Reference Information and Sources For Course Materials Instances of racial profiling have been a hot topic within the criminal justice profession for many years, and within the law enforcement community in particular. Reported incidences of racial profiling have been the subject of countless local, state, and federal investigations that have transformed the landscape in which law enforcement officers operate. Racial profiling takes place whenever race is the prime consideration or basis of criminal suspicion, not related to a specific investigation. The controversy over racial profiling is not relegated to the United States. According to Amnesty International in its 2001 report, Racism and the Administration of Justice, incidences where race is the prime consideration in the way in which some law enforcement officers perform their official duties persists in many countries worldwide. What needs to be done is that the law enforcement community should concentrate its efforts on identified incidences of criminal behavior and not on characteristics that involve race, religion, ethnicity, or nationality. The report goes on to list the following five negative consequences of racial profiling (Racism and the Administration, 2001): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Racial profiling undermines enforcement efforts. Racial profiling makes us less safe. Racial profiling is a proven failure in the "war on drugs." Racial profiling encourages hate and undermines national unity. The administration has not kept its promise to end racial profiling. Reference Racism and the administration of justice. (2001, July 24). Retrieved from the Amnesty International Web site: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ACT40/020/2001 Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Profiling The United States of America will forever be scarred by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; however, in spite of this horrific event and the heightened emotions associated with the attacks, Americans and those charged with the safety and security of America and its communities must not fall prey to the belief that the very righteous fight against terrorism is a fight against Arabs, Islam, or any other ethnic or religious group. Ethnic profiling is the use of racial, ethnic, or religious stereotypes in making law enforcement or counterterrorism decisions to do any of the following: • • • • • • Arrest Stop and search Check identification documents Mine databases Gather intelligence Other practices The United States Department of Justice defines racial profiling and provides some specific guidance related to profiling (2003): In making routine or spontaneous law enforcement decisions, such as ordinary traffic stops, federal law enforcement officers may not use race or ethnicity to any degree, except that officers may rely on race and ethnicity in a specific suspect description. This prohibition applies even where the use of race or ethnicity might otherwise be lawful. In conducting activities in connection with a specific investigation, federal law enforcement officers may consider race and ethnicity only to the extent that there is trustworthy information, relevant to the locality or time frame that links persons of a particular race or ethnicity to an identified criminal incident, scheme, or organization. This standard applies even where the use of race or ethnicity might otherwise be lawful. It must also be effectively communicated to the Arab and Muslim worlds that America’s battle is with Islamic fundamentalists that engage in terrorism, not all Muslims. All efforts to prevent terrorism must be grounded minimally in criminal profiling rather than ethnic or religious profiling. Criminal profiling suggests the use of use every legitimate tool available to narrow the list of potential suspects to identify, find, and arrest those responsible for the crimes; to bring them to justice; and to keep them from committing more acts against society. A person’s religion may be one of the factors considered, but not the only factor considered. Beyond criminal profiling, behavioral profiling should be the ultimate goal to prevent terrorist acts. Behavioral profiling focuses on conduct rather than immutable characteristics such as race or ethnicity, while also considering that race or ethnicity could be a factor in a terrorist’s behavior. Normally, terrorist operatives represent small, disenfranchised, disconnected activist minorities within larger populations; although, many members of the larger population may sympathize with the goals of the terrorists and support them logistically and financially. Reference United States Department of Justice. (2003, June). Guidance regarding the use of race by federal law enforcement agencies. Retrieved from http://www.justice.gov/crt/split/documents/guidance_on_race.php "Criminal or offender profiling, also known as criminal investigative analysis, rests on the assumption that characteristics of an offender can be deduced by a systematic examination of characteristics of the offense" (Criminal Profiling, n.d.). This video presents an introduction to the field of criminal profiling. Click here to watch the video. References Criminal profiling. (n.d.). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1323572/criminal-profiling Eugene Matthews. (2012, May 23). Criminal profiling (an introduction) [Video]. Retrieved from the YouTube Web site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B1nnSw-kzg The Oklahoma City bombing and the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center pose questions that still linger: How can brutality of such magnitude can be directed at innocents? How does a civil society simultaneously extol freedom and endure focused hate and oppression? At home and in the expanding global network, ideologies thrive; interests become entrenched; politics become more divisive; and the seeds of oppression continue to grow. Conflicts are waged in covert, nontraditional venues, the conventions reinvented by individuals or groups that will not, or feel they cannot, express themselves in traditional ways. The victims of terrorism, hate crimes, and racial profiling represent groups whose members are attacked because of their social, ethnic, racial, religious, or political status. Typically, the victimization that occurs within this context affects individuals beyond any single incident. The effects are far-reaching and usually long-term, targeting the individual, group, community, and nation, all of whom fear the potential of harm. Addressing this area of political and identity victimization is most elusive, as the unpredictability and scope of these criminal acts is only exceeded by the vast numbers of victims affected. Terrorism Terrorism in the United States and around the world has been on the rise for 40 years. Beginning in the United States in the 1960s, political unrest and anti-imperialist sentiment grew as the Vietnam war escalated. This environment helped to foster an onslaught of terrorism and related bombings and incidents. Victims caught in the midst of violence may have been selected as part of a plan, or may just be unfortunate casualties in the path of a destructive force. Nevertheless, these acts resonate throughout the population and present a challenge to civil society to prevent future victimization. The challenge for today’s criminal justice professional is to understand the antecedents of terrorism and the cultural consequences that are imposed upon the individual and societal victims, to critically evaluate and respond to this new wave of warfare. Hate Crimes Throughout the study of violent crimes, the victims of hate crime represent a critical mass for the justice professional to evaluate and understand. No other criminal act impinges so dramatically on the Constitution's guarantee of freedom as does hate crime. This presentation deals with the distinction of bias versus nonbiased offenses, and how those identified as the minorities of society are victimized by what may be more appropriately identified as oppressive behaviors and attitudes. The resulting fear, powerlessness, and sense of frustration plague bias-crime victims throughout their daily lives. Findings from the 1997 National Institute of Justice study, “Bias and Non-Bias Assault Victims Respondents,” present a clear picture on the impact of bias-based crime on the victim. Racial Profiling Racial profiling and the victimization by law enforcement through the covert use and abuse of policing powers has been a source of ethical debate. Looking at how this disparate treatment affects the victim and the community provides a unique perspective on trust and cooperation, foundational values shown to be primary factors in effectively addressing crime. The case of Rodney King and others have brought to light the inconsistencies and flawed practices in the policing system. It also amplified the need for individuals to come forward so that justice may be served, policies and laws to be corrected, and programs to be implemented to educate police and citizens to prevent public safety from being diverted from its intended purpose. Summary According to Iris Young (1990), To the degree that institutions and social practices encourage, tolerate, or enable the perpetuation of violence against members of specific groups, those institutions and practices are unjust and should be reformed, such reform may require the redistribution of resources or positions, but in large part can come only through a change in cultural images, stereotypes, and the mundane reproduction of relations of dominance and aversion in the gestures of everyday life. (p. 63) Reference Young, I. M. (1990). Justice and the politics of difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
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