Over the past couple of years, Canada has witnessed the issue of racial profiling gain increasingly amount of prominence from the public, as an increasing number of minorities reside in urban cities, while at the same time becoming targets by the police force on the account of their race. Despite the fact that this is a vital issue that several modern policing agencies face, they have been robust in denying even the mere thought of racial profiling. Rather, they have insisted on not targeting “who”, but criminal behaviour, a statement that contrasts deeply with research completed by scholars. In addition, this essay will also analyze the data suppression of race in crime reports, and, in the end, it will be clear that the police force has indeed
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Yet, this has not been the case, and instead the police have supressed racial data to ensure that racial profiling will not result (Millar & Owusu-Bempah, 2011). In turn, Paul Millar and Akwasi Owusu-Bempah (2011) have felt as though this decision serves as counter-productive in eliminating racism, as they believe in the need for “further research into the systematic treatment of race by criminal justice in Canada [a]… task [that] cannot be accomplished without adequate data”. Likewise, Millar and Owusu-Bempah (2011) point to the fear of racial profiling on the part of the police as being irrational considering that racial profiling already occurs, as blacks are over-represented in local police stops in Canada, while Aboriginals remain over-represented in prisons (Millar & Owusu-Bempah, 2011). Nonetheless, while the argument presented by Millar and Owusu-Bempah is valid in these regards, it proves false on the foundation that the fear of racial profiling, perhaps not coming to exist, but escalating with the presence of data is too great of risk. For instance, if data from crime reports disclose that offenders tend to be a minority racial background, then it serve as additional fuel for the criminal justice system and public to target these individuals on the basis of stereotypes. In doing such, it would undermine the philosophy of the justice model and the work done by the American Friends Service Committee in the 1971 document “Struggle for Justice”, which sought to fairness in the treatment of marginalized groups from the criminal justice system (Goff, 2014, pg.
Yet, this has not been the case, and instead the police have supressed racial data to ensure that racial profiling will not result (Millar & Owusu-Bempah, 2011). In turn, Paul Millar and Akwasi Owusu-Bempah (2011) have felt as though this decision serves as counter-productive in eliminating racism, as they believe in the need for “further research into the systematic treatment of race by criminal justice in Canada [a]… task [that] cannot be accomplished without adequate data”. Likewise, Millar and Owusu-Bempah (2011) point to the fear of racial profiling on the part of the police as being irrational considering that racial profiling already occurs, as blacks are over-represented in local police stops in Canada, while Aboriginals remain over-represented in prisons (Millar & Owusu-Bempah, 2011). Nonetheless, while the argument presented by Millar and Owusu-Bempah is valid in these regards, it proves false on the foundation that the fear of racial profiling, perhaps not coming to exist, but escalating with the presence of data is too great of risk. For instance, if data from crime reports disclose that offenders tend to be a minority racial background, then it serve as additional fuel for the criminal justice system and public to target these individuals on the basis of stereotypes. In doing such, it would undermine the philosophy of the justice model and the work done by the American Friends Service Committee in the 1971 document “Struggle for Justice”, which sought to fairness in the treatment of marginalized groups from the criminal justice system (Goff, 2014, pg.