[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Racial Profiling
Numerous studies over the past few years have validated what many have known for decades: law enforcement agents at all levels again and again use race, customs, national origin, and religious conviction when choosing which individuals should be stopped and searched. The practice of racial profiling occurs when law enforcement officers target suspects on the basis of race, national origin, ethnicity, or religion. Racial profiling is not just an issue of who gets stopped, but why individuals are stopped, and how they are treated.
Policymakers in general misjudge the weigh down placed on innocent citizens stopped by law enforcement officers for the reason that of racial profiling. The Department of Justice reports that African Americans are 50 percent more likely than whites to be stopped more than once. These incidents lead to a reasonable fear of police officers, and risk the alienation of communities while doing little to serve the purposes of law enforcement. Since the terrorist attacks, individuals who are or appear to be of Arab or South Asian descent have been targeted for special scrutiny. Over 8,000 Arab men were called in for questioning after the September 11 attack, but this did not lead to the announcement of suspects in that attack or any other terrorist activity. In addition, many Arabs and South Asians have been asked to leave airplanes for no reason other than their appearance. Many Sikh Americans have been asked to remove their turbans in airports, a violation of their religious practices. (DERRICK DePLEDGE, 2002)
Racial profiling affects decent citizens as well as offenders. Guiltless persons of color are clogged, questioned and searched for reasons that would not lead to stops of white drivers. People of color report stops based on minor equipment violations such as items hanging from the rear view mirror, and even stops followed by inquiries.......
