Researchers and Black people are not the only ones who recognize that racial profiling is a problem — even some government organizations do. A page on the National Institute of Justice’s website admits, “people of color are more often stopped than whites” (National Institute of Justice). Clearly, racial profiling by police officers is an existing issue and something must be done to put an end to this horrible practice. Fortunately, there are several methods for how police departments can reduce racial profiling against Black
Police officers would often have to make quick and objective judgements to minimize casualties and losses. In 2015, more than a thousand young black men were killed by the U.S. police force--11 of which were unarmed(alternet.org). The flaw with the system is how limited the word “reasonable” means as it is always the one(police) who has power that defines the word. In most academy, police goes through trainings with regards to handling those dilemmas, but the final decision would always lies among the officer’s experiences and/or knowledges with similar cases, showing evidence of
All throughout America, individuals are taught at a young age that police officers are always the “good guys.” Police officers are painted to be trustworthy, honorable, and advocates of justice. This idea is often displayed in the media through television shows, movies, and news specials. For some, this idea still holds truth, however there are many, particularly individuals of color, whom would quickly disagree. Numerous persons of color have been subjected to racial profiling by officers resulting in stops, searches, and false accusation of crimes.
An officer has the right to stop an individual in public if he has a reasonable doubt of suspicion to temporary stop and frisks the individual. The statistic has shown that many officers have targeted the minorities in the stop and frisk. According to An Analysis of the NYPD 's stop and frisk policy in the context of the claim of racial bias by Andrew Gelman, Jeffrey Fagan, Alex Kiss " the number of arrests of each group in the previous year black were stopped 23% and Hispanics 39% more often than whites"(19). Minorities are stopped twice as often for violent crimes and a
Using a basic descriptive analysis of the fatalities, criminal justice researchers from the Universities of Louisville and South Carolina, examined data for evidence of implicit bias by using multivariate regression models to predict any failures of threat perception: did the suspect attack the police officer(s) or other individual before deadly force; or (2) was the suspect armed when fatally shot. The analysis indicated that police officers are more likely to kill unarmed African-Americans who pose no threat than they were to fatally kill White Americans. One of the researchers, Justin Nix, concluded the only thing significant in the predictions was whether the unarmed suspect shot by a police officer was
In 2011, African Americans made up 25% of New York’s entire population, however, documents reveal that African Americans were the alleged suspects of 53% of all Stop-and-Frisk procedures. Similarly, Hispanics made up 29% of New York’s population, yet they were the victims of 34% of the NYPD’s Stop-and-Frisk Law. In the same year, Caucasian New Yorkers made up at least 33% of the state’s population, yet only a mere 9% were stopped and frisked by policemen (Flatow…”Ten). Prominent NYPD official, Chief Esposito, and defenders of the Stop-and-Frisk refute with the claim that “those who fit the general race, gender, and age profile of… criminal suspects… should be particularly targeted for stops”; they state that African Americans and Hispanics are rightfully and legally the targets of the Stop-and-Frisk (Flatow…”Five). This irrational behavior imparts how quick NYPD officers are to base their stops on race alone.
While advocates of stand your ground believe that it is empowering to people and is an enhancement of safety rights, critics believe that it can often be used as a racially motivated infringement on civil rights. A study of the racial and violent impacts of stand your ground at Texas A&M University found that murder increased by up to 8% in states that had adopted Stand your Ground laws. The conclusion was made that the implementation of these laws was a possible cause of increased homicide rates in these states. The increase in lethal force became seen as an inevitable effect of the stand your ground laws. Based on FBI crime statistics, it is more likely for white people’s actions to be found justifiable in the killing of a black person than it is for the case of black people killing white people.
According to some charts mainly African American, latino and other minority races are the most common to be stopped by officers because of stereotypes. The Constitution, through the fourth amendment, protects people from unreasonable search and seizure by the
All questions are self asked when a police officer stops you and can 't think of the reason. Though many people worry about being stopped by the police, the African-American community will worry the most. Though the African-American community isn 't the only crowd to pick on, this community will worry the most compared to any other community. Asian, Hispanic/ Latino and the white community will also worry, those within the Hispanic/ Latino community would be able to comprehend on how the African-American community may feel if one of their brother(s) or sister(s) has been injured or killed due to an innocent
Since I 'm not ready to be a police officers I decided to join the police auxiliary program, it 's a way to give back to the community and try to help the community and the police department build better relations. On YouTube there 's a study done by a group of young people showing how police officers view African American differently because of theirs race, the video shows two examples. The first example was one white man walking around with an AR-15 (AR 15 is an assault weapon) in a state that people are allowed to carry as long they have a license for it. A few minutes pass an officer walked up to the guy and asked him is there a reason for him to be walking around with his weapon and he simply said he have a license and it 's his Constitutional right and the officers checked the license and went about his
However, research demonstrates that often times men of color are treated harshly which leads to negative perceptions of police officers. Police brutality is a crime that is has been surfacing in the news recently. Some people are just starting to realize that these injustices against the black community really occur, while others are well aware. The recent shootings, different run-ins with officers being filmed while doing such harmful actions against African American men is an example of police brutality and, that reminds us that as a society work needs to be done to improve police and community relations. A black male cannot even walk down the street on a cold night because he might be a suspect from something or he may be of danger to the people around.
The media has blown the slogan “black lives matter” way out of proportion, creating an image that all cops are racist against innocent black people. I read an article titled, “Political correctness almost costs an Alabama cop his life,” and it is devastating to learn how this detective hesitate using force on the suspect in order to protect himself from imminent harm. In summary, an Alabama detective was pistol whipped with his own gun, used by a suspect that he stopped on traffic. According to Slippers (2015), “The police detective says he chose not to use force against a man attacking him because he didn’t want to be another headline. The brutal beating occurred during a routine traffic stop” (p. 2).
Compared to a white male who only 12% chance of being stopped. Another problem that continuously occurs and causes problems is the amount of force police officers use. Officers usually tend to use forces or weapons like dogs, pepper spray, and even tasers on blacks for no reason. But when it comes to whites there’s barely any force used at
Throughout history, disputes and tensions between law enforcement officials and communities of minorities have endured hostility and violence between each other. Racial profiling has become a “hot topic” for researchers as well as for politicians and by now it is likely that most citizens are at least aware of the common accusations of racial bias pitted against law enforcement (Cochran & Warren, 2013). Communities of color are being discriminated against and racially profiled by white police officers for any suspicion of criminal activities. It has been widely assumed by policy makers and citizens alike that allegations of racial profiling are mostly associated with the policing practices of white officers and their treatment of racial and ethnic minorities (Cochran & Warren, 2013). Also, individuals of minority descent will certainly recognize that they are being racially profiled during a stop that is being conducted by a white police officer.
Minorities often receive a lower quality education that their white counterparts, live in environments not conducive to producing productive members of society, and are forced to endure unjust discrimination. The justice system has coined the phrase “innocent until proven guilty,” but a more accurate motto might be “Innocent unless not white”. There is no city that serves as a better example of how blacks are unfairly discriminated against that New York City. Since 2002, New York City has had a Stop-and-Frisk policy in place allowing police to stop any citizen on the street and search them for illegal contraband The justification for the policy is highly questionable, and the statistics on the policy prove that it has discriminatory motives. The Stop-and-Frisk street interrogations have proven to be wildly inefficient with “nearly nine out of 10” of the “more than 5 million” New Yorkers who have been stopped having been “completely innocent” (“Stop-and-Frisk” 1).