Racial profiling, by definition, is the practice of a law enforcement officer to consider race and/or ethnicity in deciding how to intervene with a potential perpetrator. To put it simply, racial profiling is when a officer of the law has reason to believe that a pedestrian is potentially engaging in illegal activity purely based on race. It is a common fact that police officers, as do most of us, often profile individuals who we believe are more likely to commit crimes. For example, lets say that a local convenience store has been robbed. The only two people suspected of the crime are a fairly wealthy and successful business man and a homeless man with not a penny to his name. Who are we to immediately suspect of the crime? The homeless man, of course.
Although this is a very commonly used technique that all of us use in some point of our lives, many believe that it is morally and ethically wrong to suspect someone of an illegal activity because they racially belong to a minority. Statistics do show that members of the African American and Hispanic minorities are incarcerated more...
First of all, racial profiling is unfair to its victims . Racial profiling is seen through the police in “Hounding the Innocent”, which is unfair since a person shouldn’t be pulled over more because of their race and that many of these stops have little to no connection to an actual crime. “Young black and Hispanic males are being stopped, frisked, and harassed in breathtaking numbers” (Herbert, 29) This is unfair to all victims of racial
Some consider racial profiling a viable tool to reduce crime. The New Century Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Oakton, VA, published a report on the American Renaissance website, stating that African-Americans commit 90% of the approximately 1,700,000 interracial crimes of violence that occurs every year in the United States. They are more than fifty times more likely to commit violent crimes against whites than vice versa. According to this same report, African-Americans are much more likely to commit violent crimes than whites and wh...
Imagine driving home, on a pleasant evening, after a tedious day at work. Just as you are about to arrive to your neighborhood, you notice blue and red flashing lights and pull over. It seems the police officer has no reason for stopping you, except to search your vehicle because of your suspiciously perceived skin tone. This unnecessary traffic stop, designed for people of colored skin, happens on numerous occasions and has been termed Driving While Black or Brown. Racial profiling is the act of using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed a crime.
Racial profiling, as defined in Criminal Justice Today is, “Any police-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin, rather than the behavior of the individual…” (Schmalleger, 2009, p. 294) but is racial profiling limited only to police action? In June off 2002 a telephone survey of adults was conducted by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut, in this survey people were asked, “Do you think that African Americans’ civil rights are being respected by the country’s criminal justice system?” 69% of Non-Hispanic Whites said, “Yes, they are respected.” as opposed to 33% of African Americans that think the justice system is fair. (Cole & Smith, 2007, p. 104) What causes this huge percentage gap among the races? Within our criminal justice system there are many disparities and cases of suspected discrimination, because of that our country is race divided on the issue of whether or not discrimination exists in a system perceived as the best of it’s kind.
Racial profiling is simply this, the color or race of a person while making a decision regarding that person. Usually when being racially profiled you are automatically marked as the worst example of your race. It is amazing the amount of things that a person can make up about your race. Most of the things they say are not true at all. You can't just say, “well all black people carry guns and eat chicken and watermelon.” You're racially profiling this person because of what you've observed among other black people. In this case, this is just morally wrong. Despite color a person of any creed can carry a gun, eat chicken, and watermelon. This statement would make you look completely idiotic...
The key to understanding racialized profiling is to understand what systemic discrimination and profiling mean. Systemic discrimination sometimes called systemic racism is defined as, “Patterns and practices… which, although they may not be intended to disadvantage any group, can have the effect of disadvantaging or permitting discrimination against… racial minorities” (Comack, 2012, p30). Profiling in policing is defined as,
Racial Profiling can happen to anyone, anywhere such as the streets, in the airports, or even just walking home. Racial profiling and the media influence an individual’s perspective on a trial. Racial Profiling is using someone’s race or ethnic background as suspicion for committing a crime. Evidence from past trials dating back to 1920s Sacco and Vanzetti trial to George Zimmerman’s trial in 2013 prove that racial profiling has existed for nearly a century. According to the article “The Quiet Racism in the Zimmerman Trial” by Steven Mazie, he states
There have been many studies and case reports involving racial profiling, particularly racial profiling issues involving traffic stop and seizures. In a study done of reports on the stop-and-searches done on Interstate 95 in Maryland, it was found that 28.4 percent of black drivers and passengers and 28.8 percent of white drivers and passengers stopped were found with illegal contraband. (U.S. Department of Justice) The disparity between the two statistics is a mere .4 percent and shows that race is not an issue. Further reading into the seventy one page report written by the U.S. Department of Justice sho...
Many instances of racial profiling occur in reaction to specific crimes, making any racial or cultural groups are usually subjected to more intensive scrutiny by the authorities than others groups. The biggest two groups that are mainly affect by racial profiling are the African American and Hispanics. While other groups are also targets they are not as common as the ones in cases of African American. In certain phrases like “Driving while black” and “driving while Indian” comes from complaining that cops are pulling them over for no reason at all. “It affects groups such as Native Americans, Latin Americans, Arabs, Muslims, Asians, and others.” (Gale) Most of these groups have said there are not only targeted by driving, they are also targeted by performing simple tasks that we all do in everyday lives. Some examples of this where a police office has is an African American man standing on a corner waiting for a bus is stopped and questioned regarding why he is standing there and where he is going . Another example of this would be where a police a store clerk will stop a group of Hispanics accusing them of shoplifting. Hispanics and Muslims are suspected to immigration violations or ever worst terrorist. All these things lead into a powerful and sometime regretful aftermath of a
Just what is racial profiling? Racial profiling is a law enforcement and security agency practice that encourages officers to stop, search, and investigate people based on race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. While racial profiling is most commonly committed against ethnic minorities, many instances of racial profiling occur in reaction to specific crimes, making any racial or cultural group subject to more intensive scrutiny by the authorities. (ebscohost.com) This is what I think bout racial profiling, it like it occurs when the police targets someone for investigation on the basis of that person's race, national origin, or ethnicity. Examples are the use of race to determine which drivers to stop for minor traffic violations and the use of race to determine which motorists or pedestrian to search for contraband. Universally attested and detested, racial profiling is a widespread police tactic. Although blacks and foreigners experience different forms of racial profiling, they both share many similarities.
Racial profiling has been a common controversy between law enforcement and communities, specifically those of a minority population. This activity has been ultimately allowed by federal and state governments as they benefit from the aid in pinpointing or otherwise targeting criminals or illegal aliens. Furthermore, racial profiling has become more of a commonly encountered practice especially after the September 11 attacks.
disrespectful and before you do it you should ask yourself, “Would you like to be judged based on completely different people?” So, next time you see that Muslim, Hispanic, Arab, think twice before you judge. It is unfair to the millions of innocent people who just happen to be of the same skin color or have the same name to those who have committed crimes. Racial profiling is harmful, but there’s a difference as long as you have evidence or reasonable cause and for sure you know the whom the person is or what there doing then there’s no problem. At the end don’t judge a book by its cover.
Taylor, J. & Whitney, G. (2002). Racial Profiling: Is There and Empirical Basis? Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Crime and Criminology. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc: New York, NY
Racial bias evolves from generation to generation, and we as citizens are supposed to be protected against such actions of discrimination especially by law enforcement, but such actions as stop and frisk, to include automobile and body searches for no other reason than the color of one’s skin is a violation of our civil rights. Instead of being violated in an inappropriate matter as openly as it was done while fighting for our civil rights, it’s now done through law enforcement. The Constitution is supposed to guarantee equal treatment under the law for everyone, but blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately victimized by police and other front line law enforcement officials. Racial disparities affect both innocent and guilty minority citizens, and are broken down into explanations such as; People of color commit more crimes, The Criminal Justice System is racially bias, and America is a racially bias society (Weich and Angulo, 2002). All of these explanations have been proven true by the actions of law enforcement and society, by using racial profiling as a means to target minority communities. Although, there are efforts
Racial profiling is a negative action in the nation. In which many people across the country have experienced this sort of treatment leaving a demoralizing effect on the citizens. Racial profiling is an act of discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual 's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.This in which acts on a terrible and negative impact to the society. Race as we know it has such a powerful contribution of the person people are that it can have life or death consequences. A person should not be judged due to their appearance.