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The Pros And Cons Of Criminal Profiling

870 Words4 Pages

For millions of Americans, the presents of a uniformed police officer bring comfort and assurance that order in being kept amongst our society. For others, the feeling of being stopped because they look or act a certain way bring frustration and fear amongst minorities. Criminal profiling is a high-profile issue facing law enforcement, due to criticisms about how profiling’s were carried out. Difference in police exists. Whether profiling is the exception or the rule, it is highly debated across the United States. Criminal profiling “is the ability of police officials to come to logical conclusions based upon the totality of circumstances related to indicators or certain criminal activity and/or behavior.” (Scism, 2016) Criminal profiling …show more content…

Notice, the word “solely” in Professor Scism’s definition. The race of an individual, and race alone, are targeted by police practices for investigation and enforcement. Racial profiling affects all races, and the treatments are always negative in stature. The Department of Justice has banned racial profiling, with the only exception in identifying possible terrorism activities in limited circumstances.
Although the two have different wording, racial and criminal profiling share very few comparisons. Race is a category of criminal profiling; however, it is often confused with criminal profiling. Both are types of profiles that identify characteristics that guide officers into making an informed decision. There have been bills written and passed to try to forbid profiling in state throughout our …show more content…

In the late 1990’s, Wisconsin Legislature created the Governors Task force on Racial Profiling. This task force implemented a mandatory data collection at each traffic stop, which included “a record of the age, ZIP code, gender, and ethnicity of the driver.” (Stiegel, 2011) Without the Task Force, Wisconsin could not adequately assess the extent of racial profiling by law enforcement. Over twenty years later, Wisconsin Senate passed Senate Bill 15 in efforts to repeal mandatory data collection in efforts to combat racial profiling. On July 2nd, 2015, Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker, signed the bill into legislation. (Wisconsin Legislature,

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