Problem Of Racial Profiling In Law Enforcement

Racial profiling can raise racial tensions in areas where racial profiling is most prevalent by law enforcement. Animosities tend to run high which results in those most likely to be profiled against won’t cooperate with law enforcement when necessary even if they have not committed any

Racial profiling is one of the bigger threats to the human society. It has led to numerous acts of violence. In recent times racial profiling led to the arrests of innocent individuals amongst other things. Black people and Hispanics have always been victims to this type of harassment by law enforcement officials. When suspects are detained based off of suspicious behavior, rather than race, police officers catch more suspects.

Racial profiling is the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based off of race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin. All across America there are examples of this. Most recently the Black Lives Matter movement has erupted in America, bringing to the public’s attention the issue of racial profiling. As a result of racial profiling people have died and started riots. This issue has also come to the point of people committing suicide for their cause.

“In recent months, police chiefs in Los Angeles and Houston have said that reports by Latinos of certain types of crime are down in their respective cities. Both chiefs blamed the declines on heightened fear of deportation among undocumented immigrants, a majority of whom are Latino. They say the trend is concerning because police departments rely on members of the community — regardless of their legal status — to report crimes when they occur.”

It is just the police ’s guess that person committed a crime by the way that person reacts or looks like. There is no guarantee that the police will catch the criminal using racial profiling. Some people who are stopped by the police are criminals who had committed a crime and some people that are stopped by the police are not criminals and they did nothing wrong. “By the Police Department’s own count, more than 45,000 people were stopped…, but the total number of arrested made by the united over those two years was less than 10,000.”

Racial Profiling is one of the many areas covered in racial discrimination. It refers to the discriminatory practice, especially by law enforcement officials which targets individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual 's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Racial profiling has been and is still an issue today in almost every part of the United States. It is seen in different situations whereby people are treated very unfairly or branded criminals and suspects without any form of evidence It is a type of racial discrimination seen in all places though racial discrimination touches many areas like award of government benefits which is unequally shared as it should ,but at times based on who the person is. For example, I was once a victim in the

Michelle Alexander proceeds with another rhetorical question to allow the audience to further reflect on the current situation and stress the corruption of the justice system “If McCleskey’s evidence was not enough to prove discrimination in the absence of some kind of racist utterance, what would be?” (Alexander 67). She uses facts and statistics prior to this “the researchers found that defendants charged with killing white victims were 4.3 times more likely to receive a death sentence than defendants charged with killing blacks” (Dissenting 321; referenced by Alexander 67) to assert evidence of the racial profiling present in the American justice system. The persuasive technique is used to assert her opinion towards the audience by relating

I believe that a police officer has a right to stop somebody for their ethnicity or race. At this very moment we “U.S CITIZENS” are being attacked by Islamic Jihadist’s and I have no problem stopping them for anything. As far as any other race I stand for the police to stop them too. If it’s going to save people’s lives then I’m all for it.

Profiling, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the act or process of extrapolating information about a person based on known traits or tendencies. It is, in other words, a way of gathering information about someone through observations. Just based on this definition alone, you would be easily fooled into thinking that profiling, especially racial profiling, is harmless and simply another topic that is beaten and thrashed by the media. However, a more detailed analysis of police practices tells us another story: profiling is an illegal and immoral practice that threatens to shake the foundations of our ethnically-integrated society.

Racial profiling by law enforcement is commonly defined as “a practice that targets people for suspicion of crime based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin” (“Racial Profiling”).  Racial profiling can be done because of stereotypes like “Blacks and Hispanics are more prone to crime” (Niller). However, that doesn’t mean that is alright for officers to “stop and search people” (“The Problem”) or shoot them because they look agitated. The power to stop and search is given by the fourth amendment requires that the police have a “reasonable suspicion that a crime has been, is being, or is about to be committed before stopping a suspect.

Racial profiling is problematic for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it is a direct

The Houston, Texas Police department also enacted a policy to deal with racial profiling. Their policy has been modified, over the years and seems to give more specifics as time goes. As of 2010, the policy is no person should be targeted by law enforcement because of their gender or color of their skin. It also states that the department’s actions reflect the gravity of that responsibility to the citizens. The department also requires the collection of racial profiling data for motor vehicle stops and officers are required to document additional information such as the reason for initially stopping someone (McClelland Jr. & Parker, 2012).

Throughout history, disputes and tensions between law enforcement officials and communities of minorities have endured hostility and violence between each other. Racial profiling has become a “hot topic” for researchers as well as for politicians and by now it is likely that most citizens are at least aware of the common accusations of racial bias pitted against law enforcement (Cochran & Warren, 2013). Communities of color are being discriminated against and racially profiled by white police officers for any suspicion of criminal activities. It has been widely assumed by policy makers and citizens alike that allegations of racial profiling are mostly associated with the policing practices of white officers and their treatment of racial and ethnic minorities (Cochran & Warren, 2013). Also, individuals of minority descent will certainly recognize that they are being racially profiled during a stop that is being conducted by a white police officer.

In the past, there have been certain issues that actually made the problem of racial profiling as bad as it is today. Like 9/11. Since 9/11 was a terrorist act people have been very skeptical about people of color or people that look different. It might not have started after that but it certainly increased. The issue happens everywhere you go.

Racial profiling is used in different ways and is a problem that needs to be solved in the United