Racial Profiling in Different Ways

Racial Profiling has been used by law enforcement officials from early 60’s during the civil rights movement. The term “racial profiling” which was introduced to criticize abusive police practices against people of different race, ethnicity or national origin. One must assess how to understand the practice, and how to keep it distinct from other issues. Racial profiling is defined as “any police-initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin, rather than the behavior of an individual or information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity.” (Ramirez 5).

This definition leads us to discussion on what racial profiling has been over the years and how it cannot be combined with other aspects of discrimination. Racial profiling has been solely based on, (1)The use of race, ethnicity, or national origin and not (2) the use of an individual’s behavior or information that helps apprehend somebody who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity. (1) provides different investigative methods( race, ethnicity or national origin) while (2) tells us about investigative methods and the goals or outcomes of these investigative methods and uses specific information on suspicious activities like individual’s behavior. Including this contrast in the definition raises two problems. Even though, because of these classifications, this article would be concentrating on combining above two opinions which contribute to profiling. And concentrate why more blacks have been stopped in driving as compared to whites or more Muslims of Middle Eastern origin were stopped at airport as compared to other people.

There are...

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...T an "antidote to racial profiling...If you look for a certain race or ethnicity, you're making a big mistake.

Works Cited

Amnesty International, “Racial Profiling Does not Increase Border Security.” At Issue: Protecting America’s Borders, Ed Douglas Stinson, San Deigo, Greenhaven Press 2005, 27 Nov 2007

Harris, D. 1999a. “Driving While African-American: Racial Profiling on Our Nation’s Highways.” An American Civil Liberties Union Special Report

Ramirez, D., McDevitt, J, and A. Farrell. 2000. A Recourse Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collection Systems: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned. Report prepared by Northeastern University with support by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Risse, Mathias. Racial Profiling: A Reply to Two Critics. John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 24 September. 2006. Web. < http://www.hks.harvard.edu>