Racial Profiling

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Is Racial Profiling an Acceptable Law Enforcement Strategy? There is no denying that in the United States racism is still a prominent problem among its citizens despite efforts to bring unity between the varieties of races. Over the course of history strides have been made towards this sense of acceptance although even today, there is still a long way to go. With media at the tips of our fingertips, it is easy to see all the horrible things that happen in our world on a day-to-day basis. Our headlines are splashed with “White Officer Kills Another Black Youth” and “Brutal Shooting of Black Man During Traffic Stop”. These words catch our attention and it is all too convenient to believe everything one news article has to say. With the racial …show more content…

Those who argue against racial profiling claim that it is a direct violation of the Constitution in that individuals are innocent until proven guilty and by racially profiling, officers are assuming guilt on minorities without probably cause. Probable cause is a fairly widely understood term throughout the United States, and so those who are against racial profiling argue that it is simply against the standards of our justice system and is unreasonable to allow this type of policing strategy into our system. Lynch discusses in his counterargument against Whitney and Taylor, that “the legitimacy of racial profiling – of targeting Black offenders over White offenders – is misleading at best, and at worst, a form of institutionalized racism” (Lynch, 2013). He presents the claim that it is an objectionable ideology to criminologists because our nation determines guilt based on evidence, and racial profiling strictly defies this concept (Lynch, …show more content…

Also reported by the UCR is the number of arrests throughout the nation which contrary to popular belief shows that whites were arrested more (6,502,919 arrests) than blacks (2,640,067 arrests) in comparison (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2012). Although let it be noted that number of arrests among minorities is reported as being 2,775,666 in total. This data makes it hard to debate the common assumption that police only target minorities. Police target people who do not remain law abiding. In inner cities where more minorities live, it is naturally going to mean that minorities will be the majority of individuals arrested because they are what make up the population of those specific

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