,” it was to my understanding that law enforcement has violated the rights of an individual in the sense of which officers do not have the rights to go through personal belonging without a valid reason. Even if he “accommodated the officer” with the best of his ability, he was violated for his rights for not doing anything illegal. Since he was still being searched for looking “suspicious” it is clear that the officer had racially profiled an individual under no circumstances of a prosecution. This proves that the even if an individual is complying with the laws, police officers will go out of their to find reasons to target people and violate their constitutional rights. In addition to this topic, the idea of violating the constitutional rights

Racial profiling exceeds the legal limits, Latino communities are afraid of going out because they have a higher risk of being arrested, based in the way they look. Ranjana Natarajan a clinical professor and director of the Civil Rights Clinic at The University of Texas School of Law, writes the article, “ Racial Profiling Has Destroyed Public Trust in Police. Cops Are Exploiting Our Weak Law Against It” where she explains how police brutality is against the law but is still happening. Natarajan mentions, “Whatever else we have learned from the recent tragedies of police violence, it is clear that we need comprehensive federal, state and local policies that outlaw racial profiling and rein in police excessive force”. This shows how police

Limits should not be placed on a police officer's observations simply because some critics erroneously claim that the content and substance of these observations could be racist in nature.” (Haenel, 2011, para. 7) With these limits being put on police officers it makes it harder for them to do their jobs.While it is true that these restrictions could make it harder on police officers to do their jobs it violates citizens constitutional rights.“First and foremost, racial and religious profiling is inconsistent with america's core constitutional principles of equality and fairness.” (Nomani and Abbas, 2011, para. 7) Protecting american citizens constitutional rights is far more important than making police officers more comfortable when doing their jobs. Law enforcements comfort is not more important that abiding by the laws of the land that protects each and every american