Racial Profiling Paper PDF

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Professor Patricia Reid-Merritt...

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Running Head: Is Racial Profiling Ever Justifiable?

Racial Profiling: Is it Justifiable? Professor Reid-Merritt SOWK 2504 Stockton University April 16th, 2019

This paper was prepared for Race, Ethnicity, and Diversity taught by Professor ReidMerritt.

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Introduction By definition, racial profiling is the “discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based solely on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin” (Delsol, 2015). In the United States, the largest form of racial profiling is generally practiced by the police force. Some groups whom are most heavily targeted by racial profiling are Muslims, Arabs, and African Americans. Many citizens in our society racially profile against Muslims and Arabs ever since the terrorist attacks of the twin towers on September 11 th, 2001. As a result of this, America has had a hard time accepting Muslims and Arabs and educating themselves about the two groups. Even though this is more so a result of pure fear, it is still considered racial profiling. Racial profiling can be a very confusing topic because it is sometimes thought that anytime a police officer accuses crime against an individual of any other race than their own, then it would be considered racial profiling. This is false. Racial profiling only occurs when someone accuses or assumes something of another person solely because of their race, even if they have done absolutely nothing wrong. Another common belief is that racial profiling is a form of racism, discrimination or harassment; however, this is also inaccurate (Schwartz, 2011). A largely debated issue about racial profiling is the question about whether or not it is justifiable. Recently, the issue of racial profiling has become a popular issue because of the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement (Sesardić, 2018). For a number of reasons, racial profiling can be good and

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bad. However, in the terms of legal issues, constitutional rights, economics, community, and effectiveness, it is not justifiable. Abstract Racial profiling usually occurs when one group of people is unlike one’s self. “71% of African Americans approve of profiling Arabs to combat terrorism.” (Levy, 2003). This is extremely shocking and seemingly hypocritical considering the fact that sadly, many African Americans in the United States are also racially profiled. This proves that racial profiling can happen with any race and white Americans are not the only people to do so. Ever since the terrorist attacks on September 11 th, many people assume that Arabs are all terrorists; however, this is obviously not true. Most “young men with Middle-Eastern appearances are more closely inspected” at airports and large public events, than any other racial group (Edmonds, 2017). This is arises from the fact that many people fear them. Nevertheless, just because a certain group of people looks a certain way does not predict their behavior. Based on an experiment conducted by University of South Florida criminologists, criminals who tended to be older, white males had criminal records but less arrests, compared to older African American males with more arrests than criminal records (Edmonds, 2017). This statement proves that colored people are arrested more often than whites, even if they don’t have a veritable criminal record, because of racial profiling. Possible Benefits of Racial Profiling Although racial profiling is mostly negative, there are a few benefits that come from it. Firstly, it provides the potential of stopping crime (Ayres, 2019). If a police officer stops an individual because they believe the person is doing something wrong,

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then the potential crime that may have occurred can be prevented. For example, if a Muslim is stopped and searched because they are believed to be a terrorist, there is a chance that a terrorist attack could have been prevented from this encounter. Further to this, crime can “potentially be reduced over the long-run," (Ayres, 2019). Ultimately; from this, crime rates could decrease in the future. Lastly, the practice of racial profiling can also save money. This is due to the fact that categorizing an individual into a particular race or ethnicity makes it easier to know where to search for them (Ayres, 2019). While there are a few minor justifications in racial profiling being a benefit in our society, this philosophy still displays more negative matters than positive. Police Force/Brutality Racial profiling has continuously targeted thousands of completely innocent people, and even caused death. For example, last year in Sacramento, Stephon Clark, a colored male, was shot in his backyard by police. Police claimed they had “suspicions” of the individual (Lee, 2017). Almost all of the innocent, racially discriminated citizens who are targeted every year were found to be unarmed, proving just how wrong the concept of racial profiling is. In addition, there is recent research data proving that minorities who are stopped are less likely to have drugs or guns, while whites are actually more likely (Racial Profiling, n.d.). The outcome of these sad, unnecessary deaths are usually large settlements of millions of dollars. Using police force against an individual solely because of their race or ethnicity is completely irrational (Pundik, 2017). Police officers are only justified to use deadly force if they have “reasonable concern of a potential threat or deadly force” being used against them (Lee & Park, 2017). Even though this is a law brought forth by the Supreme Court, many police

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officers do not follow it, and instead they assume that any person of color or a different racial or ethnic group is a “threat.” Economics In terms of money, racial profiling is not justifiable. Primitively, racial profiling wastes the law enforcement’s resources and can cost lots of money (Ayres, 2019). This is because of things like random security checks and inaccurate criminal searching. For example, if police were to racially profile and assume that a black man committed a crime, plentiful resources would be wasted because they pulled the wrong community in for questioning (Ayres, 2019). When police focus most of their resources on one group based on assumptions and racial profiling just because of their differences, this is known as an “anti-deterrent effect” (Thomsen, 2010). By doing this, less resources are available for the other groups who may actually be responsible for the crime. Misusing these resources would also mean that the finances used to provide them are wasted as well. Tarun Khaitan says that we should “calculate the costs imposed on already vulnerable groups by racial profiling” (Edmonds, 2017). In cases of racial profiling, the victims are often humiliated and physically affected. For instance, some expenses that are to be covered after someone is wrongly racially profiled could be costs for “clothing, vehicles, and injuries” (Thomsen, 2010). These discriminated victims can also be emotionally damaged, leading to therapy and counseling expenses. Health/Scientific Issues Additionally, according to Evan Horowitz, targeting people based on their race “puts whole communities at risk” (Horowitz, 2015). An obvious impact that racial profiling can have on individuals is the burden of stress. This is due to the fact that

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these individuals are constantly threatened, pulled aside for random searches, and even harassed on a day to day basis. Furthermore, there are “policies that single out certain groups that stifle scientific collaboration” (Lu, 2015). This means that people of other descents are racially discriminated against in the scientific research field. This is especially harmful for science, because without a group of multiracial individuals working together on an experiment, the research will not be as accurate. If all of the scientists working on an experiment are comprised of one race or ethnicity, then there are likely to be false inaccuracies. Constitutional/Legal Rights Furthermore, racial profiling can violate an individual’s rights as an American citizen (Ayres, 2019). People in the United States have the right to being innocent until proven guilty, according to the Fourth Amendment of our Constitutional Rights. This right is intended to prevent U.S. citizens from being randomly searched and violated for absolutely no reason; however, racial profiling has since stepped over that line. It is wrong for the “average American” to be searched unless they are guilty of something. Therefore, it should also be wrong for anyone of a specific race or religion to randomly be searched without being proven guilty. Moreover, racial profiling is also used in businesses and in job applications in the portion of the application that asks questions about your race and ethnicity. This concern can also cause multiple legal issues and discrimination when employers find out the race or ethnicity of their applicants. Conclusion Based on evidence found, racial profiling is without a doubt not justifiable. Racial profiling is a notorious issue in our society that has taken place for decades.

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Every day, innocent citizens struggle to step foot into average public settings without being racially profiled. Even worse, they can be convicted of crimes, and even unjustly killed by policemen. This phenomenon is completely wrong and should be stopped; however, it is next to impossible to change each and everyone’s views on the subject of race, ethnicity, and diversity. One attempt to change people’s opinions on race and racial profiling is to add classes about race, ethnicity, and diversity into our children’s curriculum. These classes should start at a considerably young age all across the country. A course like this should be taught throughout children’s educational careers given that racial thoughts and biases usually begin at a young age, depending on the child’s community and surrounding environment. Teaching kids about such a country-wide issue starting at such a young age would help give them an understanding about the rights and wrongs of racial profiling. While their brains are still developing, they would have exceptional knowledge of what is and isn’t appropriate in terms of the topic. Doing so would hopefully change our future generation’s thoughts and actions toward racial profiling for the better.

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Works Cited Ayres, C. (2019). 12 Racial Profiling Pros and Cons. Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://vittana.org/12-racial-profiling-pros-and-cons Delsol, R. (2015). Racial profiling. Criminal Justice Matters, 101(1), 34–35. https://doi.org/10.1080/09627251.2015.1080944 Edmonds, D. (2017, December 19). Does profiling make sense - or is it unfair? Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-42328764 Horowitz, E. (2015, November 01). What are the arguments for and against racial profiling? - The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/01/what-are-arguments-for-andagainst-racial-profiling/F0DlnqVZk7aUXolRuHc0LJ/story.html Lee, J. C., & Park, H. (2017, May 18). 15 Black Lives Ended in Confrontations With Police. 3 Officers Convicted. Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/17/us/black-deaths-police.html Levy, R. A. (2003). Racial Profiling. Is Profiling Ever Justified?,1-1. Retrieved April 15, 2019, from http://heinonline.org Lu, S., Zhe Han, M. H., Xu, J., Xu, Y., Pan Zheng, Z. Z., Zou, L., . . . Zheng, H. (2019, March 22). Racial profiling harms science. Retrieved April 16, 2019, from https://science.sciencemag.org/content/363/6433/1290 Pundik, A. (2017). Against Racial Profiling. University of Toronto Law Journal, 67(2), 175–205. https://doi.org/10.3138/UTLJ.3883

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Racial Profiling. (n.d.). Un-American and Dangerous. doi:https://aclu.org Schwartz, B. (2011, April 15). New York Times Asks: 'Is Racial or Religious Profiling Ever Justified?' Retrieved April 15, 2019, from https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/new-york-times-asks-racial-or-religious-profilingever-justified Sesardić, N. (2018, January 16). Is Racial Profiling a Legitimate Strategy in the Fight against Violent Crime? Retrieved April 16, 2019, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11406-018-9945-1 Thomsen, F. K. (2010). The Art of the Unseen: Three challenges for Racial Profiling. The Journal of Ethics,15(1-2), 89-117. doi:10.1007/s10892-010-9099-2

Written By: Natalia Weitzel Group: Racial Profiling...