Essay On Profiling In America

The act of profiling in America is not a new phenomenon. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II, citizens of Japanese decent were held in internment camps. Black and Hispanic travelers in New Jersey were often stopped and searched for illegal drugs during an anti-drug campaign known as “Operation Pipeline: (Fiala, 2003). Experts have attempted to create profiles of terrorists by studying characteristics such as race, gender, age, psychological traits, socio-economic backgrounds, and behaviors in an effort to determine who is likely to engage in terrorist acts of violence. If experts are able to identify potential terrorists, future attacks such as those occurring on September 11th could be thwarted. What factors influence …show more content…
First and foremost is the lack of a universal definition of what constitutes terrorism. Without a fully understand definition of terrorism, it is nearly impossible to identify who is likely to become a terrorist. While most of the literature indicates a lack of an all-inclusive profile, there are common characteristics shared by many of the terrorists studied. Terrorists “de-legitimize, dehumanize, demonize, and criminalize their adversaries” (Sinai, 2011).
The most generic of profiling techniques, racial profiling, can have unexpected consequences. Attempting to identify a terrorist through race or ethnicity may result in discrimination against a specific group. Terrorists can come from any race, religion, or ethnic background. Homegrown terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh may be overlooked by profilers when factors other than race are not used.
There does appear to be a common link between one’s childhood and the propensity to commit violent acts in their adulthood. Childhood trauma, family traditions in Middle Easterner cultures, and experiences growing up in shaming cultures may exhibit strong ties to a person’s inability to experience empathy and to commit acts of