Race, Street Life, And Policing Implications Of Racial Profiling

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One very contradictory issue that has emerged over the recent years within community policing is racial profiling. Racial profiling is defined as the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Profiling of this nature impacts communities, minority groups, and even policing agencies in a negative manner ultimately. Many argue that criminal profiling differs from racial profiling and is a vital part of the job therefore it must be done. Others argue that it is not as great of a problem as the media sometimes portrays it to be. A lot of research has been done on this topic and in this paper we will look at some of the different outlooks on the matter.
First and foremost, the article “Race, Street Life, and Policing Implications for Racial Profiling” by Steven Hayle, Scot Wortley, and Julian Tanner takes a look at both black youth and street youth in Toronto and their experiences with police stops and searches. Specifically, the study done in this article
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Multiple different studies and analysis’ done in varying jurisdictions across the U.S. in the early 2000s showed the same results. A person of colour that had been stopped was much more likely to be searched in comparison to a white person. Although, African Americans in particular were subject to searches more so than any other race (Mosher p. 276). Mosher points out that while racial profiling is problematic across the U.S., it is also an issue in several other countries including Britain and Canada. In Canada, however it is prevalently aimed at Aboriginals and Middle Eastern people. Additionally, Mosher asserts that racial and/or ethnic biases of the law enforcement officers in the particular situation do play a role but it is also an issue overall across the country (Mosher p.

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