Racial Profiling

[-Barista-]

In my class we read two articles on racial profiling. One against and semi-for that argued racial profiling isn't completely a bad thing.

The main argument used was

sometimes it makes sense to include race or national origin in a larger criminal profile, particularly if you're dealing with a crime that has already been committed or is ongoing and the participants all come from a single ethnic or racial group.

What are your views on racial profiling?

also, a link to her full article.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/LindaChavez/2002/01/09/everything_isnt_racial_profiling

and yes I noticed I spelled profiling wrong.

[devonin]

Re: Racial Profiling

I think the main thing that needs to happen is that the term 'racial profiling' needs to have a much stricter and specific definition than it seems to have in common usage.

If witnesses report a suspect as belonging to a specific racial group, it would be poor law enforcement to a) not question people of that group or b) make sure you question people of other racial groups.

In the wake of the wake of 9/11, when the fervor to assume all middle eastern people were terrorists died down, and ridiculous political correctness crept in, it seemed to be the case that every 80 year old little white woman was getting searched dutifully, and nobody would ever dare look twice at a 20-40 year old middle eastern man with a foreign passport for fear that they'd be accused of "racial profiling."

I don't look middle eastern by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't quite look typically white (I inherited at least some of my father's southern Italian skin tone) and I've always worn a goatee if not a beard, and in all fairness, my driver's lisence photo looks like I'm a serial killer on the loose. As such, virtually every time I've crossed a national border the car I've been in has been set out for searching, or my luggage has been subject to some closer scrutiny.

I'm aware that physically at least, I meet a number of the criteria for profiles they are looking out for, so I completely don't begrudge them the inconvenience I'm almost always subjected to. I mean, they're using only inductive logic, and not deductive logic, but if basically all successful terrorists on airlines were middle eastern, and some number of apprehended terrorists were also middle eastern as opposed to being notably from another racial group, I fail to see anything "wrong" with concluding that "It is more likely that middle eastern people are apt to be terrorists, so we'll pay more attention to suspicious looking middle eastern people"

The whole point of a profile is that it indicates generally the type of person who fits the criteria for that profile. If most serial killers are 20-39 year old, single white men; and most airline terrorists are 25-40 year old single arab men, how is it good policing in one case and evil racial profiling in another?

[dore]

Re: Racial Profiling

Racial profiling has a place, because in many instances there's a good reason behind it, as referenced in Devonin's post. Extreme cases, of course, should not happen, such as with a local case a few years ago where our county sheriff would not stop white drivers speeding but would ticket any hispanic going any amount over the speed limit. But cases like those are pretty isolated and are fueled by ignorant racism, while racial profiling (such as airport security) is based on facts and probability.

[devonin]

Re: Racial Profiling

But cases like those are pretty isolated and are fueled by ignorant racism, while racial profiling (such as airport security) is based on facts and probability.

This is the distinction I was looking for but didn't really state properly in my post. I mean there's some Venn Diagram action happening here, where there's overlap between racial profiling and racism. That overlap is somethign problematic that we should work to get rid of, but that doesn't mean that racial profiling as a concept is necessarily bad in itself.

I guess more to the point: "Criminal profiling" often includes race. That isn't the same thing as "Racial profiling"

[Sullyman2007]

Re: Racial Profiling

It makes perfect sense to assume that a person who displays characteristics of a specific criminal background should be more subject to a search, rather than the other guy standing behind him in line for for the metal detector who dosen't look anything like what authorities may be looking for.

[jewpinthethird]

Re: Racial Profiling

I think the practice of Racial profiling is wrong. It doesn't have it's place. It's disguised racism. It's the discrimination of a group of people because of their physical features. Racial profiling is just a bandage on top of a festering wound. It won't solve any problems on it's own.

Does a person commit a crime simply because their skin is a certain color or because their nose is big or because they have really thick eyebrows? No. One's race is not a factor in whether or not a person commits a crime (unless, of course, it is a hate crime, which is an entirely separate argument). The term "race" is merely a certain set of physical traits (mainly skin color, hair, and eye shape) that we attribute to certain cultures.

Out of respect for Godwin's Law, I won't say what I was going to say, but racial profiling is really popular in fascist states.

If most serial killers are 20-39 year old, single white men; and most airline terrorists are 25-40 year old single arab men, how is it good policing in one case and evil racial profiling in another?

For one, Arabs only became high risk "hi-jack" suspects after 9/11/2001. Statistically speaking, there are a lot more serial killers than there are airline hi-jackers, therefore, you can't really compare the two. Also, a serial killer is someone who has already committed a crime and an airline hi-jacker is merely a hypothetical-evil lurking among the masses. It's the difference between catching a criminal and "preventing a crime."

[Sullyman2007]

Re: Racial Profiling

Does a person commit a crime simply because their skin is a certain color or because their nose is big or because they have really thick eyebrows? No. One's race is not a factor in whether or not a person commits a crime (unless, of course, it is a hate crime, which is an entirely separate argument). The term "race" is merely a certain set of physical traits (mainly skin color, hair, and eye shape) that we attribute to certain cultures.

People don't commit crimes because of their skin color. They commit crimes because of how they we're raised. A person that lives in a segregated suburban neighbourhood as a child is prone to living a life of crime. If I had my Public Service textbook I would give you the statistic.

[-Hero-]

Re: Racial Profiling

i

It makes perfect sense to assume that a person who displays characteristics of a specific criminal background should be more subject to a search, rather than the other guy standing behind him in line for for the metal detector who dosen't look anything like what authorities may be looking for.

I dont agree with this at all. For one anyone is capable of committing any sort of crime, race has nothing to do with it. Second your're stereo typing the race by assuming that he/she will have a weapon or drug for that matter on him. In my opion that is racist

[devonin]

Re: Racial Profiling

Er "but its racist" is the basic objection to the concept, and one that was being -addressed- in Sullyman's post.

"a person who displays characteristics of a specific criminal background" could mean many things. This is primarily an appeal to statistics rather than any kind of actual racial prejudice.

Whatever conclusions you -want- to draw from the numbers, the numbers back up a reasonable amount of racial profiling in some circumstances.

I'm assuming for the sake of the discussion that we're all talking about the -general- use of racial profiling? Like...in places like airport security or police stopping suspicious people generally, rather than the specific case of "We're looking for criminal X, who was described as being A, B, C" Because if you want to object to the stopping and questioning of 6 foot tall white men, or 5 and a half foot tall black women when you're looking for criminals who have been explicitly described as meeting those parameters (Which MANY people classify as racial profiling and seem to think is a bad thing) then all you're doing is handicapping the ability of police and other authorities to actually do their job.

[Sullyman2007]

Re: Racial Profiling

Devonin's forth paragrph is pretty much what I ment. Sorry for being a bit blunt before. Yes I do think that racial profiling makes it alot more difficult for the authorities to do their job. How are they supposed to catch a wanted serial killer who is x feet tall with y colored skin if they are affraid of being called out for racism? I think they should be able to do their job without the fear of someone calling them out for racism.