Racial Profiling By Law Enforcement Essay Topics

` Law enforcement and race have always been a part of American society and controversial. In 1632 the first american law enforcement system was an established night watch by the townspeople of Boston. Since then policing in America has changed immensely for the good and bad. In those early days of policing, law enforcement was more reactive to crime, more or less after a crime was committed watch groups or sheriffs would address suspects accordingly. From the 1830s to the 1870s, there was an unprecedented amount of civil disorder occurring throughout the industrial United States. Police in the United States in the 19th century were characterized by cronyism and corruption and conducted themselves as a service. Gradually, over the years that followed the first decade of the 20th century leading into the modern era, police departments around …show more content…
Corruption and incompetence plagued many agencies and in some cases exist systematically even today.
Undoubtedly recent developments of police shooting unarmed youth can make one question our American criminal justice system. The issue that is not being solved continuously is the subject of racial profiling by law enforcement. Racial profiling by law enforcement is the decision to stop, search, investigate and arrest someone relevant to consideration of racial, sexual, or religious characteristics. . Racial Profiling enables law enforcement to successfully identify potential criminal activity and criminals perhaps this is why profiling has flourished because it has been legitimized as a quasi-science. Profiling is certainly related to stereotyping but is not the same thing. Profiling is an act. In law enforcement profiling involves the taking of action by law enforcement officials based on observable conditions, behaviors, and activities. Stereotyping, on the other hand, is not action oriented; it is perception oriented. Stereotypes help shape the meaning of the