Stereotypes: The Cause Of Racial Profiling By Police

According to Webster’s dictionary online, stereotypes are defined as believing that all people or things with a particular characteristic are the same. Therefore, racial stereotyping is when people would think someone of the same race are equal in regards to behavior. People base judgments on previous events that may have happened to them or that they have witnessed. Some police misconduct starts from some stereotypes that many people have about different groups of people. There are usually at least one basic stereotypes for most races. One of the most common stereotypes against blacks are that all blacks are good athletes. There are plenty other little stereotypes, such as that men are stronger than women, and that guys are messy. Stereotypes like these exist for all races, genders, or groups of people. Some are more known than others (Stereotype Examples) …show more content…
There are many situations that are considered police brutality, such as: racial profiling minorities, false arrest, excessive force, surveillance abuse, assault, sexual abuse, verbal attacks, abuse of legal power and corruption/bribes. For example, in New York Amadou Diallo was shot 19 times by 4 NYPD officers. The 4 officers followed Diallo to his house accusing him to be a serial rapist. When Diallo went in his pocket to pull out what was his wallet, the officers let off 41 gunshots (Fritsch). Even though the wrong person was followed for a crime someone else committed, the officers were acquitted from the charges. The officers accused the wrong person because he may have looked like the person accused of the