Racial Profiling as a Significant Area of Concern for Practitioners and Law Enforcement Scholars - Literature review Example

 Racial Profiling Thesis: Racial profiling is evidently a significant area of concern for practitioners and law enforcement scholars hence the need to look at it critically through available literature. Across many parts of the world, and notably in America, racial profiling has been observed. Some of the incidents have constituted negligible inconveniences while others have had grave impacts; such as has never been witnessed in history (Maasik & Solomon 199). Perhaps the main reason why validating or disapproving racial profiling has been complicated is due to different interpretations and unclear legislation about racism. Due to this, the various literatures examined assess whether a sign of potential profiling is prevalent and determines the unique relationship between Black Americans and Whites. This is because the African Americans have been segregated against than any other group. Pampel (2004) observes that there is a need for additional experimental results regarding whether police traffic curbs practices that have inappropriate effect on minority drivers (Pampel 124). In their study, they concluded that generally, minority citizens and Black Americans in particular, were unreasonably stopped due to their higher percentage representation of those eligible to drive. Nonetheless, in contrast to the conflicts of people alarmed by racial profiling, the two researchers concluded that Caucasians were more frequently searched than minorities. Notwithstanding, Caucasians were essentially more likely to be subjected to consensual searches. In comparison to Caucasians, the researchers observed that minority drivers stood a higher chance of being warned. On the other hand, the probability of ticketing or arresting Caucasians was observed to be higher (Pampel 65). It is noteworthy to mention that these instances are indicators of racial profiling because law enforcers arrest or charge minorities based on their appearance. This could lead to stopping citizens unfairly even if no evidence of wrongdoing or breaking the law exists (Pampel 67). Among the researches that do exist, some of them come in handy as concerns the data studied in current articles. One of the studies looked at the stop-and-frisk procedures of the New York Department of Police and concluded that regardless of the blacks making up 25.6% of New York City’s population, they represented 51% of all people stopped by the New York Police Department (Maasik & Solomon 147). Another research by Smith and Alpert pertinent on this topic since it was carried out in a key metropolitan area of the U.S., and because the percentages and numbers of the diverse categories of stops, seem to be related to the data from the primary source (Pampel 107). This makes the source highly valid and depicting the extent of racial profiling in the U.S.A. Another relevant and notable research was perhaps among the most rigorous and comprehensive statistical investigations regarding racial profiling, and was conducted by Lamberth (1997) amid claims by African Americans that the police did stop them more frequently on the New Jersey Turnpike than their population on the road would have suggested. The aim of the research was “check whether the State Police stop, explore, and arrest African American travelers at unreasonably higher rates as compared to the black’s travelling population percentage, so as to conclude the existence of de facto, or official policy that target the blacks for interrogation and arrests” (Maasik & Solomon 181). The outcomes of the investigation were staggering. Lambert employed turnpike violator census, where observers in vehicles-on-transit noted the speeds of vehicles next to them, and confirmed that the whites and blacks abused the traffic laws almost at the same rate. There were no statistical differences regarding how they drove (Maasik & Solomon 99). Therefore, Lamberth observed that manner of driving alone failed to explain variation in how police are likely to treat the white and black drivers. Past the study, the topic of racial profiling has generated a considerable amount of interest that includes all echelons of law enforcement throughout the American nation. For instance, the Justice Department following President Bush’s directive that racial profiling was wrong and that “we will stop it in America by any means necessary” (Dembski-Bowden & Hahn 78) campaign formulated a policy to stop enforcement agents from getting involved in racial profiling. Therefore, the social phenomenon was directly tacked by the President who did state clearly that it was wrong and that it should be ended in America. For racial profiling to end in America, it requires that citizen, the security organs, and the state all play part in spreading the culture of inclusivity, racial tolerance and mutual understanding among the different factions making up the great nation of America. An example is one that had been envisaged in the dreams of the founding fathers and immortalized in the famous words of Martin Luther King. Luther said, “We long for an America where our children will not be judged by the color of their skin, rather than by the content of their character” (Dembski-Bowden & Hahn 85). By coming together to oppose racial profiling, the duties of the law enforces will not be hindered. They protect citizens daily, sometimes exposing themselves to great risks, but the abuses by a few of them ought to be stopped. What is more, it would be important for the law enforcers to have great public confidence. The sincerity of political leaders further reverberates with the closing comments offered by John Ashcroft, AG, who stated: “this regime has opposed racial profiling, and initiating measures to ensure that racial profiling becomes a thing of the past” (Dembski-Bowden & Hahn 87). The president mentioned that racial profiling was wrong by any definition and that he would end it America. From the literature reviewed, it is evident that using race as a benchmark for criminal behavior is not only unconstitutional, but also dents law enforcement by discouraging the confidence that American people have in different State law enforcement agencies. From the viewpoint of top national figures, racial profiling is a law enforcement question that should be deeply examined. In conclusion, it would be convenient to restate the thesis of this paper: that the researches and the various literature viewed all prove that racial profiling has been predominant among the whites and the blacks, with the African Americans being targeted more than the other minority populations. It takes every single American to avert this situation and preach tolerance. References Dembski-Bowden, A., & Hahn, A. (2010). The justice department. Swindon: Mongoose. Maasik, S., & Solomon, J. F. (1997). Signs of life in the U.S.A: Readings on popular culture for writers. Boston: Bedford Books. Pampel, F. C. (2004). Racial profiling. New York: Facts on File. Read More