Arguments Against Racial Profiling

Racial profiling is discrimination, and discrimination is wrong. Discrimination taints the entire criminal justice system. Racial profiling is nothing but public stereotyping. Therese extreme tactics make the justice system look bad in cases which their racial profiling was incorrect. It publicly puts all races in once category, bad or good. Discrimination has being going on for years and years in history. African Americans are one group of people who have worked so hard not to be discriminated against, and with racial profiling they are constantly being brought back down to the Jim Crow Era. When will it ever stop?

In 1994 Polly Klaas was kidnapped from a slumber party at her home in California and later murdered by Richard Allen Davis who already had 2 prior convictions for kidnapping on his record. The public was outraged that a repeat offender was able to attack again. Politicians catered to this outrage and sold the public on a bill that would repeat offenders off the streets for good with the three strikes and you’re out legislation.

Racial Profiling is unconstitutional and illegal, yet it’s still used in law enforcement. The practice of racial profiling, as defined by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), refers to 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”(ACLU 2005). Racial profiling causes more harm than good, it can cause emotional, mental and more often physical harm to the person being subjected to the practice. According to the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments, racial profiling is unconstitutional. It causes distrust in law enforcement because ethnic

There have been many attempts to make racial profiling illegal, but all have failed. Racial profiling is defined as suspecting an individual of a wrongdoing based solely on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin (Racial Profliling: Definition 2). Racism spreads throughout all dimensions of life in American society; therefore, the history of racial profiling is extensive, but it was at an all-time high after the September 11th attacks (Persistence of racial and ethnic profiling in the United States: a follow-up report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 10). It can be used in both positive and negative aspects, but is mostly used negatively. Racial profiling negatively effects society and the very existence of racial profiling is erroneous, discriminatory, and unjustifiable.

Racial Profiling compromises the very fabric that America is built on. With Constitutional laws that protect us as American citizens from any mistreatment or discrimination, Racial Profiling is still being practiced , and it violates our human rights, and causes distrust in the very police officers that are in charge of keeping our communities safe, and disbelief in the Constitution that should afford all American citizens equal rights.

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

So before I can answer this million dollar question I need to establish what racial profiling is. According to the American Civil Liberties Union it is “when law enforcement and private security target people color for humiliating and often frightening detentions, interrogations, and searches without evidence of criminal activity and based on perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion.” In plain English this means a person is perceived to have committed a crime only because of their race.

I think racial profiling is right to some extent. Using racial profiling to determine what type of crimes people are likely to commit is just a broad overview and is just generalizing what type of person is likely to commit which type of crime. To me racial profiling with law enforcement is an effective way of catching criminals and preventing crime and allows for the police to focus on areas where crime is high and needs to be prevented. For example imagine if you were a police chief and you have been informed that the crime rates are through the roof and out of control in a specific. You know for a fact that a white male commit more crimes someone of another race. Would you just sit down and propose an idea saying to search everyone evenly

Racial profiling is based on stats used by law enforcement to stop potential suspects because from experience a certain racial group is committing the same crime. When an officer stops a suspect for whatever reason they use their experience and judgement. For example, in New Jersey the highway patrol were synonymous for stopping people of African American descent for a multitude of reasons, which was based on pass arrest of African American's who were utilizing the New Jersey turnpike to transport drugs or guns. So with that the highway patrol created a profile of the suspects committing these crimes and a majority of these offenders were African Americans. The profiling displayed commonality of whom was committing these offenses and this is

Racial Profiling is an act of automatically defining or identifying someone based on their ethnicity. This act was most recognized during the late 1800’s in the U.S. under the Jim Crow law. It was passed in order to segregate whites and the colored in America. It fundamentally made whites superior to all. Though, in 1964 the Civil Rights Act passed stating that anybody of any ethnicity or religion are to be equal and united. However, today this law has never been truly accepted when seeing the statistics of the type of people being stopped by the police. In fact, based on the statistics of the people stopped, there is an ethnic disproportion which shows that the police use racial profiling. Even though innocent people are stopped, the

Second, police in our country do racial profiling. This practice of law enforcement is morally wrong and personally sickening. Racial Profiling is the idea that just because someone is a different race automatically makes that one person a suspect. Racial Profiling goes against everything that the United States Constitution is about. The constitution is about freedom, equality, and the pursuit of happiness. Our law enforcement is put into place to serve and protect the innocent. The constitution protects us of unlawful search and seizers as well. Racial profiling makes our law enforcement give in their minds probable cause when there really is not any in the first place. Also, it goes against the United States Constitution. The American Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberites Union Foundation said, “Racial profiling is a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem despite claims that the United States has entered a “post-racial era.” It occurs every day, in cities and towns across the country, when law enforcement and private security target people of color for humiliating and often frightening detentions, interrogations, and searches without evidence of criminal activity and based on perceived race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. Racial profiling is

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

Supporters of racial profiling could argue that using this technique benefits police to target criminals as well as making more arrest (Thomsen, 2011, p. 99). According to Reddick (2004) there is evidence that supports that if the United States allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to use profiling on the twentieth hijacker then the events that occurred on September 11 could have been avoided (p. 155). However, many critics state that law enforcements are infringing on the constitutional rights and civil liberties of ethnic minorities within the United States (Ward, 2002, p. 726). The United States government has the duty to protect the citizens as well as to protect the ideals and ethical standards, in which, the United States were built on. Some people may argue that racial profiling is an important factor to national security and can be justifiable in court cases. In New York Times v. United States (1971), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that national security cannot be placed above the First Amendment, which protects the freedom of the press (Fauchon, 2004, p. 158). Fauchon (2004) states the racial profiling has never worked in the U.S. and will never work in the future. Racial profiling affects a person’s emotions and can fuel more cruel crimes to happen (p. 159). Fauchon (2004) argues that targeting behavior rather than the appearance of a person is much more successful (p. 157). It is important to remember that it is not racial profiling if a law

Racial profiling has become a severe obstacle in the U.S. today though most Americans know very little of this vital issue. Every day, people are being pulled over, harassed, and even killed for being of a certain race. There are new laws that politicians are trying to pass that promote racial discrimination. Racial profiling is immoral and does not increase public safety.

It is discrimination and should never be used anywhere. Racial profiling doesn't 100 percent mean that you are racist but you are still judging someone on stereotypes and that is still just as wrong. Studies in law enforcement have shown that racial profiling doesn't work. Colored minorities such as black and latinas are stopped by and searched by police officers more so often than whites are and over half of the patrols were unsuccessful in finding anything non guilty about the suspects even if a group of a certain minority are common for doing a particular crime someone from out of that group is just as likely to do that specific crime. In fact data has states that when it is used “The rate of unlawful conduct is lower than when law enforcement activity is not infused by race stereotypes.” (Open Society Foundations, 2017) Racial discrimination risks lives everyday, also what if doctors were to racial profile as well, decided not to treat specific patients since they know what minorties are more likely to be diagnosed with a certain cancer or is more likely to get some sort of disease what would happen if this were to