Is Racial Profiling by the Police Acceptable or Could it be a Tool for Intimidation

Is Racial Profiling by the Police Acceptable or Could it be a Tool for Intimidation?

            Racial profiling is a specific targeting method applied by police or security agents in arresting, detaining, questioning or other incongruent handlings of individuals, based mostly on ethnicity, race or belief that certain marginal communities are more-likely to engage in criminal acts. This issue has been a major controversial concern that is believed to have started in the United States over three decades before, and has almost spilled over to most parts of the contemporary world. Researchers and diverse security organizations have done numerous studies regarding this contentious phenomenon, but the most prominent case came into limelight when the New Jersey state police was involved. Since then, with the exemption of few local cases, the courts have been comparatively mum at the national heights. Nevertheless, proceeding prototypes are beginning to emerge providing evidence that, racial profiling lawsuits are viably to amplify soon.  There exist some postulations regarding the efficiency of profiling in deterring crime. Actually, a momentous relationship connecting partisanship in some given racial groupings that are inclined to commit certain crimes are evident. Given this predisposition, police may impede, ransack or scrutinize members of such communities in a secluded method.  It may be presumed that such processes reduce more crime than do other ways for comparable disruption of expenditures and resources. If either of these hypotheses fails, then the arguments raised do not arise. The ethical quandary posed by racial profiling comes up only if channels that emerge morally intricate are observed from certain angles such as racial parity which add value and contribute to the stipulation of the public good more so, security. If not, racial profiling would be perceptibly illegitimate. Racial profiling mostly happens in airports, highways and major entry points. The most affected minority groups are the African-Americans, Hispanics, Arab-Americans and Blacks.

            On highways, especially those connecting different states, police officers instigate random vehicle stops. Drivers are expected when flagged down, to abide by the rules and could be subjected to search, verbal questioning and authentication of documents. Conversely, this has not been the case as availed from data collected by the FBI reporting that, slightly over fifty percent on no account grant police permission for these checks and almost the same figure adhere to the directives. Drivers that willingly approve permission for these checks testify that they purely fear long detention by police who primarily issue threats. For those that never stop after being flagged down say that they believe their races are under scrutiny and the police would never fail to get any minor mistake.

            Indeed, racial profiling has taken an alarming and dimensional approaches at airports since, there are particular racial groups that believe are the main targets. Criminologist also concur that, the terror attacks on the 11^th September 2001 was a turning point for most Western countries particularly, the US to intensify racial profiling at whatever levels. But, Arab-Americans and individuals from Islamic and other Arab states believe that racial profiling is a tool the Western formulated to prohibit them from entering other countries particularly the United States. It has also been an instrument used in victimizing particular individuals from “unfriendly nations”. As much as they agree that terror attacks done mostly by Islamic Jihadists are not acceptable, they base their arguments that; this is an individualistic perception and responsibility and should not be a brand for every Arab character or state.

            Racial profiling at airports by police may be the products of presented societal and political arrangements, presented by the United States to none conformers in terms of their affiliations and interests throughout the globe. At airports profiling may be done by means of detention, questioning, searching and blacklisting in the name of security measures. Concisely, many also argue that, prospective terrorists may not necessarily use airports, and could be not from the perceived racial groupings as been the case.

            A case in point was when a white male McVeigh, was found to be responsible for the Oklahoma bombings, and  Americans argued that it was just among the deviant cases. On major entry areas like the vast US borderlines, victims of racial profiling are immigrants that travel without proper documentation. They could be genuine cases of atrocities and insecurity from their countries of origin but, since they are on the watch list, the wrath of racial profiling carried by police always befall them. Conclusively, there should be other proper and authentic formulated ways and methods to deter crime other than racial profiling that in the eyes of the minorities is seen as racism.

Links

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2003/June/racial_profiling_fact_sheet.pdf

 http://www.americanbar.org/publications/criminal_justice_magazine_home/crimjust_cjmag_17_2_japanese.html

 http://www.wce.wwu.edu/resources/cep/ejournal/v003n001/a026.shtml