Defining Racial Profiling

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...