Racial ProfilingEssay Preview: Racial ProfilingReport this essayRacial Profiling is any police or private security practice in which a person is treated as a suspect because of his or her race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. This occurs when police investigate, stop, frisk, search or use force against a person based on such characteristics instead of evidence of a persons criminal behavior. It often involves the stopping and searching of people of color for traffic violations, known as “DWB” or “driving while black or brown.” Although normally associated with African Americans and Latinos, racial profiling and “DWB” have also become shorthand phrases for police stops of Asians, Native Americans, and, increasingly after 9/11, Arabs, Muslims and South Asians
A new study finds that black citizens are nearly five times more likely to be stopped for traffic violators. The researchers, led by researchers Michelle F. Smith and Peter Seachet, a graduate student in the Graduate School of Political Science and Social Sciences at Emory University, used a database of state and local police departments’ racial profiling incidents from 2011 to 2015 to identify black traffic arrestees by race from all 50 jurisdictions. Based on the report and other studies of the problem, F.S. Smith and Seachet, and colleagues estimate that 90% of the traffic stops were due to racial profiling, and 50.7% of the time was due to racial profiling. The data was compiled by F.S. Smith and Seachet. The analysis also showed that black citizens made up only about 2.4% of the public that actually stopped an Asian person, while Asian individuals made up 5.2% of all officers that looked into a vehicle for police, and was even more likely to be stopped without incident. The data showed that black citizens, without any other race, made up an insignificant fraction of that public who stopped an Asian person and black citizens who were stopped with any race. This result is a major surprise, given other studies of traffic stops have shown disparities, and the researchers admit their conclusions are based off of data with little support. When it comes to policing, the researchers think racial profiling might be more accurate than the government figures indicate, but then again they’ve never heard of a racial profiling study published. In fact, they’d argue that even if they made up their statistics they often overestimated the actual prevalence of racial bias, based on the racial profiling data. In this case, the analysis found that over the same 24 months of 2010-2014, 38% of the traffic stops for white individuals were racially based. This is not surprising given the data, but it is far less surprising given the fact that only 39% of the traffic stops for black American individuals were racial based on the survey data. This result is surprising because the federal government admits that racial profiling is a problem, yet it doesn’t address the obvious need for federal agency to fully address its own policy problems with the police. While there is no way to get any clearer about the true incidence of race-based misbehavior that exists in New Delhi, it is clear black citizens have a special place in the national psyche. The report also shows that African Americans have not always been under the influence of police-like policies and practices from the early 1900s. However, the gap widened with the rise of the automobile and the emergence of the first national police force. In New Delhi, blacks were not under the control of any governmental agency during the decade, and those with access to a high-speed telephone or video recorder were treated equally, as are non-black non-Hispanic whites, minorities or immigrants. In 2008, the percentage of African American drivers who refused to open their phones to police was 27%, and the percentage of non-African American drivers who refused to answer questions about the telephone was only 12%. Though the black population increased dramatically for the
A new study finds that black citizens are nearly five times more likely to be stopped for traffic violators. The researchers, led by researchers Michelle F. Smith and Peter Seachet, a graduate student in the Graduate School of Political Science and Social Sciences at Emory University, used a database of state and local police departments’ racial profiling incidents from 2011 to 2015 to identify black traffic arrestees by race from all 50 jurisdictions. Based on the report and other studies of the problem, F.S. Smith and Seachet, and colleagues estimate that 90% of the traffic stops were due to racial profiling, and 50.7% of the time was due to racial profiling. The data was compiled by F.S. Smith and Seachet. The analysis also showed that black citizens made up only about 2.4% of the public that actually stopped an Asian person, while Asian individuals made up 5.2% of all officers that looked into a vehicle for police, and was even more likely to be stopped without incident. The data showed that black citizens, without any other race, made up an insignificant fraction of that public who stopped an Asian person and black citizens who were stopped with any race. This result is a major surprise, given other studies of traffic stops have shown disparities, and the researchers admit their conclusions are based off of data with little support. When it comes to policing, the researchers think racial profiling might be more accurate than the government figures indicate, but then again they’ve never heard of a racial profiling study published. In fact, they’d argue that even if they made up their statistics they often overestimated the actual prevalence of racial bias, based on the racial profiling data. In this case, the analysis found that over the same 24 months of 2010-2014, 38% of the traffic stops for white individuals were racially based. This is not surprising given the data, but it is far less surprising given the fact that only 39% of the traffic stops for black American individuals were racial based on the survey data. This result is surprising because the federal government admits that racial profiling is a problem, yet it doesn’t address the obvious need for federal agency to fully address its own policy problems with the police. While there is no way to get any clearer about the true incidence of race-based misbehavior that exists in New Delhi, it is clear black citizens have a special place in the national psyche. The report also shows that African Americans have not always been under the influence of police-like policies and practices from the early 1900s. However, the gap widened with the rise of the automobile and the emergence of the first national police force. In New Delhi, blacks were not under the control of any governmental agency during the decade, and those with access to a high-speed telephone or video recorder were treated equally, as are non-black non-Hispanic whites, minorities or immigrants. In 2008, the percentage of African American drivers who refused to open their phones to police was 27%, and the percentage of non-African American drivers who refused to answer questions about the telephone was only 12%. Though the black population increased dramatically for the
A new study finds that black citizens are nearly five times more likely to be stopped for traffic violators. The researchers, led by researchers Michelle F. Smith and Peter Seachet, a graduate student in the Graduate School of Political Science and Social Sciences at Emory University, used a database of state and local police departments’ racial profiling incidents from 2011 to 2015 to identify black traffic arrestees by race from all 50 jurisdictions. Based on the report and other studies of the problem, F.S. Smith and Seachet, and colleagues estimate that 90% of the traffic stops were due to racial profiling, and 50.7% of the time was due to racial profiling. The data was compiled by F.S. Smith and Seachet. The analysis also showed that black citizens made up only about 2.4% of the public that actually stopped an Asian person, while Asian individuals made up 5.2% of all officers that looked into a vehicle for police, and was even more likely to be stopped without incident. The data showed that black citizens, without any other race, made up an insignificant fraction of that public who stopped an Asian person and black citizens who were stopped with any race. This result is a major surprise, given other studies of traffic stops have shown disparities, and the researchers admit their conclusions are based off of data with little support. When it comes to policing, the researchers think racial profiling might be more accurate than the government figures indicate, but then again they’ve never heard of a racial profiling study published. In fact, they’d argue that even if they made up their statistics they often overestimated the actual prevalence of racial bias, based on the racial profiling data. In this case, the analysis found that over the same 24 months of 2010-2014, 38% of the traffic stops for white individuals were racially based. This is not surprising given the data, but it is far less surprising given the fact that only 39% of the traffic stops for black American individuals were racial based on the survey data. This result is surprising because the federal government admits that racial profiling is a problem, yet it doesn’t address the obvious need for federal agency to fully address its own policy problems with the police. While there is no way to get any clearer about the true incidence of race-based misbehavior that exists in New Delhi, it is clear black citizens have a special place in the national psyche. The report also shows that African Americans have not always been under the influence of police-like policies and practices from the early 1900s. However, the gap widened with the rise of the automobile and the emergence of the first national police force. In New Delhi, blacks were not under the control of any governmental agency during the decade, and those with access to a high-speed telephone or video recorder were treated equally, as are non-black non-Hispanic whites, minorities or immigrants. In 2008, the percentage of African American drivers who refused to open their phones to police was 27%, and the percentage of non-African American drivers who refused to answer questions about the telephone was only 12%. Though the black population increased dramatically for the
Racial profiling can also involve pedestrian stops, “gang” databases, bicycle stops, use of police attack dogs, suspicion at stores and malls, immigration worksite raids, and in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, harassment on the way to polls, “voting while black or brown”. Customs and other airport officials also engage in racial profiling of passengers. (Read more about different kinds of racial profiling.)
Tens of thousands of innocent drivers, pedestrians, and shoppers across the country are victims of racial profiling. And these discriminatory police stops and searches have reached epidemic proportions in recent years – fueled by the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terror” that have given police a pretext to target people they think fit a “drug courier,” “gang member,” or “terrorist” profile. In fact, racial profiling is the first step in a long road that leads to the heavily disproportionate incarceration of people of color, especially young men, for drug-related crimes, and of Arabs, Muslims and South Asians for suspicion of terrorism. This despite the fact that people of color are no more likely than whites to use or sell drugs, and