Racial Profiling

What is racial profiling?  Are there any beliefs that law enforcement officials racially profile?  These questions may flow in one’s mind.  The criminal justice system is the most bias and prejudicial system in society from the time of slavery to terrorism. Racial profiling has effects on human rights because the criminal justice system is most likely conduct these racial profiling on ethnic minorities. According to WordNet, “racial profiling is a form of racism consisting of the (alleged) policy of policemen who stop and search vehicles driven by persons belonging to particular racial groups.” My question is why is racial profiling still around?

In the book, Critical Issues in Crime and Justice, by Mary Maguire and Dan Okada discuss racial profiling through police ethics, contemporary race and crime issues, and the research on conflict theory and the police.  Maguire and Okada discusses that “ Higgins, Gabbidon, and Jordan analyzed data from the 2004 Minority Rights and Relations/Black-White Social Audit poll and found that blacks were more likely than whites to believe that racial profiling is widespread” (Maguire 105).  The authors also state that “racial profiling can occur whether or not those targeted are actually engaged in any crimes” (Maguire 105). African Americans believe that officers are racists because they are the most likely to get pulled over by police officers and believe that they have done something wrong.; however, the officers may be looking for someone that committed a crime that resembles the one being pulled over.  Often descriptions are black males from 5 foot 2 to 6 feet.  This makes up majority of all blacks.  This could be the same for other ethnic minorities; however, it depends on how they see law enforcement.

Both Maguire and Okada seem to know what they are talking about.  They hardly omit information.  However, they need to supply the percentage from the Minority Rights and Relations/Black-White Social Audit poll.  This is so that people could see how much more blacks believed that racial profiling was widespread as well as the percentage of other minorities that might have the same beliefs.  Racial profiling is ethicallt wrong for the officer and the criminal justice system in general.  The authors seem to be unbiased when discussing the issue of racial profiling because they made one section of the book all about racial profiling even if the authors wrote on other main critical issues.

Racial profiling has changed since 9/11. Since the “War on Terrorism,” there seem to be some people feel uncomfortable with certain people.  In the article from the CNN.com,“Airlines, Passengers Confront Racial Profiling,” about airlines and passengers confrontations on racial profiling.  An argument against racial profiling is that one passenger stated that "they were treating me like a suspect." The passenger also said "I felt like I was in custody."   In my opinion, racial profiling is unethical as well as a violation of human rights. There is some ethnic minorities that are under the impression that when they are approached by law enforcement that it is racial profiling when in reality, it is for just misidentification or that official is racist.

References:

"CNN.com - Airlines, Passengers Confront Racial Profiling - October 3, 2001." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. 03 Oct. 2001. Web. 27 Mar. 2011. <http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TRAVEL/NEWS/10/03/rec.airlines.profiling/index.html>.

Maguire, M. and Dan Okada. Critical Issues in Crime and Justice: Thoughts, Policy, and    Practice. Sage: Thousand Oaks, California. 2011.

“Racial Profiling.” WordNet. Web. 27 Mar 2011