Racial profiling is not new, however, and was a theory of sociology in the late 19th century known as Social Darwinism. Incorrectly using Darwin's theory of evolution, the Social Darwinists believed that some species were morally superior to others, and even some races superior to othersJohnson ()
Public perception, though, believes in favor of seeing race as a reason for crime, and having a considerable fear of anyone outside their own ethnic group -- depending on the situation. Similarly, much so-called "organized crime," amounting to billions of dollars annually has similar stereotypes of ethnic origin (e.g. Mafia -- La Costa Nostra, Russian Mafia, Chinese Triads, Mexican Mafia, etc.). Still, over the past few decades, at least since the Rodney King beating, the use of race by law enforcement, and then after 9/11 by Homeland security, has received considerable political and media attention. One is agog, for instance, at the number of traffic stops that seem to target certain drivers, or the amount of arrests for similar situations focused on minorities. We must remember, too, that racial profiling, or stereotyping, is nothing new -- for centuries, cultures have looked to the "other" for excuses to go to war, to incarcerate, or to find reason for authoritarian behavior. Witness the way German-Americans were treated during WWI and WWII, and most especially the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during WWII Keen ()
The actual concept of racial profiling is defined as: "In the literature to date, there appear to be at least two clearly distinguishable definitions of the term 'racial profiling': a narrow definition and a broad definition... Under the...
Racial Profiling Since 911 The racial profiling implies the discrimination by police to detail a person as suspect basing on the racial manifestations. In the present days the process of racial profiling has changed to a great extent. (Harris, 58) The racial profiling, till the present period was indicated towards the practice of police dragging over the black male drivers discriminately on the empirically valid but morally denounced hypothesis that they
Ramirez et al. explains this clearly stating "when law enforcement practices are perceived to be biased, unfair, and disrespectful, communities of color and other minority groups are less willing to trust and confide in law enforcement officers and agencies, to report crimes that come to their attention, to provide intelligence and information, and to serve as witnesses at trials (Ramirez et al., 1996)." The author further explains that as
Racial Profiling of African-Americans in Lake County, Indiana Students need to have an awareness about racial profiling, who are most likely to be targets for racial profiling, and about the steps necessary to work upon the solutions to racial profiling and this can be understood within the context of racial profiling in North West Carolina. Racial profiling is considered to be one of the vital civil rights concerns of the present
New Jersey held hearings concerning racial profiling in which one state police investigator testified that 94% of the motorists stopped were minorities (Anderson Pp). Not only were minorities more likely to be stopped than whites, but more often than not are pressured to allow searches of their vehicles, and are more likely to allow such searches (Anderson Pp). In March 2001, the New York Times reported that a 1997 investigation
Detroit has also joined Los Angeles and Chicago in having such a regulation. A similar bill was attempted unsuccessfully thus far in Texas (2001). Responding to the concerns of organizations that represent Hispanics, Muslims and individuals of Arab descent, the Detroit City Council unanimously recently approved an ordinance that prohibits city officials from profiling people based on their appearance, race and similar factors. The regulation also bans city officials from
The individual who learns the intensity of the racial hatred that exists through experiential learning knows that it is never wise to walk amongst the roses with one's head in the clouds just thinking or dreaming because living in the world meant watching at all times for approaching insult, breach of rights, danger and even death due to racial profiling. III. Perspective Two: The Public Official The public official is ever
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