Racial+Profiling

= **RACIAL PROFILING** =

1) Define racial profiling.
The reaction by law enforcement officers to potential suspects based solely on their race or ethnicity. In the area of traffic and other stops, police have been accused of engaging in pretextual stops based on racial profiling, in which persons are stopped for traffic violations by police who have stereotyped them as more serious law violators based on their race and ethnicity.

2) Is racial profiling legal in the United States? Why/why not?
Racial profiling is illegal in the United States because it is wrong to excuse people just by their color of their skin and race.The nationality of someone is not legitimate enough for probable cause.

3) Would it be racial profiling if a police officer, after hearing a report that an Hispanic male just committed a purse snatch, stopped 3 Hispanic males going in to a 7-11? Why/why not?
Yes it would be racial profiling because you just can’t assume that their going to commit a crime just on their ethnicity. It is wrong.

4) According to studies, does racial profiling occur as often as people think? Explain.
Yes because racial profiling is getting bigger each new generations in our society. I would hope that it will go away little by little in the near future.

5) What recommendations have been made to law enforcement agencies to change perceptions of racial profiling?
Police can offer legitimate reasons for stops as it has been shown that people are more likely to cooperate if they are informed of the reason. Another way to stop racial profiling is to require police to attend sensitivity training. In 2003, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) settled a three-year lawsuit by agreeing to put an end to traffic stops as a means to search for drugs.

6) Discuss the Kolender et al. v Lawson case and its impact on racial profiling.
Between 1975 and 1977 Edward Lawson a tall, long-haired, muscular black man was stopped 15 times by police in California. As a result he was arrested five times, convicted once, and spent several weeks in jail just because he refused to identify himself. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled in Lawson’s favor, which paved the way for ending racial profiling throughout the 20 th century.