African american racial profiling essay

Toggle navigation Bio Samuel Walker is a widely quoted expert on issues of civil liberties, policing and criminal justice policy. He received a Ph. The award recognized his public protest of a new policy by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents that significantly restricted freedom of expression on the four University of Nebraska campuses.

The practice of using race as a part of a profile when attempting to identify or curb criminal activity has been used in various ways, including pulling individuals over on highways and questioning airline passengers and individuals at border crossings.

Racial profiling has been used to justify finding drug smugglers, terrorists, and undocumented immigrants.

Many contend that racial profiling severely hampers civil rights, while others believe it is necessary police practice.

An increasing number of reported instances in which law enforcement personnel have been accused of targeting certain minority groups has cast a spotlight on racial profiling, as well as increased tensions and debate over the legitimacy of the practice for various reasons Institute on Race and Justice, Defining Racial Profiling There is no single agreed upon definition of racial profiling.

The definition across the literature ranges from including race, ethnicity, or nationality as a consideration when deciding to apply law enforcement procedures, to using race, ethnicity, or nationality as the only consideration when deciding to apply law enforcement procedures.

The public perception of the acceptability of racial profiling varies under circumstances. For example, a poll conducted in said 81 percent of individuals reported that they disapproved of racial profiling when law enforcement officials pulled over motorists solely based on their race and ethnicity.

On the other hand, another poll conducted after the September 11 terrorist attacks showed that the majority of those polled supported increasing security and investigation of individuals from Arab backgrounds on planes Pampel, The practice of racial profiling by law enforcement agencies was begun during the late s, as police officers worked to capture drug traffickers.

A profile is a collection of gathered facts that help law enforcement officers target individuals who are likely committing criminal acts.

Law enforcement officers have long used profiling to help them gain understanding about the likely characteristics of the perpetrator of a crime, including but not limited to age, sex, race, and observed behaviors Institute on Race and Justice, Police have used profiling to target the characteristics of certain individuals as more likely to commit certain types of crimes, often observed by police officers.

For example, a poor individual who spends a large amount of time in affluent enclaves may be targeted as someone likely to commit a crime. While this type of profiling has often been seen as unfair and biased, law enforcement agencies consider it a necessary practice to intercept possible criminal activity before it occurs Pampel, Racial profiling was first termed during the war on drugs in the s and s, when police officers were accused of pulling over motorists based on race and then searching their vehicles for illegal substances.

However, there are incidents of racial profiling in other situations and instances throughout American history. Even more currently, after the September 11 attacks inthe War on Terrorism was announced and individuals across the country were arrested, questioned, or detained by federal law enforcers.

Other instances of racial profiling include pulling over Hispanics near the Mexico border in an attempt to capture illegal immigrants en route to the United States or questioning or searching minorities in high-crime urban areas Pampel, In AprilArizona enacted SBwhich made it a misdemeanor crime for a a nonresident of the United States to be in Arizona without carrying required documents.

The arguments that surround the issue of racial profiling are connected to the inherent racism found in our communities and the tensions between law enforcement officials and various communities of color. Statistics have shown that African-American individuals are much more likely to be arrested and imprisoned than white Americans.

As of60 percent of all imprisoned men were African American, and 1 in every 15 African American men was in prison versus 1 in every white men.

Additionally, 1 in every 3 black men can expect to go to prison as some point in their lives, and convicted blacks receive sentences that are 10 percent longer than their white counterparts. Blacks were also three times more likely than whites to be searched during traffic stops Kerby, Other ethnic groups in the United States have also experienced negative effects from racial profiling.

Background While the term racial profiling has only recently come into use, law enforcement agencies have long used race, ethnicity, and national origin as grounds for police action in the United States. During the years of slavery, blacks were not allowed to leave their plantations without passes, and they could be questioned or detained by any white individual without any reason for suspicion.

After slavery was outlawed, many states continued to control African Americans through curfews and the use of Jim Crow laws throughout the South Pampel, Throughout history, conflicts and tensions between police officers and communities of color have endured.

Hispanics and Latinos have faced intense scrutiny from law enforcement officials under suspicion that they are illegal residents; Asian-Americans were discriminated against by police officers in the communities in which they lived when they began immigrating to the United States in large numbers in the s.

Those of Middle Eastern descent face profiling in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The results were significant for several reasons. First, although white drivers were more likely than both black and Hispanic drivers to be stopped by police for speeding, both blacks and Hispanics were more likely to receive a ticket.

Among the young, males drivers to be stopped, blacks and Hispanics were more likely to be searched. These statistics are in spite of the fact that in a higher percentage of white drivers were licensed in the United States Many people equate the war on drugs as beginning the controversy regarding racial profiling.

The war on drugs gained intensity in the s, with the introduction of crack cocaine into mainstream America Pampel, Inas the war against drugs continued, the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA began training police officers across the country in recognizing a profile of a drug courier, based on intelligence gathered in how drugs were transported and introduced to various drug markets.

The intelligence garnered by the DEA gave birth to Operation Pipeline, the knowledge of the relationship between drug networks and drug markets, and how drugs were transported between each. Local and state police were trained to target individuals and vehicles that met certain characteristics, including but not limited to age and race characteristics of possible transporters.

When the profiling lesson was distorted, officers began targeting black and Hispanic drivers, pulling over male drivers with these racial characteristics under theRacial profiling is a contentious issue in US law enforcement policy.

The practice of using race as a part of a profile when attempting to identify or curb criminal activity has been used in.

Machine Bias There’s software used across the country to predict future criminals. And it’s biased against blacks. by Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu and Lauren Kirchner, ProPublica May. Racial Profiling and Male African Americans Racial Profiling and Male African Americans INTRODUCTION Imagine driving to the store on a cold winter day, dressed in a hoodie to keep warm.

In todays, “racially open” society, racial profiling towards African American men can be witnessed frequently in everyday life. Many generations of African Americans have been stereotyped, treated unequally, and often psychologically held back from success. Segregation.

age; racial; religious; sexual; Age of candidacy; Blood purity; Blood quantum; Crime of apartheid; Disabilities. Jewish; Catholic; Ethnocracy; Ethnopluralism. Aversive racism is a form of implicit racism in which a person's unconscious negative evaluations of racial or ethnic minorities are realized by a persistent avoidance of interaction with other racial .