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 lead to the many stereotypes and prejudice that our country has today.
Racial Profiling
The targeting of a certain group of people based on stereotypes of their race is called racial profiling. Many times this method is used by police, and other law enforcement agencies in order to
They are influenced by the same things that we are, and they see things the same as we do. How these law enforcement officials are raised is how they are going to carry out their duties. If they are raised without morals or with racial influence they will most likely use that influence and bad judgment during work. Additionally, terrorism and hate crimes instills great fear in today 's society. With all the recent violence against law enforcement, I can understand why they profile or may come off defensive to the general public. At the same time, I can also understand why the public may fear police officials. Also I can see why they may not trust the police with all the recent police involved shootings that have
Every time a terrorist attack happens the media jumps all over it, and puts their own twist on what had happened. “Thus, the media has a strong potential to influence how the public thinks about social problems like terrorism, especially because most people only experience terrorism through mass-media accounts...This research also finds that media portrayals of terrorism increase anxiety among the viewing public.” (Chermak, 2006) The media is one of the leading causes of stereotypes, and what influences our beliefs today. When you think of a terrorist, you may think of either a middle aged muslim male or a middle aged white male with some sort of mental or social disorder. This isn 't always the case. A terrorist can be of any race, age, and social class. Due to the media 's influence, we all believe in the same stereotypes and imagine the same description of what a terrorist may look like. This is one of the main reasons behind racial profiling.
Morals and Ethics
As stated previously in my report, although profiling may be effective against terrorism it doesn 't mean it 's morally right. Its improper use of authority and can potentially lead to many problems including lawsuits. It is up to the officers to know the difference between what 's right and wrong. As a law enforcement officer it is up to them to change the way that the general
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
Racial profiling is wrong! Racial profiling has done way more bad than it has done good. Racial profiling has killed innocence people, and has served no justice. Racial profiling has pushed America one step back from the many years we have come from slavery and segregation. Should people use racial profiling be used as an excuse to interrupt a person’s personal life? Racial profiling takes away from the trust we have in our law enforcement. Everyone wants to be protected by authorities not harmed by them no matter your age, or race. I am afraid of justice system, shouldn’t you be to?
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.
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 in the dictionary is “the assumption of criminality among ethnic groups: the alleged policy of some police to attribute criminal intentions to members of some ethnic groups and to stop and question them in disproportionate numbers without probable cause (“Racial Profiling”).” In other words racial profiling is making assumptions that certain individuals are more likely to be involved in misconduct or criminal activity based on that individual’s race or ethnicity. Racial profiling propels a brutalizing message to citizens of the United States that they are pre-judged by the color of their skin rather than who they are and this then leads to assumptions of ruthlessness inside the American criminal justice system. With race-based assumptions in the law enforcement system a “lose-lose” situation is created due to America’s diverse democracy and destroys the ability to keep the criminal justice system just and fair. Although most police officers perform their duties with fairness, honor, and dedication, the few officers who portray to be biased then harm the whole justice system resulting in the general public stereotyping every law enforcement officer as a racial profiler (Fact Sheet Racial Profiling). When thinking about racial profiling many people automatically think it happens only to blacks but sadly this is mistaken for far more ethnic groups and races such as Jews, Muslims, Mexicans, Native Americans, and many more are racially profiled on a day to day basis. Many people believe racial profiling to be a myth because they see it as police officers merely taking precautions of preventing a crime before it happens, but in reality racial profiling has just become an approved term for discrimination and unjust actio...
Racial profiling is simply this, the color or race of a person while making a decision regarding that person. Usually when being racially profiled you are automatically marked as the worst example of your race. It is amazing the amount of things that a person can make up about your race. Most of the things they say are not true at all. You can't just say, “well all black people carry guns and eat chicken and watermelon.” You're racially profiling this person because of what you've observed among other black people. In this case, this is just morally wrong. Despite color a person of any creed can carry a gun, eat chicken, and watermelon. This statement would make you look completely idiotic...
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.
Racial profiling or stereotyping could diminish how a certain race is viewed. Racial discrimination can be a result of 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.
Angelie Ortiz Ms. Matlen ERWC Period: 1 Racial Profiling 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.
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, national origin, social economic class, sexual orientation, and so on. (American Civil Liberties Union) It is to say that authorities in charge of providing security and justice have taken this power to an extent in which discriminate people, especially the ones who are in disempowered groups.
Most people in todays world think profiling people is a good idea, people at airports think that anyone is or looks like a muslim, is a terrorists. Sometimes profiling works and other times profiling does not work and point out terrorists but instead it offends people because they been profiled just because who they are and where they come from. Most people nowadays think that all Muslims are Arabs, but thats not true they are black, white, asian, and all other types of races. Because the numbers of actual terrorists is so low, most of everyone selected by the profile will be innocent, but because of that only certain people from different places will be profiled.
I believe officers in law enforcement are here to serve and protect the citizens of this country. Although as I stated before I also believe that there are still a few that are bad. The majority of them are good. For any kind of change to begin a number of factors need to be involved. The citizens need to use fairness.
Tomaskovic-devey, Donald, and Patricia Warren. "Explaining and Eliminating Racial Profiling." Contexts Vol. 8, No. 2. Spring 2009: 34. SIRS Issues Researcher.
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
Racial profiling is a negative action in the nation. In which many people across the country have experienced this sort of treatment leaving a demoralizing effect on the citizens. Racial profiling is an act of discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual 's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.This in which acts on a terrible and negative impact to the society. Race as we know it has such a powerful contribution of the person people are that it can have life or death consequences. A person should not be judged due to their appearance.