The police and other law enforcement agencies have been criticized for engaging in racial profiling in law enforcement. By definition, racial profiling is the act of basing law enforcement actions in factors like race, ethnicity, the nation of origin, or religion instead of the individual's conduct ( Legewie, 2016) . Racial profiling is a subjective law enforcement policy and is not objective. Critics have noted that racial profiling is practiced in many different ways and is carried out at the different ranks of law enforcement all the way from the local police to the federal counter-terrorism units. Racial profiling also occurs in many policing practices, including the common practices of border control and identity checking. The power bestowed to the police to stop and search an individual or property vary with jurisdiction; however, with racial profiling, police target specific individuals and groups based on their race, ethnicity, nation of origin, or religion. In international law, racial profiling is illegal and constitutes discrimination; thus should be discouraged in law enforcement as it causes more harm than benefit. First, racial profiling greatly impacts minorities and immigrant populations by subjecting them to harsh treatments compared to the natives. In some parts of America and Europe, the black population is a subject of suspicion and is often subjected to high levels of scrutiny by law enforcement agencies. A study by the Open Society Justice Initiative noted that over 60 percent of the immigrants and minority communities across the United States and Europe have at a point in life faced discriminatory treatment from law enforcement agencies ( Horrace and Rohlin, 2016) . There is also noted widespread racial profiling in most EU member states like France, Spain, Hungary, and Bulgaria. In America, the most prevalent form of racial profiling is the egregious (religion-based discrimination). Traditionally, it was a routine the police stop and check the black and Latino identification without cause, but after the September 11, 2001 terror incidence, the Muslims, South Asian and Arab community are profiled as a dangerous population and is subject to police unwarranted checking and scrutiny ( Zack, 2015) . Equally, the changes in border and migration laws have to lead to the rampant profiling of all individuals that look or sound foreign to the American law enforcement agencies. Secondly, racial profiling is not an appropriate law enforcement strategy. A study by the Zack (2015), noted that racial profiling is not effective and counter-productive in combating crime. Communities that are profiled are less often involved in criminal related issues since they are aware of their false created identity. In another study by Legewie (2016), it was noted that profiling treats an entire community with suspicion and brand them as possible criminals. This leads to targeting innocent people who may not take part in crime because of their close supervision by law enforcement agencies. Criminals who do not fall under the suspected and profiled groups use the opportunity to commit crime because they are less suspected of a crime. The reliance on profiling has never improved hit rate in America policing, meaning with the high stops and identity checks of racially profiled communities and individuals like the Latino, Blacks, South Asian communities, and the Muslims, there have been no significant formal arrests for crimes done by the profiled populations. It is thus, the role of the police and all other law enforcement stakeholders to come up with better law enforcement strategies that can respect the dignity of all people and lead to improved hit rates.
Third, racial profiling in law enforcement psychological impacts on the profiled population. All human beings are equal in law, and before God, racial profiling leads to unequal treatment leading to mental abuse among the profiled population. A study done by Horrace and Rohlin (2016) noted that the abusive stops and search of Latinos and Blacks by police is humiliating, and it leads to traumatization. The study also noted that continuous exposure to traumatizing situations by an individual leads to poor mental health. With the principle of operant condition where an individual's behavior is governed by factors like correction and rewards, continuous racial profiling can lead to the generation of radical gangs among the profiled communities to fight back the police. So as much as the police use racial profiling to stop and prevent crime, it can cause the generation of new crime gangs. In another study by Legewie (2016), racial profiling humiliates and cause depression among suspected innocent Latino and Black citizens. According to Horrace and Rohlin (2016), it was noted that the impact of police racial profiling among the Latino and Black population, over 90 percent of the respondent noted that they live in fear and feel depressed and have lost confidence in the police and any other law enforcement agencies. Racial profiling among the police and law enforcement agencies is rampant in Europe, America, and other countries like Russia. It is a form of segregation and discrimination based on factors like race, ethnicity, the nation of origin, or religion. Racial profiling is illegal in international law, but police and other law enforcement agencies use it as a strategy to combat crime by profiled groups and community. It leads to negative social and psychological impacts among the minorities and immigrant populations who are the ones most subjected to this harsh and discriminatory treatments compared to the natives. Also, despite the use of racial profiling, as a strategy, it has not yielded a significant hit rate to qualify it as a good policing strategy. The communities affected by racial profiling have little confidence in the police, and profiling has caused the communities to decrease their cooperation with the police.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Reference
Horrace, W. C., & Rohlin, S. M. (2016). How dark is dark? Bright lights, big city, racial profiling. Review of Economics and Statistics , 98 (2), 226-232.
Legewie, J. (2016). Racial profiling and use of force in police stops: How local events trigger periods of increased discrimination. American Journal of Sociology , 122 (2), 379-424.
Zack, N. (2015). White privilege and Black rights: The injustice of US Police racial profiling and homicide . Rowman & Littlefield.
