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Solutions to racial profiling
Racial profiling and the criminal justice system
Racial profiling and the criminal justice system
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There has been the hubbub surrounding racial and ethnic discrimination around traffic stops by the police. The police have been accused of stopping a particular group of people frequently fronting the argument that that group is likely to commit a crime likeillegal possession of drugs or even unlicensed weapons. Most of the scholars who have discussed racial profiling do not deny its existence. In this paper, the definition of racial profiling will be elucidated. In addition, the overall effects of racial profiling will be looked into. This paper will contrast the arguments for and against racial profiling and from this juxtaposition a summary of findings will be made. From the review, a well-reasoned conclusion on whether it is appropriate to ban racial profiling altogether will be postulated. Empirical evidence will be relied from various States will be relied on. Essentially this paper is supposed to draw conversation towards elimination of racial profiling in the context of street level crime.
Racial Profiling By Police Officers in a Bid to Eradicate Crime in the Streets
Introduction
In the late 1990s evidence of racial profiling started to emerge. States such as California, Maryland and New Jersey acknowledged the existence of racial profiling in their jurisdictions. It was only after acts of terrorism escalated in 2001 that the attitude towards racial profiling changed for good. These acts led to the reduction of racial profiling but even to date, police still practice it in many jurisdictions.
Studies were conducted in Texas in 2005. The study revealed differences in traffic stops and searches among the residents. An interesting fact that emerged
SEE PAPER INSTRUCTIONS3 is that the police were mo...
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...WHY RACIAL PROFILING IS HARD TO JUSTIFY: A RESPONSE TO RISSE AND ZECKHAUSER RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://WWW.ALEVER.NET/DOCS/WHY%20RACIAL%20PROFILING%20IS%20HARD%20TO%20JUSTIFY.PDF
RAMIREZ, D., MCDEVITT, J., & FARRELL, A. (2000). A RESOURCE GUIDE ON RACIAL PROFILING DATA COLLECTION SYSTEMS. U.S DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. RETRIEVED FROM
RISSE, M. ZECKHAUSER, R., RACIAL PROFILING. RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://WWW.HKSHARVARD.EDU/FS/RZECKHAU/RACIAL_PROFILING.PDF
SCHUCK. H. (2012). RACIAL PROFILING. RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://GSPP.BERKELEY.EDU/ASSETS/UPLOADS/RESEARCH/PDF/MARTIN_GLASER-_RACIAL_PROFILING-DEBATES_IMMIGRATION_2012.PDF
THE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS (2011) RESTORING
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A NATIONAL CONSENSUS: THE NEED TO END RACIAL PROFILING IN AMERICA RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://WWW.CIVILRIGHTS.ORG/PUBLICATIONS/REPORTS/RACIALPROFILING2011/RACIAL_PROFILING2011.PDF
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 lead to the many stereotypes and prejudice that our country has today.
In 1990, there was a total of 2,245 murders in New York, but over the past nine years, this total has been less than 600 (NYCLU). However, there has not been evident proof that the stop-and-frisk procedure is the reason of the declination of the crime rate. Indeed, stop-and-frisk contributes to some downturn of crime but the number is not high enough for the citizen and police to rely on. Specifically, only 3% of 2.4 million stops result in conviction. Some 2% of those arrests – or 0.1% of all stops – led to a conviction for a violent crime. Only 2% of arrests led to a conviction for possession of a weapon (Gabatt, A., 2013). In other words, the decrease in crime due to stop-and-frisk is mostly due to the discovery of possessed of weapons. Therefore, stop-and- frisk is not an effective procedure to use because it does not represent a huge impact in people’s safety (Gabatt, A., 2013). The author has done research about how police base their initiation towards the procedure of stop-and-frisk. Researchers have found that stop-and-frisk is a crime prevention strategy that gives a police officer the permission to stop a person based on “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity and frisk based on “reasonable suspicion” that the person is armed and dangerous. This controversy is mainly because of racial profiling. “Reasonable suspicion” was described by the court as “common sense” (Avdija, A., 2013). Although, the
Williams, Walter. “Racial Profiling.” (1999). N. pag. Online. AT&T Worldnet. Internet. 5 Dec 2000. Available: www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/williams031099.asp
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.
For the past few years there has been an ongoing debate surrounding the issue of racial profiling. The act of racial profiling may rest on the assumption that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to commit crimes than any individual of other races or ethnicities. Both David Cole in the article "The Color of Justice" and William in the article "Road Rage" take stance on this issue and argue against it in order to make humanity aware of how erroneous it is to judge people without evidence. Although Cole and William were very successful in matters of showing situations and qualitative information about racial profiling in their articles, both of them fail at some points.
Holbert, S., & Rose, L. (2006). It is difficult to establish whether racial profiling is occurring, In D. E. Nelson, Racial Profiling. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press.
Nomani, Asra Q. "Is racial or religious profiling ever justified?" 18 April 2011. Web. 18 June 2015.
According to a 2011 report from Washington Press, “the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights found evidence of widespread racial profiling, showing that African Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately likely to be stopped and searched by police, even though they’re less likely to be found possessing contraband or committing a criminal act”( Natarajan) Racial profiling has its origins in the nineteenth century, when many scientists in Europe and America tried to prove that people of certain physiques bore positive and negative personality traits that matched their physical features as stated in Racial Profiling: An
Racial tension has been part of America ever since the civil war. Today we have a different issue with race which is called racial profiling. Over the years the relationship between the police and community of color has gone bitter do to racial profiling. America’s society today tends to be tainted by racial profiling and stereotypes. These issues can cause great effects on our society. Racial profiling or stereotyping could diminish how a certain race is viewed. Racial discrimination can be a result from having racial profiling and stereotypes in our present culture. Today racial discrimination is used to approach citizens assumed to be criminals. This is called racial profiling. Although some argue that racial profiling is a necessary tool for law enforcement to protect our safety, it puts some people at a disadvantage while it privileges others. Overall racial profiling is bad for the economy, unconstitutional, and sets borderlines for different races.
Arrests by Race, 2006. Retrieved from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004896.html US Census Bureau. (2011). The 2012 Statistical Abstract. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/law_enforcement_courts_prisons.html
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 justice system is in place in America to protect its citizens, however in the case of blacks and some other minorities there are some practices that promote unfairness or wrongful doing towards these groups. Racial profiling is amongst these practices. In cases such as drug trafficking and other criminal acts, minorities have been picked out as the main culprits based off of skin color. In the article “Counterpoint: The Case Against Profiling” it recognizes racial profiling as a problem in America and states, “[In order to maintain national security] law-enforcement officers have detained members of minority groups in vehicles more than whites”…. “these officers assume that minorities commit more drug offenses, which is not the case” (Fauchon). In relationship to law enforcement there has also been many cases of police brutality leaving young blacks brutally injured, and even dead in recent years, cases such as Michael Brown, Dontre Hamilton, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Freddy Gray just to name a few. Many of these young men were unarmed, and the police involved had no good justification for such excess force. They were seen as threats primarily because of their skin color. Despite the fact this nation is trying to attain security, inversely they are weakening bonds between many of its
This essay will bring to light the problem of racial profiling in the police force and propose the eradication of any discrimination.
Racial profiling does indeed exist in America. This practice is especially damaging to African Americans, who are frequently shamed by society as criminals, drug addicts, or welfare abusers. This societal flaw is evidenced by recent injustices to both Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin. Years of abuse of power have brought this issue blazing to the forefront of hot topics in America.
In the past few years, racial profiling has become a very prominent issue in American society. In “Racial Profiling,” “Racial Profiling is a controversial and illegal discriminatory practice in which individuals are targeted for suspicion of crimes based on their ethnicity, race, or religion rather than on evidence-based suspicious behavior” (Para. 11). Many people are wronged because of this phenomenon and effects many of them in multiple ways. Racial profiling is effecting many people and it needs to be addressed.