The Pros And Cons Of Racial Profiling

Improved Essays
Racial profiling is what police officers use to target people such as the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Crime rates are racially disproportionate. Young African American males are often more likely than other age and racial groups to commit drug related crimes. Hispanics are more likely than other ethnic groups to have violated immigration laws (1). Racial profiling sometimes can seem to work. Since the New York Police Department (NYPD) implemented its Stop, Question, and Frisk policy over a decade ago, the city has experienced a “historic” crime decline, and police officers have confiscated thousands of firearms (2). At the same time, the murder rate in Philadelphia jumped by 10 percent in the first year after the city regulated in its own aggressive stop and frisk policy (3). Racial profiling can be necessary to protect against terrorist acts, which, at present, have mostly been committed by men of Middle Eastern background. “We’re at war with a terrorist network; says one commenter. “Are we really supposed to ignore the one identifiable fact that we know about them?” (4)
On the other hand, Racial profiling is indistinguishable from racism and humiliates thousands and thousands of innocent people. If members of minority groups are more
…show more content…
When police act unprofessionally, or are perceived to have done so, then their relationship with the community will inevitably SUFFER. Although a few would believe that some individual offivers may be influenced by prejudice, the greater police presence and arrest rates in minority neighborhoods should not be accepted as automatic evidence of law enforcement discrimination. Many African American believes, especially me, that they are often targeted for a particular offense which is Driving While Black

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Racial profiling occurs when a law enforcement agent pinpoints a person race or cultural background as the primary reason to believe that the person is involved in criminal activity. After the September 11 terrorist attacks racial profiling became an issue for people of Muslim and Arab descent, due to the individuals that wear involved in the attacks were Muslim descent. Once the attacks took place, several American Muslims found themselves in situations which they were racially profiled. This was…

    • 2038 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    certain situations which can lead to racial profiling. Racial profiling is when an individual has accusations of a person who they feel threatened by or have suspicion of committing a crime. From a symbolic interactionist perspective, this is a serious social problem that has been around for such a long time but is getting much attention now because of the innovation of technology and internet over the past decade. While racial profiling has its pros and cons, it also can help keep people safe from…

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial profiling the act of targeting a person of a certain race on the basis of observed behavior rather than individual suspicion. Although this act might not happen in our community for many minorities it is an everyday reality. Recently, many races accuse the majority race and police of racially profiling them in everyday scenarios. These scenarios involve a multitude of regular tasks in our everyday lives for example during shopping, driving, napping, and many more daily tasks. Many times the…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays