According to the Encarta Dictionary, Racial Profiling is the assumption of criminality among ethnic groups without probable cause. Since the September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center, racial profiling has been the temporary tactic used to stop terrorism. After more than ten years since implementing this practice, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has made little progress. Some American citizens are still skeptical of Middle Eastern and Muslim people even though TSA has caught no terrorists through racial profiling. Although racial profiling has the potential to catch terrorists, it should not be used because racial profiling can justify terrorist acts, it will not improve airport and airline security, and it is discrimination.
Those in favor of racial profiling, like Clifford S. Fishman, believe the potential to catch terrorists exists. They believe this because it is careless not to single out a class since it takes too long for TSA to scrutinize everyone and all terrorists are all Middle Eastern or Muslim. According to the opposition, it is irresponsible not to practice racial profiling since security cannot “properly scrutinize” every person and item that is on a plane (527). TSA does not have resources to check every person that is in an airport. How is it, there are enough resources to have extreme security checks for all people of a certain ethnic group, but not enough for more thorough checks of everyone? It takes too long for TSA to check every person who walks through the security check point. Selecting a stereotypical race makes security lines move much faster. If the security equipment is incapable of checking everyone, shouldn’t better security systems be used? Fishman believes all ...
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...Q Researcher 14 Dec. 2001: n. pag. Rpt. in Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings. Ed. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2011. 527-528. Print.
“Racial Profiling.” Encarta Dictionary: English (North American). Electronic.
“Amendment 14.” The Constitution of the United States. N.p., 1787. Military and Government Collection. Web. 7 Mar. 2012. .
Civil Rights Act of 1964. N.p.: n.p., 1964. Military and Government Collection. Web. 7 Mar. 2012. .
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.
S., & Bedau H. (Eds.) Current issues and enduring questions: a guide to critical thinking and argument, with readings. (pp.551-552). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
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 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.
Rpt. in Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings. 9th ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: St. Martin’s, 2011. 192-194. Print
2006. Rpt. in Current Issues and Enduring Questions. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 555-557. Print.
Rpt. in Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings. 9th Ed. Ed. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. Boston: St. Martin’s, 2011. 128-130. Print
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 the most idiotic and arrogant thing you can ever do as a person. Usually the people who are affected by racial profiling are minorities, however, any person can be a victim of racial profiling. Some may think that racial profiling is non-existent, however, I would like to bring the situation into focus and show that it is still in existence and has been observed in the past and now in the current year. Although, more than fifty percent of the time racial profiling is conducted it is against a man or woman of color; an African-American in other words. There are instances where a white person can be a victim as well. Trying not to say that there isn't any person out there that is exempted from racial profiling, because there isn't a single person who is just exempted from this cruel method of decision making. In my essay I will talk about racial profiling and what it is, however, you can't forget about where it happens and of course why. Several resolutions will be discussed in this essay to alleviate this problem.
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.
Just what is racial profiling? Racial profiling is a law enforcement and security agency practice that encourages officers to stop, search, and investigate people based on race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. While racial profiling is most commonly committed against ethnic minorities, many instances of racial profiling occur in reaction to specific crimes, making any racial or cultural group subject to more intensive scrutiny by the authorities. (ebscohost.com) This is what I think bout racial profiling, it like it occurs when the police targets someone for investigation on the basis of that person's race, national origin, or ethnicity. Examples are the use of race to determine which drivers to stop for minor traffic violations and the use of race to determine which motorists or pedestrian to search for contraband. Universally attested and detested, racial profiling is a widespread police tactic. Although blacks and foreigners experience different forms of racial profiling, they both share many similarities.
Racial profiling has been a common controversy between law enforcement and communities, specifically those of a minority population. This activity has been ultimately allowed by federal and state governments as they benefit from the aid in pinpointing or otherwise targeting criminals or illegal aliens. Furthermore, racial profiling has become more of a commonly encountered practice especially after the September 11 attacks.
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
...al profiled. The way is by the color of their skin. People say that racial profiling is a good way to stop terrorism and violence and stolen merchandise, but they don’t know the affect it has to the other minorities. If you were a minority you wouldn’t want to have people look at you differently or even make assumptions about you. To stop racial profiling we should stop judging how people look and stop recalling what happened in the pass with their ethnicity. Witherbee Amy ebscohost.com stated “Those who would defend racial profiling admitted that the policy bound to infringe upon the rights of African Americans who were targeted because of their appearance, but claimed that profiling made sense based on statistics that showed blacks and Latino Americans were more likely to be convicted with drugs crimes.” Would you make an effort to put an end to racial profiling?
Passenger profiling was initiated in the late 1960s as a response to counteract terrorist threats to aviation security. It refers to the identification of potential hijacker and separating them from the general public (Sweet, 2009). By this definition, profiling allows aviation security authorities to segregate individuals that could be a potential threat and take countermeasures against them. Initially passengers were profiled using the behavioural methodology where behavioural characteristics were analysed to identify whether or not an individual posed a threat or not. Later systems such as CAPPS, CAPPS II and Secure Flight were established in an endeavour to better counteract terrorist threats than the early rudimentary behavioural profiling system. All these systems presented inherent flaws such as violation of passenger privacy, inaccuracies in data, cost-ineffectiveness and inefficiencies for passengers and airlines. Currently, the Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques profiling methodology is being widely used in an attempt to mitigate threats. This methodology has sparked much controversy among the public regarding passengers being profiled based on race. Passengers from South Asia and Middle East are greatly subjected to racial profiling. An unbiased experiment by a researcher further exemplifies this. Profiling has received much negative criticism that will be addressed in this essay.