The concept of racial profiling has been given many different definitions. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, racial profiling refers to “the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” Everyday, people fall victim to racial profiling. Some people argue that racial profiling is a necessary and practical form of law enforcement. Others deny its entire existence. Sadly, racial profiling does exist, and it plagues our nation. Unfortunately stopping racial profiling completely is very difficult. Police are people and will fall victim to stereotypes and assumptions. That said, we must acknowledge the fact that racial profiling is unconstitutional. It violates the 4th amendment which guarantees the right to be safe from unreasonable search and seizure without probable cause, and the 14th amendment which requires that all citizens be treated equally under the law. The practice of racial profiling also contradicts one of the most well known phrases in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” Racial profiling has its roots in the older technique of criminal profiling. Criminal profiling became popular in the middle of the twentieth century when it was successfully used by a psychiatrist to find a serial bomber. Then, in the 1960’s and 1970’s, after a rash of airplane hijackings or “skyjackings”, experts used similar techniques to form a profile for sky jackers. They taught airline personnel to look out for a list of 25 different characteristics; none which were related to a particular race or ethnic group. Unfortunately, the pr... ... middle of paper ... ...reated a law that makes it a state crime to be in the state illegally, allows police to arrest or fine a person who fails to provide U.S. identification, and allows police to detain anyone who they suspect to be an illegal alien. While supporters argue that the law is necessary, critics believe that the new law will open the door for racial profiling. And if this is true, Arizona’s 1.7 million residents of Hispanic or Latino origin are potential victims. Racial profiling doesn’t just exist today, it thrives. It is used by law enforcement everyday even though it is both unjust and unconstitutional. Not only does it violate the core principles of this country, but it can be dangerous. It threatens our national security and, on a deeper level, racial profiling is a threat to racial equality, something that the people of the United States have fought to achieve.
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
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.
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.
It varies from lawsuits against the Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for racial profiling, to Arizona laws against the Hispanic Community. Sheriff Apraio has been facing the lawsuit since 2007 and the federal judges have found the sheriff agency to have racially profiled Hispanics during patrol operations (Holstege). This creates a hostile environment towards law enforcement in general among the Hispanic community, not only the Sheriff Office. The law basically allows law enforcement officers to request documentation or proof of legal status of anyone who they have “reasonable doubt they are illegally in this country.” However, how can you have “reasonable doubt” that someone is illegal on this country? Well, their appearance, their language? South Phoenix, a neighborhood mostly composed by Hispanics from Mexican ancestry, has experienced the targeting of this law due to their appearance. Almost every Hispanic resident of South Phoenix neighborhood feared the repercussion of the law. Even US citizens and legal US residents were terrified of law enforcement officers due to their appearance. They stopped coming out of their houses, unless it was extremely necessary, just to avoid contact with law enforcement (Szkupinski). How can you trust the people that are supposed to protect you, if they are the ones terrorizing your neighborhood? How can you report a real crime, if you do you can
One discriminating practice used by police officers is racial profiling. This is the police practice of stopping, questioning, and searching potential criminal suspects in vehicles or on the street based solely on their racial appearance (Human Rights Watch, 2000). This type of profiling has contributed to racially disproportionate drug arrests, as well as, arrests for other crimes. It makes sense that the more individuals police stop, question and search, the more people they will find with reason for arrest. So, if the majority of these types of stop and frisk searches are done on a certain race then it makes sense that tha...
Racial profiling is a wide spread term in the American justice system today, but what does it really mean? Is racial profiling just a term cooked up by criminals looking for a way to get out of trouble and have a scapegoat for their crimes? Is it really occurring in our justice system, and if so is it done intentionally? Most importantly, if racial profiling exists what steps do we take to correct it? The answer to these questions are almost impossible to find, racial profiling is one of many things within our justice system that can be disputed from any angle and has no clear cut answers. All that can be done is to study it from different views and sources and come up with one’s own conclusion on the issue.
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.
"Racial Profiling: Definition." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., 05 Nov. 2005. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. .
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,
Imagine being at risk of being pulled over at any given time, the only reason? The color of your skin. “2010, the state of Arizona passed a law authorizing local police to check the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect of being in the United States illegally.” (11 Facts...). The ability to pull people over for the sole reason of looking illegal. This seems aimed at Latinos because they are the ones that are easily recognizable, and often stereotyped as not being legal residents of the United States. For example, if two people were lined up and one had a light complexion and light features, and one had tan skin and darker skin, when asked who looked like an immigrant, a large majority would choose the individual with the tan
Before any argument can be made against racial profiling, it is important to understand what racial profiling is. The American Civil Liberties Union, defines racial profiling as "the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin"(Racial Profiling: Definition). Using this definition we can determine that racial profiling excludes any evidence of wrong-doing and relies solely on the characteristics listed above. We can also see that racial profiling is different from criminal profiling, which uses evidence of wrong-doing and facts which can include information obtained from outside sources and evidence gathered from investigation. Based on these definitions, I will show that racial profiling is unfair and ineffective because it relies on stereotyping, encourages discrimination, and in many cases can be circumvented.
Every day you see and hear about minorities groups complain about cops and their tactics against them stopping them while in traffic taking them in to custody or even getting kill over nothing. Racial Profiling is a common thing in this community and it is causing a lot of trouble. According to Minnesota House of Representatives analyst Jim Cleary, "there appear to be at least two clearly distinguishable definitions of the term 'racial profiling ': a narrow definition and a broad definition... Under the narrow definition, racial profiling occurs when a police officer stops, questions, arrests, and/or searches someone solely on the basis of the person 's race or ethnicity... Some ways to stop it is find out who is guilty of it, look at their
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 Fourth Amendment states “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Despite this right, multiple minorities across the country suffer at the hands of police officers through racial profiling; the singling out of a person or persons as the main suspect of a crime based on their race. Many people have also suffered the loss of a loved one because police believed the suspect to be a threat based on their races therefore the officers use their authority to take out the “threat”. Although racial profiling may make sense to police officers in the line of duty, through the eyes of the public and those affected by police actions, it is a form a racism that is not being confronted and is allowing unjust convictions and deaths.
Racial profiling in America, as evidenced by recent events, has reached a critical breaking point. No longer can an African American, male or female, walk into a store, school, or any public place without fear of being stereotyped as a person of suspicion. Society constantly portrays the African American