Ashishpal Singh

12/12/14
Racial Profiling

With the recent events related to the Ferguson shooting and the New York choking of
African American men, racial tensions are high in this country. The attention these cases have
received has revealed many aspects of the racism that exists at a systemic level in judicial and
law enforcement agencies. Racial profiling, particularly by law enforcement, is not a new
phenomenon in this country but it is important to understand the nature of this practice, its
impact and if necessary, how policy can successfully alleviate some of the issues. Racial
Profiling is defined as the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining the
likelihood of an individual to commit a particular type of unlawful act (Dale, 2004). It manifests
its self in the statistically ineffective War on Drugs (Sarno, 2009) and has also been, and
continues to be, utilized in the War on Terror.
To date, the term "racial profiling" has been used to discuss racism in different
institutional settings such as jury selection, school enrollment, employment, and searches at
airports bur we will focus our attention on its use by law enforcement officials. First, we need to
prove that the practice of racial profiling actually occurs, since some do have doubts about the
existence of it. Secondly, we need to address if racial profiling, assuming it exists, has been
effective in diminishing levels of crime. If it is the case that the practice has not lowered criminal
activity, then it is important to develop policy to rid the police force of utilizing racial profiling.
Certainly changing deep rooted beliefs and impulses is not an easy task to accomplish, nor is it
one that will be accomplished by the policies presented in this paper, but if adhered to, these
policies can effectively lower some of the destructive effects of racial profiling.

Any examination of racial profiling must address whether the frequency of action by law
enforcement is related to the race of the individuals in question, how strong the relationship
between race and law enforcement usage exists, and whether the disparity of treatment of
perceived crimes can be explained by a factor unrelated to racial profiling. In other words, in
order to prove the existence of racial profiling, we need statistical evidence displaying a higher
risk for racial minorities in being stopped/ frisked/ taken action against by law enforcement than
majority groups.
There is no shortage of data displaying these trends. First, empirical data gathered by the
U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Justice reveal that African American drivers were two
times as likely to be arrested during a traffic stop, while Hispanic drivers were 10% more likely
to receive a ticket than their black or white counterparts (Matthews & Hall, 1999).
Another study examined the Boston Police Force and found similar results. The research
revealed that between April 2001 and January 2003, over 43% of all searches conducted by
officers from the Boston Police Department were of cars driven by African-American drivers
even though less than 33% of the cars that were pulled over that year were driven by African
Americans (Antonovics, 2004).
In order to assure that this result was not simply by chance, researchers examined the
strength of the observed association. Researchers typically determine how precise the measure is
by looking at whether the plausible range of estimates the data presents falls outside the bounds
of what one would expect if the likelihood of being stopped or searched were equal among racial
groups (Antonovics, 2004). This states if the relation is statistically significant or merely by
chance. This is known as the p-value, and the smaller the p-value, the more likely the observed
disparity in stops/searches between ethnic minority and non-targeted groups occurred due to

something other than chance. "Statistically significant" results help eliminate the alternative
explanation that the observed relationship between race and traffic stops or searches is due
simply to chance (Antonovics, 2004). In this research, the disparity in data between African
Americans and Caucasians were cited as being significantly significant, indicated that
discriminatory practices were in effect (Antonovics, 2004).
However, the most staggering, and relevant to todays social climate, statistic came from
a ProPublica article that examined statistics regarding the use of deadly force by law
enforcement. The report revealed that African-Americans, age 15 to 19, were killed by law
enforcement at a rate of 31.17 per million, while white males in that same age range were killed
at 1.47 per million (Gabreilson, 2014). In other words, according to statistics, a black teenager is
21 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a white teenager.
Although these statistics reveal a dark, depressing truth about the systemic racism in the
United States law enforcement system, others argue that racial profiling is effective in stopping
crimes. I have had conversations with individuals who defend the use of racial profiling in law
enforcement, saying that the tool of criminal profiling based on race serves to assist the law
enforcement community to protect the community. However, statistical evidence is not consistent
with these assertions. For example, a tactic that relies heavily on racial profiling in my own
community is the Stop & Frisk measure utilized by the NYPD.
Statistics reveal that young black and Latino men, between the ages of 14-24 were the
targets of a hugely disproportionate number of stops as they accounted for only 4.7 percent of the
city's population but made up 41 .6 percent of the people stopped in 2011 (New York Beacon,
2012). Compounded with the fact that the measure is racist, it has also shown to be incredibly
ineffective. Between 2009 and 2012, only 3% of the 2.4 million people who were stopped and

frisked were convicted for any crime and the measure did not lower criminal activity in the city
by any significant statistical measure (New York Beacon, 2012). It is understandable for law
enforcement to utilize descriptions of ethnic backgrounds when identifying criminals and a
failure to do so would likely result in ineffective police work but racial profiling that is based on
searching individuals based on no other factor but their appearance, such as stop and frisk, is
racist, unconstitutional, and ineffective.
Despite all of the evidence that reveals the ineffectiveness of racial profiling, and all of
the social commentary that speaks to its racist underlying beliefs, 20 state laws do not explicitly
prohibit racial profiling (Matthews & Hall, 1999). It is important to develop a policy that
recognizes that racial profiling exists, and that it is detrimental to society and the community.
The first part of the policy should stress that law enforcement should actively avoid
considering a persons race or ethnicity as a factor for deciding whether that individual is
involved in criminal activity. The only exception to this would be when searching for a specific
individual whose profile lists him being of a certain ethnic background. Outside of these suspect
specific or investigation-specific cases, judgment based on race should be avoided.
There a few ways in which officers can actively avoid racial profiling. First, they should
determine if they would treat the individual or group of individuals differently if they belonged
to a different race or ethnicity. If after asking this question internally, they believe that they
would, that they must actively change their behavior towards this individual to be more in
accordance with non-discriminatory rules (Pettigrew, 1979). The exception to this are again the
suspect-specific cases discussed earlier.
Another key to complying with the policy is to stress the importance of focusing on
conduct rather than race. By focusing more on how the individual is conducting himself, or what

he is doing rather than suspecting individuals based on their race or ethnicity can effectively
eliminate some discriminatory practice (Narcotics Enforcement & Prevention Digest, 2001).
It is also essential to let law enforcement officials know that an individual does not need
to be a racist to engage in racially-discriminatory policing. Any officer can unwittingly or
subconsciously make judgments based on racial or ethnic stereotypes about who is more likely to
be conduct unlawful activity. One need does not necessarily need to be prejudiced to pre judge
a person based on broad-brushed stereotypes (Dale, 2004). By acknowledging that these
prejudices exist even in individuals who dont hold bigoted views will avoid having officers
dismiss taking the policy into account simply because they feel that they are not personally
prejudiced.
While police officers should never be prohibited from relying on a hunch, officers
should always be thinking about why they are drawing specific inferences about an individual. In
other words, an officer should ask themselves what it is about the individual they deem to be
suspicious. Officers must make certain that a persons race or ethnicity is not a factor in their
exercise of police discretion, and they should be required to explain and document the legitimate,
reasons for their suspicions (Sarno, 2009). This practice of introspection in regards to their
cognitions can help them avoid subconsciously relying on prejudiced views.

References
Sarno, P. (2009). THE WAR ON DRUGS. Southeast Asian Affairs, 2009(1), 223-241.
doi:10.1355/SEAA09L
Matthews, J., & Hall, D. (1999). Racial profiling: A law enforcement nemesis. Redondo Beach:
Bobit Publishing Company.
Dale. C (2004). Racial Profiling: Legal and Constitutional Issues.
Antonovics, K. L., Knight, B. G., & National Bureau of Economic Research. (2004). A new look
at racial profiling: Evidence from the boston police department. Cambridge, Mass: National
Bureau of Economic Research.
Gabrielson, R., Jones, R., & Sagara, E. (2014, October 10). Deadly Force, in Black and White.
Retrieved December 12, 2014, from http://www.propublica.org/article/deadly-force-in-blackand-white
Report finds NYPD stop and frisk ineffective and racist. (2012, May). New York
Beacon Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1140230985?accountid=13158
State issues racial profile guidelines.(2001). Narcotics Enforcement & Prevention Digest, 7(9), 8.
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/205492753?accountid=13158
Pettigrew, T. F. (1979). Racial change and social policy. Annals of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science, 441(1), 114-131. doi:10.1177/000271627944100109