Racial Profiling free essay sample

Debate the pros and cons of all options and decide what you would do. One thing to consider is whether someone who holds negative attitudes against a group of people is likely to translate them into his or her behavior. Racial profiling refers to the practice of substituting skin color for evidence as grounds for suspicion. Too often in the society today we use this tool as a method of finding our criminals out there. But is this tool an effective one? Although there are two sides to the coin, the cons of racial profiling in my opinion out number that of the pros. I stand strongly opposing discrimination against others because of their race. Racial profiling may result in authority interrogating the wrong person, results in embarrassment and humiliation on the victim’s side and also does it lowers people’s self-esteem. Is because of my skin colour I am always stopped at the airport to be searched a thousand times? Racial profiling allows the authorities at always to interrogate the wrong people at given times. We will write a custom essay sample on Racial Profiling or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Too often we see cases where an individual being searched because of their skin colour or culture. The excuse to such behavior is that people are suspects and they are doing it to increase public safety. But don’t you take into consideration the rights of civilian? A perfect or most common example of this could be that of stopping citizens who appear to be out of place, such as an African American in a predominantly white neighborhood or a white in a predominantly African American neighborhood. That is just vivid interrogation and people African American just cannot live their lives in peace. Hey you black guy pull over! How embarrassing. Out of all the drivers on the road why it is the Hispanic man or woman’s vehicle the police chooses to inspect? Apparently it is a target whenever they get out there in the streets. Not because one person from a particular race has done something unlawful means that the entire race is corrupted and will get involved. This is just merely stereotyping and it should be put to an end. Yes, you are looking out for the best for your country and its people, but fair is fair and that is what the justice system is all about. Embarrassing and humiliating an individual by constantly stopping and asking questions is just not right. It is neither moral nor ethical. Racial profiling results in one’s self-esteem to be rather low. They would be scared to part take in activities as they will be stared down and or just will not even get the opportunity to get involved. I know the feeling of this. I am a student and a regular traveller as well, I am from Jamaica. Whenever I am asked the question where I am from and Jamaica is mentioned, it is like all positive expression changes because of where I am from. Yes, Jamaicans have a reputation of war and all the negativity but not everyone is the same so why handle each person in such manner? Racial profiling is like a terrible disease which affects the minds of the victims. I have been a victim of racial profiling and I know the feelings. The authoritative figures need to do something and reflect on the feelings of others. Moral rules suggest that no one should be treated less than the other. We are all human beings despite the race we are. There is no way I will accept the beliefs of another person’s culture. If I should be a resident or just visiting a particular country who shares a different cultural belief as I do or race, we both have to respect each other and do what we ought to and not trying to fight the other. You cannot force someone to accept what they do not believe. Likewise, I do not expect you to accept my belief, rather just respect it. My partner is not racist, moreover he is African American. Although he might disagree with the criminal activities in which this race may get them involved in he still stands firm with his race. There is no way the attitudes of African Americans affect his behavior nor does it allow him to feel like doing whatever activities because he is of that race. Although he is not a follower of the unlawful acts, at times he still bares the consequence where at mot times especially driving he is stopped for random searching. Everyone has his or burden to take with them, why lay it on all? In conclusion, racial profiling is said to design to increase the safety of the public. Nonetheless, there are consequence’s using this tool. Racial profiling or racial discrimination affects individuals in society as it results in a form of interrogation, allows one to feel embarrassed of their race as they are constantly the targets of corruption, also racial profiling lowers the self-esteem of a person not wanting them to stand upward or intake in activities, whether for the future benefits or recreational. Racial Profiling free essay sample A discussion on racial profiling and discrimination by US policemen. (more) Racial Profiling free essay sample A report on he unit by the state attorney general found that blacks were stopped at a rate 10 times that of whites, and that 35 percent of those stops lacked reasonable suspicion to detain or had reports Insufficiently filled out to make a determination. Thousands attended Dialogs funeral. Demonstrations were held almost daily, along with the arrests of over 1,200 people in planned civil disobedience. In a trial that was moved out of the community where Dialog lived and to Albany in upstate New York, the four officers who killed Dialog were acquitted of all charges (The Dial online). Racial Profiling Is any police or private security practice In which a person Is treated as a suspect because of his or her race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. This occurs when police investigate, stop, frisk, search or use force against a person based on such characteristics instead of evidence of a persons criminal behavior. We will write a custom essay sample on Racial Profiling or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It often involves the stopping and searching of people of color for traffic violations, known as DB or driving while black or brown. (Meek 17). After 9/1 1, racial profiling has become widely accepted as an appropriate form of rime prevention.People were sought after based solely on the fact that they were of Arab descent. But racial profiling did not start with September 1 lath racial profiling has been around for ages. Tracy McClain, a professor at Boston university School of Law, says that racial profiling can trace its historical roots [back] to a time in early American society when court officials in cities like Philadelphia permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to take up all black persons seen gadding abroad without their masters permission. (Meek 164). The term profiling first became associated with law enforcements interference in drug trafficking during the late sass. In 1985, the Drug Enforcement Administration instituted Operation Pipeline, an Intelligence-based assessment of the method by which drug networks transported bulk drugs to drug markets, and began training local and state police in applying a drug courier profile as part of highway drug interdiction techniques.Under Operation Pipeline, police were trained to apply a profile that Included evidence of concealment In the vehicle, Indications of east, point-to-point driving, as well as the age and race characteristi cs of the probable drivers. In some cases, the profiling technique was distorted, so that officers began targeting black and Hispanic male drivers by stopping them for technical traffic violations as a pretext for determining whether or not drivers were carrying drugs (Wittier 133).A 1998 Department of Justice Investigation of these practices raised awareness of this issue and defined racial profiling as the practice of singling out members of racial or ethnic groups for relatively minor traffic or petty criminal integrand (History 1). In 1999, the American Civil Liberties Union launched a nationwide campaign against racial profiling, entitled Arrest the Racism: Racial Profiling in America. This campaign included research, phone hotness to report incidents, online complaint forms, advertising campaigns that included radio, television, print and billboards, advocacy for legislation, and a communications program synchronized with litigation efforts across the country. This campaign has inspired a movement against racial profiling by local, state and national organizations. Community organizations have en involved in advocating for legislation, increasing visibility of their racial profiling concerns, and encouraging police departments to begin data collection.More than 20 states have passed legislation prohibiting racial profiling and/or mandating data collection on stops and searches, hundreds of individual jurisdictions have voluntarily begun to collect data, and several Jurisdictions are collecting data on racial profiling as a result of federal or state court settlements or consent decrees. In February 2001 , during an address to a Joint session of Congress, President George W. Bush said of racial profiling, It is wrong and we will end it in America. (History 1) California, alone, has enacted legislation which mandates sensitivity training, but there is currently no legislation mandating data collection. In 1999, Governor Gray Davis vetoed legislation that would have required law enforcement agencies to collect data to show whether people of color are stopped by police at disproportionate rates. Bills that would have prohibited racial profiling and required data collection either died on inactive file or had important content removed before being passed.A large number of individual Jurisdictions are collecting data either voluntarily, through court settlements, or through federal consent decrees. S. B. 205, which amended the California Penal Code section 13519. 4, entitled Racial and Cultural Diversity Training, defines racial profiling as the practice of detaining a suspect based on a broad set of criteria which casts suspicion on an entire class of people without any individualized suspicion of the particular person being stopped. This legislation outlines the inappropriateness of racial profiling, and mandates cultural awareness training for civil servants. The federal code which is used to address racial profiling and other questionable procedures is Title 42, U. S. C. , Section 14141, which makes it unlawful for state or local law enforcement agencies to allow officers to engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that deprives persons of rights protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States. This law is commonly referred to as the Police Misconduct Statute. This law gives the Department of Justice the right to reprimand and/or sanction law enforcement agencies that use policies or practices which support a pattern of conducts by officers. The action taken by the department is directed against the agency as a whole, not against individual officers. Although efforts have been made to ban the use of racial profiling as a law enforcement tool, no Jurisdiction in the U. S. Has addressed the problem in a way that is both effective and all-inclusive. Currently, twenty-nine states have passed laws continue to be extremely lacking.Further, some states are even passing legislation that supports racial profiling, such as Arizona new SUB 1070, which aims to curb the problem of illegal entry into the U. S. While immigration issues continue to be a problem in the U. S. , this law basically allows law enforcement officials to stop any citizen randomly to verify their legal residence in the country. Police practices that are viewed as racially motivated will ultimately lead to more frequent and severe interactions with law enforcement, and eventually leads to a distrust of the police.This is an unhealthy position, as law enforcement practices arent effective when you are fearful of those whose Job is to protect and serve the citizens (Blamer 4). There is not much research available that addresses the question f why racial differences exist in citizens relations with the police. Part of the explanation can be found in the group-position thesis, which is discussed in the research by Bob Hutching 64), and states: the group-position thesis focuses on inter-group competition over material rewards, status, and power.Racial attitudes which reflect individual-level feelings and beliefs also mirror a collective sense of group cohesion, unlike other racial groups. These perceptions include (1) perceived threats: dominant group members fears that their group is at risk of losing privileges r resources to competing racial groups, and (2) perceived advantages: minority group members beliefs that their group interests will be enhanced by challenging the prevailing racial order.The group-position thesis has been used to explain inter- group racial attitudes. The thesis further outlines the entitlement of dominant groups to resources, and the attraction to institutions that serve their interests; an example of this would be the attraction of the White race to the crimina l Justice system. The police are often seen as allies by the dominant ethnic group, especially n deeply divided societies where the police can be used as an instrument for suppressing subordinate groups (Boob ; Hutching 70).This relationship between the police and dominant groups is less obvious in more democratic societies, but the authors state that even in these societies, the superior group builds strong relations with the police. In the United States, white peoples support for the police has traditionally been strong and, at the same time, whites tend to see racial minorities as inclined to criminal or violent behavior. In the 2000 General Social Survey, for example, half of whites viewed blacks as Touch 1021) For whites who follow these views, there is a tendency to condone police suspicion and disparate treatment of minorities as rational discrimination (Wittier 153). These attitudes may be more strongly held by some whites than by others, but the group-position thesis predicts that these views are fairly common throughout the white population (Boob Hutching 72). Racial profiling has been occurring throughout our nation, and even the world, for as far back as any of us can remember. Racial profiling stems from racism, and fear of people who are different, ethnically and culturally, than the person making the judgments.Sadly, it spreads even further than that, and clouds the Judgment of the people who are in positions of authority, even when they come from the same ethnic background. Racism, classicism, sexism and all the other -isms combine to create trends such as these, which affect more than Just the person being Judged; it affects deal with the problem of -isms, the only way to change the dominant perception is to change the way people are programmed throughout life and their experiences. Until that day, no legislation or rule is going to change the way people feel about the minority, or perceived lower class, group.