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Essays on Racial Profiling

Racial profiling essay topics and outline examples, essay title 1: racial profiling in law enforcement: examining its prevalence and impact.

Thesis Statement: Racial profiling remains a pressing issue in law enforcement, with disproportionate targeting of individuals based on their race or ethnicity, and this essay delves into the prevalence, consequences, and efforts to combat this practice.

• Introduction
• Defining Racial Profiling and Its Historical Context
• Statistics and Data on Racial Disparities in Police Stops and Arrests
• The Impact on Communities of Color and Trust in Law Enforcement
• Policy Reforms, Advocacy, and Ongoing Challenges

Essay Title 2: Unpacking the Psychology of Racial Profiling: Implicit Bias and Stereotyping

Thesis Statement: Racial profiling often stems from implicit bias and stereotyping, and this essay explores the psychological factors that contribute to the practice, as well as strategies for recognizing and addressing these biases.

• Understanding Implicit Bias and Stereotypes
• Psychological Experiments and Studies on Bias in Law Enforcement
• Training and Education to Mitigate Bias and Improve Policing
• Challenges and Progress in Changing Police Culture

Essay Title 3: Beyond Law Enforcement: Racial Profiling in Other Spheres of Society

Thesis Statement: Racial profiling extends beyond law enforcement and infiltrates various aspects of society, including education, healthcare, and employment, and this essay examines the far-reaching consequences and calls for systemic change.

• Racial Profiling in Education: School Discipline and Academic Opportunities
• Healthcare Disparities and Access to Medical Services
• Employment Discrimination and Racial Bias in Hiring
• Community Movements and Policy Initiatives Addressing Profiling

Racial Profiling: Ineffectiveness, Injustice, and Societal Harm

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The Problem of Racial Profiling in The World

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The Problem of Racial Profiling in Policing

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The Issues of Racial Disparity and Racial Profiling in The Criminal Justice System in America

Racial profiling in 18 examples of racism in the criminal justice system, an article by bill quigley, just walk on by: black men in american society, racial profiling and systemic racism, its roots and evidences in modern society, structure and rhetorical strategy in "the new jim crow", depiction of racial prejudice in america in zoot suit by luis valdez, analysis of the new jim crow by michelle alexander, overview of the case of trayvon martin's death, the racial profiling desiree's baby, some of my best friends are black: the strange story of racial integration in america, why is it so difficult to outline and classify race, when cops lose their control, the importance of resistance to injustice in just mercy, the issue of american racism in stevenson’s just mercy, a theme of racism in remember the titans, problem of racial profiling in law enforcement in america, black on black crime: structural racism's impact, racism in the justice system: a critical examination, racial smog: uncovering the hidden pollution of discrimination, the impact of racial profiling.

Racial profiling refers to the discriminatory practice of targeting individuals for suspicion, investigation, or enforcement actions based solely on their race, ethnicity, or national origin, rather than on credible evidence or behavior indicative of criminal activity. It involves the use of stereotypes and preconceived notions about certain racial or ethnic groups, leading to biased and unjust treatment by law enforcement officers, security personnel, or other authorities.

Racial profiling remains a prevalent issue in the United States today, despite ongoing efforts to address it. It refers to the practice of targeting individuals or groups based on their race, ethnicity, or perceived characteristics rather than evidence of criminal behavior. In the US, racial profiling is often associated with law enforcement agencies, where racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately stopped, searched, and subjected to harsher treatment. African Americans, Hispanics, and other marginalized communities frequently experience the negative consequences of racial profiling, leading to feelings of fear, mistrust, and injustice. Racial profiling extends beyond law enforcement and can be seen in various aspects of society, including employment, education, housing, and other public services. Minorities may face barriers and unfair treatment due to prejudiced assumptions or stereotypes. Efforts to address racial profiling include policy reforms, community advocacy, and increased public awareness. Organizations and individuals work to promote accountability, train law enforcement personnel on unbiased practices, and push for legislative changes to ensure equal treatment for all individuals, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

Racial profiling has a long-standing historical context rooted in discriminatory practices and biased attitudes towards certain racial and ethnic groups. Throughout history, individuals have been targeted, surveilled, and treated unfairly solely based on their race or ethnicity. One significant historical context of racial profiling is the era of colonialism and slavery. The transatlantic slave trade and the establishment of racial hierarchies based on skin color laid the foundation for racial profiling. People of African descent were subjected to systematic discrimination and surveillance, reinforcing stereotypes and racial biases. The Jim Crow era in the United States further perpetuated racial profiling. Laws and practices enforced segregation and discriminatory treatment towards African Americans. Racial profiling became institutionalized, particularly through practices like "Black Codes" and discriminatory policing, leading to unjust arrests, harassment, and violence against African Americans. In recent history, events like the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s brought attention to racial profiling. The profiling of individuals based on their race or ethnicity by law enforcement agencies became a contentious issue, leading to debates and calls for reform.

Trayvon Martin Case: The tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012 brought national attention to the issue of racial profiling. Martin, an unarmed African American teenager, was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, who claimed self-defense. The case sparked widespread protests and debates about racial bias and the profiling of young black males. Stop and Frisk Policy: The controversial stop and frisk policy implemented in New York City drew significant attention to racial profiling. Critics argued that the policy disproportionately targeted minority communities, particularly African Americans and Hispanics. The policy faced legal challenges, and its effectiveness in reducing crime while respecting individuals' rights was widely debated. Black Lives Matter Movement: The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement emerged in 2013 following the acquittal of Trayvon Martin's killer and gained prominence after the deaths of several unarmed African Americans at the hands of law enforcement. The movement seeks to address systemic racism, police violence, and racial profiling. BLM has mobilized protests, raised awareness, and advocated for police reform, bringing national and international attention to the issue of racial profiling.

Traffic Stops: Racial profiling in traffic stops occurs when law enforcement officers disproportionately target individuals from specific racial or ethnic backgrounds for traffic violations or vehicle searches based on their appearance. Airport Security: Racial profiling can be observed in airport security measures where individuals are selected for additional screening or questioning solely based on their race or ethnicity. Retail Settings: Racial profiling can occur in retail environments when store employees or security personnel disproportionately suspect and monitor individuals from specific racial or ethnic backgrounds for theft or suspicious behavior. Immigration Enforcement: Racial profiling can also be prevalent in immigration enforcement, where individuals are subjected to increased scrutiny, questioning, or detention based on their perceived immigration status or ethnic background.

Public opinion on racial profiling varies, reflecting a complex and nuanced range of perspectives. While it is difficult to summarize the entirety of public sentiment, here are some common viewpoints: Many individuals strongly oppose racial profiling, considering it a form of discrimination and a violation of civil rights. They argue that targeting individuals based on race or ethnicity is unjust, perpetuates stereotypes, and undermines social cohesion. Advocates for racial justice and equality actively condemn racial profiling, calling for its eradication through policy reforms and increased awareness. On the other hand, some people argue in favor of racial profiling as a means to enhance public safety and security. They contend that certain demographics may have higher crime rates and that profiling based on relevant characteristics can help law enforcement effectively allocate resources. Supporters assert that profiling, when used correctly and without bias, can be an efficient crime prevention strategy.

Documentaries and Films: Documentaries and films have explored the topic of racial profiling, offering in-depth analysis and personal narratives. For instance, the documentary "The 13th" directed by Ava DuVernay examines racial profiling within the context of the criminal justice system. Television Dramas: Television shows have also addressed racial profiling. Series like "The Wire" and "Law & Order: SVU" have featured episodes exploring the challenges and controversies surrounding racial profiling, provoking discussions among viewers. Social Media and Online Platforms: Online platforms have provided a space for individuals to share their experiences and perspectives on racial profiling. Hashtags such as #DrivingWhileBlack and #WalkingWhileMuslim have gained traction, allowing people to share their encounters and raise awareness about racial profiling incidents.

1. According to a study conducted by the Stanford Open Policing Project, black drivers in the United States are approximately 20% more likely to be pulled over by police officers compared to white drivers. 2. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported that in 2019, black individuals were more than twice as likely to be searched during a traffic stop compared to white individuals. 3. A study published in the journal "Science" found that black men face a higher probability of being killed by police officers compared to white men. The study revealed that black men are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement in their lifetime. 4. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), hate crimes based on race accounted for approximately 48% of all reported hate crimes in 2019. 5. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that black Americans are incarcerated at a rate more than five times higher than that of white Americans. 6. A study conducted by the Center for Policing Equity found that black individuals are more likely to be subjected to the use of force by police officers compared to white individuals. 7. The Pew Research Center reported that a majority of black adults in the United States (84%) believe that they are treated less fairly than white individuals by the criminal justice system.

The topic of racial profiling is of significant importance when it comes to understanding and addressing systemic injustices in our society. Racial profiling refers to the practice of singling out individuals or groups based on their race or ethnicity for suspicion or targeting by law enforcement or other authorities. It is a form of discrimination that can have severe consequences on the lives of those affected. Writing an essay about racial profiling provides an opportunity to shed light on this pervasive issue and its detrimental impact on marginalized communities. It allows for a deeper exploration of the historical, social, and psychological factors that contribute to racial profiling. Additionally, such an essay can raise awareness about the systemic biases that perpetuate these discriminatory practices and prompt discussions on the need for policy reforms and societal change. By examining real-life cases, sharing personal experiences, and presenting compelling evidence and research, an essay on racial profiling can foster empathy, challenge prejudices, and inspire individuals to take action against racial injustice. It is a crucial step in promoting equality, social justice, and a more inclusive society for all.

1. Risse, M., & Zeckhauser, R. (2004). Racial profiling. Philosophy & Public Affairs, 32(2), 131-170. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3557948) 2. Schwartz, R. S. (2001). Racial profiling in medical research. New England Journal of Medicine, 344(18), 1392-1393. (https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM200105033441810) 3. Gross, S. R., & Livingston, D. (2002). Racial profiling under attack. Colum. L. Rev., 102, 1413. (https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/clr102&div=57&id=&page=) 4. Welch, K. (2007). Black criminal stereotypes and racial profiling. Journal of contemporary criminal justice, 23(3), 276-288. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1043986207306870?journalCode=ccja) 5. Meehan, A. J., & Ponder, M. C. (2002). Race and place: The ecology of racial profiling African American motorists. Justice Quarterly, 19(3), 399-430. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418820200095291) 6. Antonovics, K., & Knight, B. G. (2009). A new look at racial profiling: Evidence from the Boston Police Department. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 91(1), 163-177. (https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article-abstract/91/1/163/57743/A-New-Look-at-Racial-Profiling-Evidence-from-the) 7. Wortley, S., & Tanner, J. (2003). Data, denials, and confusion: The racial profiling debate in Toronto. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 45(3), 367-390. (https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/cjccj.45.3.367?journalCode=cjccj) 8. Wilkins, V. M., & Williams, B. N. (2008). Black or blue: Racial profiling and representative bureaucracy. Public administration review, 68(4), 654-664. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2008.00905.x) 9. Petrocelli, M., Piquero, A. R., & Smith, M. R. (2003). Conflict theory and racial profiling: An empirical analysis of police traffic stop data. Journal of criminal justice, 31(1), 1-11. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047235202001952)

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• DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780190236953.013.7
• Corpus ID: 146457808

Racial Profiling and the Political Philosophy of Race

• Published 2016
• Philosophy, Political Science

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Racial profiling: A reply to two critics

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Perceptions of Racial Profiling: Race, Class, and Personal Experience*

2002, Criminology

Related Papers

Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice

Stephen Rice

The recent wave of research examining racial profiling by the police has yet to examine potential differences from an intra-ethnic perspective. In addition, few studies have supplemented the insights gathered from street- and highway-stop data with important measures of citizen perceptions. In this study we attempt to conflate the two gaps by presenting an analysis of Black- and non-Black Hispanics’ perceptions of racial profiling. More specifically, we analyze data from a random sample of New York City residents in order to explore differences related to how widespread, justified, and “personal” racial profiling is perceived to be. Results suggest that within ethnicity, racial self-identification plays a galvanizing role in shaping perceptions toward racial profiling. Future research directions are presented.

Criminal Justice and Behavior

Kareem Jordan

Alex Piquero

Abstract A controversial issue in policing is the alleged use of racial profiling by police to stop, search, question, or frisk citizens. Currently, only a small amount of empirical research exists concerning the practice of racial profiling. The empirical evidence that does exist has shown substantial minority over-representation in both police stops and searches. Moreover, almost all studies to date have focused on empirical study of police practices, thus leaving out one crucial element—the perspective of citizens.

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

Patricia Warren

Prior research has consistently demonstrated the salience of minority status in understanding racial and ethnic differences in perceptions of the police. This research has overwhelmingly shown that Blacks and Latinos hold lower levels of trust and confidence in the police than do Whites and other racial minorities. The increased skepticism of the police expressed by minority citizens is commonly associated

Journal of Social Issues

Neil Allicock , Kristin Davidoff , Tanya Erazo

Social Forces

Ronald Weitzer

Aaron Puhrmann

vi CHAPTER l: INTRODUCTION 1 Importance of Integrating Attitudes and Racial Profiling 3 Purpose of this Study 4 Thesis Organization 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES 8 Racial Profiling Definition 8 Existence of Racial Profiling 10 Attitudes towards the Police 21 Attitudes towards Racial Profiling 3 0 Hypotheses 40 CHAPTER 3: DATA AND METHODOLOGY 42 Data 42 Dependent Variables 42 Independent Variables 43 Controls 45 Method 50 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 52 Descriptive Findings 52 Multivariate Findings 57 Summary 62 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS 65

Criminology & Public Policy

Roger Dunham

Adam Hosein

This paper presents a novel framework for evaluating racial profiling, including 'rational profiling' that does in fact decrease crime rates. It argues that while profiling some groups, such as African Americans and Muslims, is impermissible, profiling others, such as white men, may be permissible. The historical and sociological context matters significantly. Along the way, the paper develops a new theory of what expressive harms are, why they matter, and when it is the responsibility of the state to correct them.

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How Racial Profiling in America Became the 'Law of the Land': United States v. Brignoni-Ponce and Whren v. United States and the Need for Rebellious Lawyering

Georgetown Law Journal, Forthcoming

UC Davis Legal Studies Research Paper No. 174

66 Pages Posted: 23 Jun 2009

Kevin R. Johnson

University of California, Davis - School of Law

Date Written: June 22, 2009

It may seem surprising to most readers but racial profiling in law enforcement has long been permitted, if not expressly authorized, by U.S. constitutional law. This is true despite the civil rights revolution of the 1950s and 1960s and the generally positive trajectory of racial progress in the United States over the last century. Indeed, in two major post-civil rights movement decisions that are the subject of this Essay, the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmatively contributed to the predominance of racial profiling in law enforcement in modern America. Persistent accusations of race-based ordinary criminal law enforcement, and specifically in traffic stops, have long plagued the United States. The Supreme Court declined to address the problem head on when given the opportunity in the 1996 case of Whren v. United States, which effectively rendered the Fourth Amendment impotent in combating pretextual stops of automobiles based on race. Indeed, as we shall see, the Court's decision in that case made legal challenges to profiling more, not less, difficult, thereby implicitly encouraging police officers to rely on racial profiles in law enforcement. Although racial profiling in ordinary criminal law enforcement receives the bulk of public scrutiny and scholarly commentary, the practice has had a much broader and deeper reach into modern law enforcement. Border enforcement officers have long employed crude racial profiles, which almost invariably include undefined "Mexican appearance," in making immigration (as well as drug) stops. Such profiles are used not just at the U.S./Mexico border but miles away from any port of entry. As is the case for traffic stops, the Supreme Court has sanctioned racial profiling in immigration enforcement. Indeed, more than two decades before Whren, the Court in 1975 in United States v. Brignoni-Ponce expressly sanctioned precisely this sort of profiling, so long as "Mexican appearance" was only one of many factors relied upon by authorities in making an immigration stop. Evidence unfortunately suggests that the Border Patrol today persistently relies unduly on race in targeting particular groups for stops. Although decided over two decades apart, United States v. Brignoni-Ponce (1975) and Whren v. United States (1996) are cut from the same cloth. With little apparent concern for the consequences on minority communities, both decisions in effect allow racial profiling by law enforcement officers to go largely unchecked. As a result, both in effect tacitly encouraged - and encourage to this day - racial profiling in law enforcement. To shed light on the emergence of the dominance of role in modern law enforcement, this Essay carefully situates Brignoni-Ponce and Whren in their proper historical contexts and dissects the litigation in those cases to show how and why the defense strategy failed to root out race-conscious law enforcement. It further analyzes how both Supreme Court decisions together operate in practice to effectively contribute to the problem of racial profiling in modern American social life. When carefully considered, we see that Brignoni-Ponce and Whren aptly illustrate the difficult challenges facing lawyers seeking to bring about social change and racial justice. Gerald López popularized the concept of "rebellious lawyering," as a way of empowering poor clients through grassroots advocacy facilitated by lawyers. Others have sought to import those teachings to immigration and related fields. The idea is for lawyers to bring about social change while at the same time empowering the subordinated who can be their own advocates in future struggles. The important scholarship of Anthony Alfieri has offered much to this analysis, especially in considering the role of client identity in the strategies of poverty lawyers seeking to promote social change. The work of the attorneys in the trenches in Brignoni-Ponce and Whren demonstrate the importance of litigation in seeking to confront racial subordination while also showing the importance of avoiding exclusive reliance on litigation but combining it with political strategies to bring about social change. Attorneys aggressively battled the state's reliance on race in both cases, only to be rebuffed in different - but both perfectly legal - ways. Stories of real lives of real people got lost in the shuffle of legalities. The potential solution, while possible through the courts, was more likely through the political process, by using political action to focus attention on the real life impacts of race-based law enforcement measures. Part I of this Essay carefully studies Brignoni-Ponce v. United States, which perhaps inadvertently has encouraged the excessive and undue reliance on race in immigration enforcement by bestowing great discretion on the Border Patrol to make stops and specifically permitting them to consider a vague, and quite crude, identifier - "Mexican appearance" - in making an immigration stop. Part II considers Whren v. United States, which effectively immunized racial profiling by police on the streets and highways of America from sanction under the Fourth Amendment and offered a toothless Equal Protection remedy in return. The Essay concludes, by contending that, to truly root out racial profiling from law enforcement, the law must impose limits on the consideration of race in law enforcement, restrict law enforcement discretion in making stops, and afford a meaningful remedy for impermissible stops. To maximize the potential of doing this, lawyers need to advocate for racial justice in the political arena as well as in the courts.

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Kevin R. Johnson (Contact Author)

University of California, Davis - School of Law ( email )

Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall 400 Mrak Hall Drive Davis, CA 95616-5201 United States 530 752 0243 (Phone) 530 752 7279 (Fax)

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