Racial profiling is the pre-conceived notion against a person based on their racial groups, rather than the actions of the individuals themselves. Racial profiling involves judging an individual not based on evidence criminalizing them but rather on suspicion and stereotypic racial discrimination. The justice system or the law enforcement agencies need not use race, ethnicity, and national origin of an individual to decide whether the individual is on the right of the law or not. The menace of racial profiling can be experienced almost in all ranks of law enforcement, from the counter-terrorism police to border control. Racial profiling has mainly targeted Blacks, Latin Americans, and, in some cases, other racial groups (Harris, n.d, 119). Most of the victims of racial profiling have experienced diminished faith in law enforcement and justice agencies. The first thing that should be noted is that racial profiling violates the Bill of Rights and the law in general since every citizen is entitled to the right to equal protection under the law. Furthermore, racially profiling an individual is a criminal offense, according to International Law. Racial profiling has invaded almost all aspects of law enforcement and justice. It is becoming increasingly apparent that specific policies are primarily tailored to affect a particular group of persons hence destroying their civil liberty. The communities that have fallen victims to being racially profiled feel vulnerable and less protected by the law as they are considered a threat to security even when they are not. In the U.S., racial profiling takes place in immigration, counter-terrorism, and street-level crimes. Policies on matters immigration seem to be geared to one race and ethnicity. Most of the traffic offenders that are arrested in a court of law have filed complaints about being racially profiled by the police in the traffic check-point and stops. Offenses such as over speeding or failure to signal before making any person can commit a turn despite the racial denomination of their origin. Police should avoid using racial appearance as a factor to determine whether someone is a suspect or not (Harris, n.d). But in many instances, traffic offenders of Black and Latino races seem targeted for these offenses. Similarly, the border control agency seems subjective to arrest citizens of a particular race for cases of immigration (Romero, 2006). Numerous complaints of racial profiling have been reported on the war on drugs. Other than the fact that more whites are involved in drug-related crimes, the people of color tend to be more incarcerated for drug-related offenses. The people of color receive maximum sentencing, while the Whites have reduced sentences for the same crimes (Silton, 2002). Another example is depicting the problem of racial profiling in the case of arrests for traffic offenses. The basic functioning of the justice system is affected by race-based sentencing, prosecution policies, use of excessive force during arrest, and other police practices. There have been disparities in ways in which these policies are applied with individuals of different races. The figures f rom prisons show that the Black constitute 47% of the prison population compared to the 12% total population (Beck & Blumstein, 2018). The overrepresentation of the Blacks a sign that there is an unfair over-policing. It is pervasive to criminalize Blacks as criminals (Welch, 2007) stereotypically. The resulting impact will be chaos and violence. One of its implications is the fact that it contradicts with justice to all in the face of the law. This action means that the justice system itself is unjust to those being targeted because of their race. Humiliation and suffering experienced by those who have been racially profiled by the law have left them degraded and traumatized to the extent of being hopeless. Victims of racial profiling have grown and attitude of distrust and resent to the law enforcement and the justice agencies. Due to this reason, the communities of color feel intimidated and unfairly targeted by the law enforcers causing resistance to develop. The enforcement officials, therefore, have a rough time enforcing the law on the people of color due to low cooperation received in turn. Racial profiling also inhibits respect for humanity and hence a moral decay of the criminal justice system. The victims feel betrayed by the same law that should have been the weapon to protect their rights. The police have also been seen brutalizing and using excessive force on the victims of racial profiling instead of protecting the wellbeing of the citizens. Another impact of racially profiling a particular group of individuals is that a lot of time and resources are wasted going after them while the real criminals get away unpunished. The integrity of the criminal justice department is significantly undermined by racial profiling. Racially discriminating against others defies not only the constitution but also tarnishes the role of the Justice Department. The need to bring racial profiling to an end is very crucial to ensuring effective law enforcement and the criminal justice system. One way of curbing cases of racial profiling is by educating the law enforcement agencies on why race and ethnicity of an individual have nothing to do with the crime committed. Police officers should work more closely with the communities instead of operating as the enemy. Implicit bias when policing negatively affects the quality of the job and, even worse, let the real culprits escape with crimes while the innocent suffer the wrath. Since racial profiling violates the constitution and the bill of rights, officers in the law enforcement and criminal justice department should face charges in a court of law for defying these rights. The police department should also desist from using adjectives such as Black, Latino, Asian, or White when describing a suspect but instead use a combination of physical characteristics like height, gender, or clothing. The justice department should make decisions depending on the evidence provided by the prosecution, rather than the race and ethnicity of the accused. Policies should be put in place to prohibit law enforcement personnel from using minor traffic violations as justification to stop and individual just because of a belief associating that person’s race to a crime (Harris, 1999). Introducing community policing where the police officers intermingle more with the communities they live in through interactive activities such as sports and social works is an ideal way of curbing racial profiling. The activism groups and government should join hands in promoting awareness through public sensitization and education activities concerning racial diversity. Improving awareness will better the relationship between the police and the communities hence an ample environment for cooperation. The justice department, in conjunction with law enforcement, should facilitate dialogue to foster reconciliation with the victims of racial profiling. This action will help restore the faith of the victims on law enforcement and the judicial system. Lastly, is to enhance diversity in the police department such that all the groups feel included. The justice department should also embrace diversity when selecting jurors for every particular case to minimize the possibility of the accused being racially profiled when making the judgment.
References
Beck, A. J., & Blumstein, A. (2018). Racial disproportionality in U.S. state prisons: Accounting
for the effects of racial and ethnic differences in criminal involvement, arrests, sentencing, and time served. Journal of Quantitative Criminology , 34 (3), 853-883.
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Harris, D. A. (1999). Driving while Black: Racial profiling on our nation's highways .
Washington, DC: American Civil Liberties Union.
Harris, D. A. (n.d). Racial Profiling.
https://law.asu.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academy_for_justice/5_Reforming-Criminal-Justice_Vol_2_Racial-Profiling.pdf
Romero, M. (2006). Racial profiling and immigration law enforcement: Rounding up of usual
suspects in the Latino community. Critical Sociology , 32 (2-3), 447-473.
Silton, D. J. (2002). U.S. prisons and racial profiling: a covertly racist nation rides a vicious cycle. Law & Ineq. , 20 , 53.
Welch, K. (2007). Black criminal stereotypes and racial profiling. Journal of contemporary criminal justice , 23 (3), 276-288.
