Some people are oblivious to the racial profiling that still exists in America, others do not care enough to talk about it. If it does not directly offend an individual, it is considered to much of a hassle to talk about. Police prejudice and racial profiling is responsible for many false arrests, convictions, and death of African Americans. It is a difficult and unfortunate part of life that certain groups of human beings must face these so called obstacles in their life because they are a minority or because of their skin color. Police racial profiling has been an ongoing problem that African Americans have been dealing with for over 500 years. In this paper I am going to discuss the history of prejudice and racial profiling, how it relates to the discriminatory acts of police and judicial system towards African Americans in the United States. Most importantly, I will discuss how America can help make a change and put an end to the Police racial profiling that still segregates this nation.
There is ample evidence that shows that prejudice still exists in America. All a person has to do is turn on the television, read the newspaper, or google search the terms: Racial prejudice, Racial profiling or police discrimination. After all of the hardships African Americans have endured during slavery, one would think that America has learned from its past mistakes. Yet, there are the ones who believe that not only do they represent the law but that they are above the law. We call them the police and the judicial system, the ones that in many cases use prejudice and discrimination to arrest and convict African Americans not because of their wrongdoing but because of the color of their skin.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signes the Proclamation of Emancipation to free all “persons that are held as slaves (Lincoln, 1863)” in the country of America. This movement shows a significat step towards freedom. However, the Proclamation Emancipation did not free all slaves because it did not consider the slaves in the south or the slaves in border states. However, it showed the world that the Civil war was being fought to put an end to slavery. Finally a couple years later, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution passed on January 31, 1865 by the Congress declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude.
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
The judicial system in America has always endured much skepticism as to whether or not there is racial profiling amongst arrests. The stop and frisk policy of the NYPD has caused much controversy and publicity since being applied because of the clear racial disparity in stops. Now the question remains; Are cops being racially biased when choosing whom to stop or are they just targeting “high crime” neighborhoods, thus choosing minorities by default? This paper will examine the history behind stop and frisk policies. Along with referenced facts about the Stop and Frisk Policy, this paper will include and discuss methods and findings of my own personal field research.
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.
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.
When the Civil War was approaching its third year, United States President Abraham Lincoln was able to make the slaves that were in Confederate states that were still in rebellion against the Union forever free. Document A states that on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and that every enslaved person residing in the states that were “In rebellion against the United States” were free and that the Executive Government of the United States and that the military and naval authority were to recognize them and could not act against them at all. Although the Proclamation did not free every slave in the Confederacy, it was able to release about 3.5 million slaves. Along with freeing all of those slaves, it also stated that African American men were allowed to enlist with the Union and aid them in the war.
This essay will bring to light the problem of racial profiling in the police force and propose the eradication of any discrimination.
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.
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed slaves in the Confederate states. But it did not guarantee anyone an education, a job, or a place to live. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution made slavery illegal. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments were passed later, and they were supposed to give blacks all their civil rights, especially the right to vote.
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.
The term “racial profiling” is used by agencies of law enforcement to describe an individual’s race or ethnicity as a factor in articulating reasonable suspicion to stop, question, or arrest an individual (Racial Profiling 2001: 1). Police officers have the discretion to make decisions regarding whom they stop. However, if any law enforcement employee profiles potential suspects based on their race or ethnicity they violate the civil rights of the individual. If you suspect someone of a crime based on their race and ethnicity you are violating the civil rights of these minority groups. If any officer suspects another officer of racial profiling they must notify their supervisor. When a situation like this comes up an officer who informs on one of his own could result in negative consequences for the whistleblower. He could be labeled by the other officers as a ’rat’ and could lead him to be singled out. There are a lot of gray areas within the issue of racial profiling. The State of Arizona and its political subdivisions cannot tolerate racial profiling if Arizona is to remain consistent and fair in its application of justice (AZ Attorney General, 2001:2). In this article I will discuss law enforcement concerns, private resident concerns, current policies and procedures, and training. I believe that police officers need to stop people they suspect of an offence [it is not the role of the police officer to decide guilt –that is a matter for the courts] to reduce the amount of crime offenders, but they need to be careful that they do not cross the fine line between racial profiling and suspicion. The purpose of this article is to inform readers that police discretion not only encompasses use of force, gratuiti...
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
“Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22nd 1862. The document states that if the states in the rebellion didn’t cease, the proclamation would go into effect” (10 Facts). When the rebellious states decided not to, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation on January 1st, 1863. The proclamation only applied to the states in rebellion. In fact, the proclamation declared, “that all persons held as slaves, within the rebellious, are and henceforth shall be freed” (The Emancipation Proclamation). During the war, the Southern states used the slaves to support their armies in the field and to manage the home front. Lincoln justified the proclamation as a war measure intended to cripple the Confederates use of slaves in war. The book, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End Of Slavery in America, says “No single official paper in American history changed the lives of as many Americans as Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. But no American document has been held up to greater suspicion” (Guelzo 12).
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.