Introduction
With the society that most individuals are offered today, the world of crime has been constantly transforming. This can influence the typical individual to question if there are too many laws that one should follow, including the penalties that are to be expected. The word crime can insinuate many thoughts of apprehension, segregation, and security when applying the law in accordance to criminal acts being prosecuted. In order for penalties to apply to a particular individual, law enforcement must first be able to track and identify suspects of various crimes. Numerous approaches can be offered for this process, but profiling is a common tactic that has aided law enforcement in seeking justice for both suspects and victims. Although viewed negatively at times, law enforcement profiling is an effective tool for police officers that should not be abandoned due to infrequent and negligible invasions into an innocent person’s personal privacy. Suspect profiling has diverse backgrounds, intentions, and classifications that are demonstrated in various forms and allows law enforcement to evaluate and distinguish any probable evidence. With the following paragraphs I will provide detailed information on what ‘profiling suspects’ means in a law enforcement setting, the pros and cons of profiling, and the reasons why profiling should be used in law enforcement.
Profiling Possible Suspects
Although there have been many proposals offered to the logic behind criminals and how they act, the significance of profiling possible suspects are stressed upon by law enforcement in order to achieve and maintain a way to justify the means. Profiling any possible suspects clearly demonstrates that numerous types of individuals follow oth...
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...critical facts would be deemed as irrelevant.
References
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Offender Profiling: A Theoretical Review of the Processes Involved in Deriving Background Characteristics from Crime Scene Actions. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1101296/The_Personality_Paradox_in_Offender_Profiling
Ford, R.E. (2013). Nature of Crime. Retrieved from
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Kotake, J. (2001). Psychology and Criminal Profiling. Retrieved from
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Profiling Methods. Retrieved from http://iris.lib.neu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=honors_projects
Introduction Terrorism and racial profiling is nothing new in our society. Although some people would like to believe that it is nonexistent, it is still a major issue in today’s world. With that being said, my view on the subject is that racial profiling is going to continue to happen, whether we like it or not. I believe profiling isn’t necessarily meant to intentionally harm anyone, but is used as a tool to prevent terrorism. Past terroristic attacks have led to the many stereotypes and prejudices that our country has today.
Stop and Frisk is a procedure put into use by the New York Police Department that allows an officer to stop and search a “suspicious character” if they consider her or him to be. The NYPD don’t need a warrant, or see you commit a crime. Officers solely need to regard you as “suspicious” to violate your fourth amendment rights without consequences. Since its Beginning, New York City’s stop and frisk program has brought in much controversy originating from the excessive rate of arrest. While the argument that Stop and Frisk violates an individual’s fourth amendment rights of protection from unreasonable search and seizure could definitely be said, that argument it’s similar to the argument of discrimination. An unfair number of Hispanics and
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 American society when court officials permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to ‘take up’ all black persons seen ‘gadding abroad’ without their master’s permission” (Meeks, p. 5). Although slavery is long since gone, the frequency in which racial profiling takes place remains the same. However, because of our advanced electronic media, this issue has been brought to the American public’s attention.
When police stop someone of a minority because they fit the profile of suspect people become outraged and say that the officer was racially profiling. White argues that profiling based on statistical evidence is an effective way to save time, money and sometimes lives. Many people feel the opposite of White and say that profiling is a way to harass minorities and make them feel unequal in the land of the free. Many people that are pro-profiling say that it happens in almost everything we do, from applying to college to interview for a job. Even shop owners profile so why can’t the police department profile when they are trying to keep the city streets safe. The individuals against profiling say that it targets minorities in order to make them feel out of
police then look for a suspect who might possibly have committed it. Profiling means that a suspect is discovered and the police then look for a crime for the person to have possibly committed” (Tator & Henry, 2003, p3).
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.
Understanding Crime: Theory and Practice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishers. Woodham, J., & Toye, K. (2007). Empirical Tests of Assumption of Case Linkages & Offender’s profiling with Commercial Robbery.
In the United States of America today, racial profiling is a deeply troubling national problem. Many people, usually minorities, experience it every day, as they suffer the humiliation of being stopped by police while driving, flying, or even walking for no other reason than their color, religion, or ethnicity. Racial profiling is a law enforcement practice steeped in racial stereotypes and different assumptions about the inclination of African-American, Latino, Asian, Native American or Arab people to commit particular types of crimes. The idea that people stay silent because they live in fear of being judged based on their race, allows racial profiling to live on.
The process of using behavioral evidence left at a crime scene to make inferences about the offender, including inferences about personality characteristics and psychopathology is called criminal profiling. Around the country, several agencies rely on the minds of criminal psychologists to lead them in the right direction to finding the correct offender. Criminal profiling provides investigators with knowledge of the appearance and behavior of a potential criminal.
The usefulness of profiling has been called into question many times. There are those who fall on both ends of the spectrum. Some feel that profiling is as infallible as a fingerprint, and others think it’s as reliable as a sideshow gypsy. Studies have been done that support both positions. The truth, of course, lies somewhere in the middle: Profiling may be a useful tool when applied appropriately, but it should not be used to the exclusion of good suspects or information. It is an addendum to the investigator’s...
The concept of geographic profiling, as a product of criminal profiling, can be traced back to Cesaro Lombroso (1876), the Father of Criminology. Lombroso’s theories of criminality emphasized the individual characteristics of the offender (e.g., as race, age, sex, gender, location). He was influenced by the evolutionary research of Darwin’s concept of the “born criminal,” posing that physical characteristics are indications of criminal predispositions (2007). Nonetheless, accounting for the era of which Darwin and Lombroso was most influential, with lack of science, it was reasonable to identify the characteristics of a criminal as opposite of the norm. The two historical figures are credited for establishing the basis of profiling.
Racial profiling is an unacceptable and inhumane issue facing society today since early America. It is considered the worst kind of harassment committed by United States officials and authorities, such as the police force. Racial profiling is often practiced in the forms of arrest, criminal charges, court cases, segregation, authority encounters, and interrogation solely because of appearance or race. ` In his article Jim Crow Policing, Bob Herbert describes the numerous 2009 stops made by the New York City Police Department,” Rather than a legitimate crime-fighting tool,…”, they are,”… a despicable racially oriented tool of harassment.
Racial profiling is stereotyping and it violates civil rights. Also it has harm ethnic minorities. People have different opinions about this kind of situation they have their pros and cons, it has come to a point where they even violated our civil rights. When it comes to racial profiling it has affected society for many years that even law enforcement have become a problem to the community as well retails stores, as we seen, the races that are target the most are non-white. Throughout the years we seen and heard cases about people been innocent and that get followed at a shopping center, get stop just by walking down the street for looking “suspicious” and for their physical appearances. It’s not a great thing to do, but let’s face it we have done at some point.
Historically, crime and criminals have always caught the attention of law-abiding citizens. Whenever there is mention of serial killers or unsolved murders or abductions, psychological profiling, now a household term, floats to the top of the list of concerns (Egger, 1999). Psychological profiling is an attempt to provide investigators with more information about an offender who has not yet been identified (Egger, 1999). Its purpose is to develop a behavioral composite that combines both sociological and psychological assessment of the would-be offender. It is generally based on the premise that an accurate analysis and interpretation of the crime scene and other locations related to the crime can indicate the type of person who could have committed the crime (Egger, 1999).
Everyday people are pulled over for speeding, and broken tail lights, but does it become an issue when law enforcement start pulling people over for no reason. Racial Profiling, while sometimes used inappropriately, can sometimes be a good thing because it can help cut down on illegal immigrants, drug trafficking, and help prevent terrorism. Many issues arise regarding legal immigrants and non-legal immigrants in quiet neighborhoods nationwide. Racial profiling has been increasing for many years, from the 1500’s up to present time.