Racial Profiling and Criminal Justice
This paper analyzes the different perspectives on the racial profiling subject in the United States criminal justice system. The perspectives are illustrated through three journal articles that are authored by three categories of different scholars. Criminal justice entails the systems that the law enforcement agencies and officers apply in managing crime in the society. The legal system experiences the challenge of ethnic profiling, in the course of crime prevention and remedies. Racial profiling stereotypes a certain segment of the American society with criminal practices. The stereotyped group is mostly the minorities; for instance, the African Americans, Arab Americans, Hispanics, or the illegal immigrants.
Racial profiling is a key issue in the United States and also globally. However, there has been minimal philosophical analysis of the subject of racial profiling. This is the reason why, there has been intense debate concerning the ethical and moral issues of racial profiling. The authors illustrate that racial profiling entails the application of race and ethnicity by the law enforcement officers in enforcing stop and search, and also arrest. The authors explain that ethnic profiling is very controversial and illegal in United States and the international community. Ethnic profiling enhances the discriminatory practices in the law enforcement. The authors illustrate that racial profiling in the United States majorly targets the minority groups, such as African Americans, South Asians, Hispanic and Latinos. The criminal events that mainly lead to racial profiling of minority communities in America include; gangs, illegal immigration and terrorism. The history of racial profiling can be traced back to the slavery period. Negroes seen wandering in the streets were usually stopped, questioned or detained by the police. Law enforcement did not consider the status of the Negros, such as free or slaved. The Fourth Amendment in the American Constitution gives all Americans, despite social differences, the right against search and seizure without production of appropriate warrant (Mathias & Richard 164).
The author concurs by illustrating the racial profiling affecting the African American population through the United States law enforcement. More so the male African Americans are stereotyped in some cases by the law enforcement, as dangerous criminals. The slaveholders in previous American societies greatly associated the blacks with crime. The association greatly proved as justification for of the slavery institution. The American South historically experienced high violence levels; this has been linked to violence due to the enforced slavery. In the 1970s and 1980s homicide and also drug influenced violence, was greatly related to the youthful blacks, especially within the inner cities. . Perceptions, recent research studies and crime statistics in America illustrate that the black American males engage in most violent crimes, when compared to other racial groups. Also, the African American males are presently overrepresented in the prison system of the United States. The popular American culture enhances the crime levels of African Americans, especially the youthful males. This is because the African Americans are continuously associated with crime. The illustration of crime by the conservative politicians is publicly identified as a metaphor description of the black race. The popular culture also illustrates the young African American criminal image, through entertainment and sports. The author illustrates that the popular culture creates the connection between; sports, race and crime (Welch 287).
The author agrees with negative effects of racial profiling. Through the years, the political leadership of America has continuously denounced the injustices that are generated through ethnic profiling in the criminal justice system. Presidents Bush and Obama continuously illustrated that the discriminatory action should end. John Ashcroft, Former United States Attorney General, illustrates that racial profiling must end, because all Americans, regardless of status in the society, should view law enforcement officers as protectors of their constitutional rights. Despite the strong rebuke of racial profiling by the top leadership of United States, racial profiling is still a common issue especially in the law enforcement sector. The “stop and frisk” regulation in for instance New York City, still profiles the young African Americans. Also, the FBI continuously engages in the unconstitutional monitoring of places of worship, such as mosques. The FBI also engages in surveillance of private residences and offices, without adequate legal authorization. The continued application of racial profiling by the law enforcement agencies, minimizes the trust of the minority members of the society, and hence hinders cooperation. Federal legislations should be introduced; to prevent the law enforcement officers from racially profiling certain segments of the American population. The passage of legislations outlawing the racial profiling of any form is very critical in restoring the trust of the minority members of the American society, and the criminal justice system (Ryberg 84).
The three topics relate to each other through the common subject of ethnic profiling in the criminal system of United States. The ethnic profiling subject is very significant, because it creates debate on how to end the negative consequences of the stereotypic action. This implies that the leaders of American are putting in place measures that can hinder or outlaw the activity. I have learned that ethnic profiling is negative, because it reduced the rights to all Americans as illustrated in the Fourth Amendment. The future of the discussion will focus on legislative deterrence to ethnic profiling conducted by the law enforcement officers. The next conversation of ethnic profiling in America will focus on the responsibilities of law enforcement agencies in ending the negative practice in the criminal system.
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