Profiling and US Amendments Gabriel Anthony Farias Fresno State University Just what is the difference between criminal and racial profiling? Is there a difference? In this essay, I will define and give a brief comparison between the two. I will also define and discuss possible violations of the fourth and fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution. At the end, the reader should understand the difference between the two distinct types of profiling, and acknowledge that specific circumstances may cause a violation to one amendment, without directly affecting another. Forensic psychologist Richard N. Kocsis indicates that criminal profiling can be defined as “…identifying, that is, predicting who is most likely to offend in given ways and who may be most at risk in terms of being a victim of crime” (Kocsis, 2007). It’s a method used by Law Enforcement to identify suspects that are more likely to commit certain crimes. Instead of basing suspects primarily due to the suspect’s race, ethnicity or religion as racial profiling generally does. In essence, it’s about making education guesses based on evidence presented. Take serial murder cases, identifying how the killer approached the victim, his motive, and level of …show more content…
(2017) Examples of racial profiling might include officers stopping a Hispanic or African American individual for a traffic stop because of their race and not because any illegal activity took place. This may also occur in neighborhoods, for example an African American male in a White neighborhood might be questioned because he would appear to be out of place. Fortunately for us, we have the amendments that protect our individual rights and
Criminal profiling, tend to be practiced by security and police is the reliance on a group of characteristics they believe to be involved with crime. In the article “Racial Profiling” posted by ACLU Blogs states that “The targeting of shoppers/business patrons of color for suspicion of shoplifting by private security and other employees has disproportionately affected both working and prominent African American women”(ACLU). Discrimination is widespread across many sectors and specifically in law enforcement. Racial profiling happens in businesses and companies based on characteristics and stereotypes of the race the
Written Task 2 Racial profiling as defined by the National Institute of Justice is “a practice that targets people for suspicion of crime based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin” (National Institute of Justice). There are two different kinds of racial profiling according to the primary text. There is what can be called "Hard" profiling, that sees race as the only factor in assessing criminal suspiciousness.
To summarize the article “Racial Profiling is Morally Wrong and Based on False Assumptions”, by James A. Kowalski, he argues that racial profiling is by no means effective, or good. It solves no problems, and causes people to fear law enforcement. Racial profiling is when an individual is suspected of a crime by law enforcement because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. For example, “all blacks are gang members”. In addition to Kowalski’s arguments, he references the Zimmerman case from 2012 as an example of racial profiling gone wrong.
Jesper Ryberg, a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Science Studies at the University of Roskilde, Denmark, questions the use of racial profiling as a way of reducing crime. He also examines the ethics of the criminal justice system in its degree or levels of punishment for certain crimes. His first contention is that when racial profiling is used by law enforcement as a means of reducing crime, there will be a disproportionate number of that ethnic group charged and punished for crimes. That certainly will reduce some crimes. However, that leaves the majority group with more liberties and freedoms to commit more crimes.
At first, the goal of criminal profiling was just to narrow down the potential suspects, this has developed throughout time. Now the main goal of a criminal profiling is to create a profile to help find a suspect and to inform police how they should try to catch this suspect. These profilers and the profiles that they create may also be used in court when trying to convict a criminal. Some might say that it doesn’t help the FBI because it is just making an assumption based on experience and people can make the wrong profile causing them to arrest the wrong person. Although this maybe true, studies have shown that this rarely happens; “Yet, these researchers also reported that in 24.5 percent of the cases, profiles actually hindered the identification of a suspect” (Scherer and Jarvis).
One case that relates to this flaw in the criminal justice system would be the Floyd v. City of New York. The date that this case was filed was on January 31, 2008 by David Floyd, David Ourlicht, Lalit Clarkson and Deon Dennis. This case challenged the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) practices of racial profiling and seeing whether or not the stop and frisk policy is unconstitutional. The clients represents thousands of black and Hispanic New Yorkers who have been stopped for no reason (according to the clients).
300359810 Mrs. Fahey ERWC 12-Period 2 14 September 2015 Racial Profiling Racial discrimination is becoming a major problem in today 's society. Our nation is facing problems based on the discrimination on race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Racial profiling is a clear violation of the civil rights of the United States.
Racial profiling is a tool used by law enforcement targeting an individual on suspicion of a crime, based on race, ethnicity or national origin. In order to create a solution for racial profiling, it must be addressed, not just in certain situations, but as a whole. Racial profiling which does not require the use of evidence is quite different from criminal profiling and is an unfair and ineffective way to judge someone. Eric holder once said "I don't want to talk about whether or not racial profiling is legal. Racial profiling is not an effective law enforcement tool."
Policies for specific states can vary. Kentucky has a policy against Racial Profiling. Their policy states that no state law enforcement agency or official shall stop, detain, or search any person when such action is solely motivated by consideration of race, color, or ethnicity, and the action would constitute a violation of the civil rights of the person (Kentucky General Assembly, 2010). They also gave the local law enforcement agencies a chance to modify the policy and get it approved.
Racial Profiling is one of the many areas covered in racial discrimination. It refers to the discriminatory practice, especially by law enforcement officials which targets individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual 's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Racial profiling has been and is still an issue today in almost every part of the United States. It is seen in different situations whereby people are treated very unfairly or branded criminals and suspects without any form of evidence It is a type of racial discrimination seen in all places though racial discrimination touches many areas like award of government benefits which is unequally shared as it should ,but at times based on who the person is. For example, I was once a victim in the
This is where racial profiling comes into play with law enforcement. It gives law enforcement the authority to harass anyone of any color without reason. “Stop-and-frisk” without clause is now considered a violation of the 4th and 14th Amendments (Goldstein, 2013). The government could try different tactics to stop this harassment of people of color, different ethnicities, and origins.
Racial profiling is a very important issue that individuals in society face every day. This problem occurs in low income or poverty-stricken areas throughout cities and communities across the nation. Hundreds of anecdotal testimonials allege that law enforcement officials at all levels of government are infringing upon the constitutional rights and civil liberties of racial and ethnic minorities through a practice called “racial profiling” (Ward, 2002). So what is racial profiling? According to the National Institute of Justice, racial profiling by law enforcement is commonly defined as a practice that targets people for suspicion of crime based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin (National Institute of Justice, 2013).
Racial profiling, using someone’s race to suspect they are ar committing an offensive crime. Modern society has come to where we will judge someone for individual protection . People have a habit of having a negative judgment for “foreigners” that come in . Many illegal immigrants have slipped in the U.S in the past few years. The perception one a group then leads to the deception of any individual in that group .
Racial Profiling in America Racial profiling is defined as refers to the targeting of particular individuals by law enforcement authorities based not their behavior, but rather their personal characteristics ( The Leadership conference) . This is another mechanism for racial discrimination backed by the law. According to the The Leadership conference, racial discrimination is not solely on race, but based on religion, ethnicity and national origin.
Racial Profiling can be useful sometimes and sometimes it can hurt other people’s feelings. It can be useful to the police because it can give the police an idea of who or what kind of person committed a crime. You can’t always rely on racial profiling to help find the criminal. There is no guarantee that you will find the criminal by using racial profiling. It can hurt other people because you are judging the person by their looks and actions.