Arguments Against Racial Profiling

Racial profiling by the police has become a controversial issue in recent years. Racial profiling is the practice of targeting individuals for police or security detention based on their race or ethnicity in the belief that certain minority groups are more likely to engage in unlawful behavior. Examples of racial profiling by federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in legal settlements and data collected by governmental agencies and private groups, suggesting that minorities are disproportionately the subject of routine traffic stops and other security-related practices. Some argue that minority overrepresentation in the criminal justice system begins with law enforcement and the discriminatory attitudes and some officers apply toward members of racial and ethnic groups. Officers admit that an individual’s race and socioeconomic status can lead to unequal treatment and unwarranted physical force by the police. The contention that police single out subjects solely on the basis of the color of their skin frequently leads to allegations of racial profiling. The exact prevalence of the problem remains unclear because research findings thus far lack consensus on the extensiveness of discrimination in police stops, searches and arrests. To help solve the issue, several agencies now require the collection of …show more content…
A claimant alleging selective enforcement of neutral criminal laws must demonstrate that the challenged law enforcement practice had a discriminatory effect and that it was motivated by a discriminatory purpose. In the case United States v. Armstrong, criminal defendants sought to attack their deferral firearms and drugs charges for crack cocaine as selective prosecution based on race. The Supreme Court rejected the contention because there was no showing that similarly criminal prosecutors treated situated defendants of another race