Racial Profiling 2 - Annotated Bibliography Example

Research s and the Annotated Bibliography Double –entry research log entry for “Why racial profiling is a bad idea” by Tom Head March 17, Head, T. "Why racial profiling is a bad idea, top seven arguments against racial profiling." About.com, civil liberties 2011: 1. Web. 17 Mar 2011. Reading Notes -racial profiling is wrong -Seven separate points -concise notes and citations -clear writing, with a good amount of information Strong Response Notes Racial profiling is difficult to define and approach this author did well The addition of beneficial notes and citations allowed the reader to draw their own opinion Overall beneficial article Overall a great interview and approach Annotated Bibliography Head, T.

"Why racial profiling is a bad idea, top seven arguments against racial profiling." About.com, civil liberties 2011: 1. Web. 17 Mar 2011. http://civilliberty.about.com/od/lawenforcementterrorism/tp/Against-Racial-Profiling.htm A popular columnist for the internet site about.com, Tom Head presents a look with seven concise points showing why the use of racial profiling is a bad idea. His list includes, Racial profiling doesn’t work, Racial profiling distracts law enforcement agencies from more useful approaches, racial profiling prevents police from serving the entire community, racial profiling prevents communities from working with law enforcement, racial profiling is a blatant violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, racial profiling can easily escalate into racially-motivated violence and the most important approach, racial profiling is morally wrong.

Tom Head is not simply a columnist, he is a well-educated individual who holds a Masters of Arts in humanities from California State University, Dominguez Hills and is a Ph.D. candidate at Edith Cowan University. At the end of the article he says, “When we allow or encourage law enforcement agencies to practice racial profiling, we are ourselves practicing vicarious racial discrimination.” (Head 1) And it is difficult to disagree. The central argument used in this article is that there must be a way to define why it is wrong.

With the seven different headings and well-reasoned explanations for each heading there is plenty to use in defining why it is wrong. Head makes the observation that officers of the law are meant to protect or generally seen as being responsible for the protection of the community. This is difficult when part of that community lives in fear of being selected for a violation based on their race or ethnicity. He also shows that racial profiling simply does not work by including statistical references taken from an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit.

“An ACLU lawsuit uncovered police data indicating that while 73 percent of suspects pulled over on I-95 between 1995 and 1997 were black, black suspects were no more likely to actually have drugs or illegal weapons in their cars than white suspects.” (Head 1) The object of the author was to present a solid case with regards to the wrongness morally and legally of the use of racial profiling. He succeeds well in this regard, supporting his argument with facts and educated approaches. His argument regarding the Fourteenth Amendment is brilliant and shows the problem legally with racial profiling, and his argument with morality shows that a civil society cannot hope to remain as such if they continue to use methods of law enforcement that cause more harm than good.

This article is a great approach to the argument against racial profiling and includes enough referenced fact so as to make it almost impossible to refute. It would be a beneficial article to use when researching or writing about racial profiling.