African-American Males Racially Profiled by Police Officers
Racial profiling has become a controversial issue for all of America especially African-American males because of the recent increases of their arrest and killing by police officers across America. African-American males are the major targets of police officers who engage in racial profiling. (Weatherspoon). As defined by the American Civil Liberties Union, “racial profiling is the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” The practice of racial profiling by police officers has increased the rate of traffic stops of African-American male drivers as well …show more content…
Driving While Black or DWB is a term that became public knowledge back in the early 1990’s and related to African-Americans reporting harassment by police officers. Today the term is used to describe the practice of police officers who target and stop African-American drivers without probable cause.
In his article “You Really Can Get Pulled for Driving While Black” Christopher Ingraham reports that “A black driver is about 31 percent more likely to be pulled over than a white driver,”.
For example, studies revealed that although African-Americans represented only 17% of drivers on I-95, 70% of African-American were stopped by police officers while driving on I-95 (Weatherspoon). In her writing “Driving While Black: Racial Profiling and Traffic Stops”, Erin E. Woods, a prosecutor in a Columbus traffic arraignment court informs us that “Numerous interviews, studies and statistics have shown that racial profiling through the use of traffic stops is a real problem.” Other studies conducted nation-wide on both the local and state levels revealed that African-American drivers were three times more likely to be stopped and issued a traffic ticket than white drivers …show more content…
Implementing the use of police body cameras and police training along with community involvement in making new laws are some suggestions that may help decrease police brutality and racial profiling. In his article “Body Cameras Will Stop Police Brutality”, Adam Schiff, a Democratic US congressman, argues that “Having a video record of events not only deters the use of excessive force, but it also helps dispute or demonstrates claims of police brutality.” Studies showed that when police officers wore body cameras, while on duty and involved with the community there was an 88% drop in the accusations of excessive force (Schiff). But Shahid Buttar, a constitutional lawyer, would certainly take an issue with Schiff’s argument because Buttar argue in his article that “Body Cameras Will Not Stop Police Brutality” Buttar believes that body cameras do not deliver what they promise and will do more harm than good. Such as invading the privacy of local citizens, adding to the problem of incarceration while taking the attention away from the real problem law officials being held accountable for using excessive force. Buttar, an opponent of police body cameras is right to argue that cameras may invade the privacy of citizens and increase incarceration rates, but he exaggerated when he claimed that cameras will take the attention
Racial profiling has become a controversial issue for all of America especially African-American males because of the recent increases of their arrest and killing by police officers across America. African-American males are the major targets of police officers who engage in racial profiling. (Weatherspoon). As defined by the American Civil Liberties Union, “racial profiling is the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” The practice of racial profiling by police officers has increased the rate of traffic stops of African-American male drivers as well …show more content…
Driving While Black or DWB is a term that became public knowledge back in the early 1990’s and related to African-Americans reporting harassment by police officers. Today the term is used to describe the practice of police officers who target and stop African-American drivers without probable cause.
In his article “You Really Can Get Pulled for Driving While Black” Christopher Ingraham reports that “A black driver is about 31 percent more likely to be pulled over than a white driver,”.
For example, studies revealed that although African-Americans represented only 17% of drivers on I-95, 70% of African-American were stopped by police officers while driving on I-95 (Weatherspoon). In her writing “Driving While Black: Racial Profiling and Traffic Stops”, Erin E. Woods, a prosecutor in a Columbus traffic arraignment court informs us that “Numerous interviews, studies and statistics have shown that racial profiling through the use of traffic stops is a real problem.” Other studies conducted nation-wide on both the local and state levels revealed that African-American drivers were three times more likely to be stopped and issued a traffic ticket than white drivers …show more content…
Implementing the use of police body cameras and police training along with community involvement in making new laws are some suggestions that may help decrease police brutality and racial profiling. In his article “Body Cameras Will Stop Police Brutality”, Adam Schiff, a Democratic US congressman, argues that “Having a video record of events not only deters the use of excessive force, but it also helps dispute or demonstrates claims of police brutality.” Studies showed that when police officers wore body cameras, while on duty and involved with the community there was an 88% drop in the accusations of excessive force (Schiff). But Shahid Buttar, a constitutional lawyer, would certainly take an issue with Schiff’s argument because Buttar argue in his article that “Body Cameras Will Not Stop Police Brutality” Buttar believes that body cameras do not deliver what they promise and will do more harm than good. Such as invading the privacy of local citizens, adding to the problem of incarceration while taking the attention away from the real problem law officials being held accountable for using excessive force. Buttar, an opponent of police body cameras is right to argue that cameras may invade the privacy of citizens and increase incarceration rates, but he exaggerated when he claimed that cameras will take the attention