Professional Racism and Discrimination

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Recommended: Sentencing disparities among race

The Los Angeles Police Department has a reputation for using race as a basis to catch criminals. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for believing an individual is suspicious of committing a crime. Discriminatory or abusive behavior towards people of color affects the justice system and violates people’s human rights. The LAPD continues to use racial profiling against mostly African-Americans and Latinos. The use of racial profiling by the LAPD prevents the police from serving the whole community. Because of the LAPD’s neglect towards certain neighborhoods, the neglect causes those communities to not trust or want to work with the police. Racial profiling should not be used by the LAPD because it is immoral, ineffective and unconstitutional to use an individual’s skin color to target that individual for being suspicious of criminal behavior.
By the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution, racial profiling is unconstitutional. The Fourth Amendment states that people have the right to privacy and freedom from search and seizures (US Const. amend. IV. Sec. 1). The Fourteenth Amendment states, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United states; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (US Const. amend. XIV. Sec. 1). In other words, no single individual should be treated differently from anyone else, whether the individual is African-America, Latino, Asian, or White. Since the US Constitution clearly says that all people shall be treated equally, racial profiling is illegal by the law. Beca...

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...eb. 14 Apr. 2014
Gerstmann, Evan. "Where Is Equal Protection? Applying Strict Scrutiny To Use Of Race By
Law Enforcement."
Harvard Journal On Racial & Ethnic Justice 29.(2013): 1-31. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Apr. 2014
Mullen, Elizabeth, and Linda J. Skitka. "When Outcomes Prompt Criticism Of Procedures: An Analysis Of The Rodney King Case."
Analyses Of Social Issues & Public Policy 6.1 (2006): 1-14. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2014
Ryberg, Jesper. "Racial Profiling And Criminal Justice."
Journal Of Ethics 15.1/2 (2011): 79-88. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Tillyer, Rob, and Richard D. Hartley. "Driving Racial Profiling Research Forward: Learning Lessons From Sentencing Research."
Journal Of Criminal Justice 38.4 (2010): 657-665. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
US Const. amend. IV. Print
US Const. amend. XIV. Print

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