LAW ENFORCEMENT AND RACIAL PROFILING.   Term Paper ID:30639 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Discusses studies on the issue. Attitudes of police and public towards non-white (minority) individuals. Self-perpetuating myths. Lawsuits against law enforcement agencies. Recommended policy changes for law enforcement personnel. Need for better technology. Statistics. Reporting of racial profiling in the popular press. Potential future impact of post-9/11 world on racial profiling. Paper Introduction: Introduction The popular press contains reports on black Americans being subjected to more police scrutiny than whites, and to a disproportionate number of black Americans being imprisoned and sentenced to the death penalty compared to their white counterparts. This tendency is often attributed to racial profiling, in which law enforcement officers and officers of the court assume a higher incidence of criminal behavior among people of color. Such profiling accounts for more minorities than whites being stopped for interrogation or minor traffic infractions, and profiling came under scrutiny as statistics revealed that its actual effectiveness was questionable. Since September 11, however, many Americans of various backgrounds support racial profiling as it relates to Middle Easterners (or those who appear to be Mid Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Introduction The popular press contains reports on black Americans being subjectedto more police scrutiny than whites, and to a disproportionate number ofblack Americans being imprisoned and sentenced to the death penaltycompared to their white counterparts. Internet address: http://www.aclu.org/ profiling/report/index.html.Langan, Patrick A., Lawrence Greenfeld, Steven Smith, Matthew Durose and David Levin. However, stating that probable cause is again to begiven paramount consideration when detaining members of the general publicrecognizes that there are situations in which racial profiling takesprecedent over the Fourth Amendment. of Just., Bur. Washington, DC: US Dept. This suggests, as many lawenforcement personnel maintain, that racial profiling is not a significantissue. Theseindividuals are less likely to put their faith in the justice system forcrimes committed in their community, and are less likely to co-operate withlaw enforcement authorities if the opportunity or need should arise. In: Racially Based Policing: A Principled Response. Internet address: http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?contentid=61 &knlgAreaID=119&subsec id=156Fridell, Lorie, Robert Lunney, Drew Diamond and Bruce Kubu. NY: American Civil Liberties Union, Jun 1999. In other words, law enforcementpersonnel may not actually "know" that crime is truly higher in certainareas than others if some areas have been historically targeted due toracial profiling in the past. However, the authorssuggest that if racial profiling were curtailed, these numbers would alsofall to reflect the general population distribution (Cohen et al, 1). Theauthors use both the actual occurrence of racial profiling as well as thepublic perception as the foundation for their policy guidelines, and buildon the issues Harris outlined, as well. Such profiling accounts for more minorities than whites being stopped forinterrogation or minor traffic infractions, and profiling came underscrutiny as statistics revealed that its actual effectiveness wasquestionable. usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cpp99.pdf. Included in thereport are statistics regarding racial profiling activities. Since the authors themselves acknowledge thatcurrent practices are based on racial profiling, this technique mightresult in minority communities being unfairly targeted due to the defectiveinvestigative practices of the past. Harris then examines the effects of such profiling for society atlarge as well as for the judicial system. of Just. Law enforcement officers using racial profilingare likely to use traffic stops to search for drugs when there is no otherreason to stop a vehicle (the traffic infraction provides the probablecause required by the Fourth Amendment). Comparison with Popular Press The four reports and studies considered here are more rigorous intheir approach to the issue of racial profiling than articles in thepopular press, and rely less on anecdotal evidence. Racial profiling indicates thatminority (black or brown) individuals are likely to have drugs in theirvehicle or on their person, so those are the individuals who are targeted.Since the police are stopping more members of these minorities than whitedrivers, more drugs are eventually recovered from these populations. Like Harris, Cohen et al focus on the self-perpetuating cycle thatracial profiling engenders among law enforcement officers. This researchconsiders literature published before the September 11 attacks in which theissue of racial profiling in general, and its effectiveness in particular,is considered. Atotal of 19 percent of respondents indicated that they have implemented newpolicies for the same reason. Only 19 percent of the contactswere to report a crime. Efforts have been made to change thebehavior of law enforcement personnel, but as reflected in the popularpress, such changes have not yet been widely implemented. His report is logical and flows well, butwould have benefited from the inclusion of more rigorous studies in thefield. By changing the behavior of lawenforcement personnel, according to the authors, minority community memberswill slowly regain a sense of trust with regard to police and society as awhole will benefit as the police are perceived to be more objective in theperformance of their duties (Fridell et al 49). By making it possible for officers to have more detaileddescriptions that offer better identification factors than just race,officers are less likely to engage in profiling. Even with this consideration, the survey doesindicate that racial profiling takes place to the extent that blacks andHispanics were more likely to have a traffic stop lead to additionalinvestigation than were whites. The recommendations of the authors come as the result of a studyconducted by the Police Executive Research Forum in which 12 percent ofsurveyed law enforcement agencies reported that they have modified theirpolicies based on high-profile events associated with racial profiling. Stats, Feb 2 1. "A Policy to Address Racially Biased Policing and the Perceptions Thereof. Internet address: http://www.ojp. These authorsnote that many chiefs of police--including African-American chiefs--defendthe use of racial profiling because of the disproportionate number ofminorities arrested for drug and related offenses. Infact, these studies call for the abandonment of racial profiling while thedescriptive popular press suggests that in the post-September 11environment, the public prefers that racial profiling continue, at least onsome limited level. Since September 11, however, many Americans of variousbackgrounds support racial profiling as it relates to Middle Easterners (orthose who appear to be Middle Eastern) in the United States. However, the authors alsosuggest that law enforcement personnel should concentrate their efforts onrecognized "hot spots," or areas where criminal activity is known to takeplace (Cohen, et al 2). If an individual matches the description of asuspect involved in criminal activity, and the description includes race,that is not racial profiling. Fridell et al examine the issue of racial profiling from a lawenforcement perspective, and seek to offer policy advice on ways in whichlaw enforcement agencies can change the behavior of their personnel. The practice results in innocentAmericans being detained and interrogated without probable cause, a clearsuspension of their Fourth Amendment rights. The report found that of all drivers stopped by police in 1999, 77percent were white, 11.6 were black and 8.4 percent were Hispanic.However, blacks were more likely than whites to be stopped at least once(12.3 percent versus 1 .4 percent) and blacks were also more likely thanwhites to be stopped more than whites (3. This tendency is often attributed toracial profiling, in which law enforcement officers and officers of thecourt assume a higher incidence of criminal behavior among people of color. However, officers who stop allwhite drivers in all vehicles regardless of the description of the suspect(beyond race) are engaged in racial profiling (Cohen et al, 1). Thisreinforces the idea that minorities traffic in drugs more often thanwhites, and perpetuates the profiling technique by overstating theproportion of minorities involved in drug offenses. This, in turn, leads to amistrust and disrespect for the judicial system among members of thepersecuted minority regardless of whether they are criminals. Eliminating Racial Profiling. The Department of Justice conducted a national survey in 1999analyzing contacts between the public and the police in order to analyzethe type and prevalence of citizen contact with police. The Justice Department works with the Census Bureau with regardto definition of "black" and "Hispanic" as well as with regard to thestatistics associated with the survey, the sampling techniques and theconclusions drawn regarding the overall population. According tothis survey, there was approximately the same proportion of whites, blacksand Hispanics stopped by police (1 percent of white drivers were stopped,12 percent of black drivers were stopped and nine percent of Hispanicdrivers were stopped) (Langan, et al i). In the post-September world, racial profiling is likely to continue, but with fargreater support than in the past, particularly when such profiling focuseson terrorist rather than drug offenses. The authors exclude from this provision thosesituations where probable cause is not required for any detainees, such assobriety checkpoints. With regard to traffic stops, 84percent of all drivers considered the stops to be legitimate. Thisdistrust of law enforcement can perpetuate the mistrust by law enforcementofficers of these same minorities (Harris 3). In order to minimize or eliminate racial profiling among lawenforcement personnel, the authors suggest that technology be used moreeffectively. However, both thepopular press and these reports suggest that racial profiling is conductedon a regular basis by American law enforcement officers, and that theresult is detrimental both to the minorities directly affected as well asto the ability of law enforcement to do its job well. Increasingly, those arrested and detained based on racial profilingare filing suits against the agencies in question and receiving awards.Most often, the pretext for the detention is that the individuals involved"resembled" suspects wanted with connection to an ongoing investigation,but those individuals who have sued successfully have demonstrated thatthere is often no resemblance between themselves and the actual suspects.These lawsuits, more than public complaint, may be responsible forincreased scrutiny by law enforcement agencies over the use of racialprofiling (Harris 1 ). "Driving While Black." Arrest the Racism: Racial Profiling in America. Washington, DC: Police Executive Research Forum, 2 1, 49-63.Harris, David A. Harris uses news reports as well as anecdotal evidence to support hisconcepts, and provides a thorough history of racial profiling since the196 s in the United States. The 1999 survey was based on interviews conducted with more than94, individuals aged 16 or older. However, since whitedrivers receive less police attention, it is probable that more whitedrivers with drugs in their possession are not stopped by the police andare therefore not convicted of drug offenses. In this way, the statisticsare understated even further in favor of whites (Harris 3). Conclusion Racial profiling does occur within law enforcement, and reports havebeen generated suggesting that it is neither effective for the communitynor beneficial to law enforcement. Contacts Between Police and the Public. The policy changes recommended by these authors appear to be based oncommon sense, which may indicate just how endemic racial profiling iswithin law enforcement agencies. The individuals were interviewedusing the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). percent versus 2.1 percent).These figures represent the numbers of blacks and whites in society atlarge, not merely those who were stopped by police. However, the authors note that whilepolicies may generally prohibit "racial profiling," they stop well short ofproviding officers with clear definitions of what does--and does not--constitute such profiling. Washington, DC: Progressive Policy Institute, Feb 15, 2 . The surveyfound that in 1999, 21 percent of all residents in the United States hadsome type of contact with police, with 52 percent of those contactsoccurring as the result of a traffic stop. Review of Literature According to Harris (1999), racial profiling results in a self-perpetuating mythology both among white members of the community and lawenforcement professionals. The authors are also careful to differentiate between racialprofiling, in which race is used as the sole or primary criteria forselecting the targets of law enforcement, and the use of race in generalthroughout law enforcement. Thus law enforcement officers who stop avehicle containing a white male driver in a specific area when the vehicleand the driver both match a description of a robbery suspect seen in thatarea are not engaging in racial profiling. This is a comprehensive survey mandated by federal legislation thatsuggests that racial profiling was present in American society in 1999,though perhaps not to the level that was portrayed in the popular press.There are problems inherent with any type of survey instrument, however,and it is not clear whether minorities who were detained are adequatelyrepresented in this survey. percent) or Hispanic driver(11.3 percent) rather than a white driver (5.4 percent) (Langan, et al 1),perpetuating the idea that police use traffic stops in order to conductother types of investigations based on race. Hence, the authors decision to offer moreconcrete guidelines (Fridell et al, 5 ). Works CitedCohen, John D., Janet Lennon and Robert Wasserman. These studies also take a more prescriptive approach to racialprofiling, while the popular press focused on descriptive approaches.Since these studies were compiled before the events of September 11, theydo not address whether there has been an actual shift in attitudes amongminorities to racial profiling when it extends to their communities. Less than one percent of the contacts involved theuse of force on the part of police. The concepts presented in the literature are then comparedwith the views of racial profiling portrayed in the popular press. The interviews wereconducted primarily by telephone (69 percent) with the remaining conductedin-person. For example, their policy emphasizes thatdetentions of any time must be based on "reasonable suspicion or probablecause" (Fridell, et al 49). However, police weremore likely to search a black driver (11. 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