Introduction
Minorities have often been victims of racial profiling by law enforcement officers. They receive discriminatory treatment in various instances, for example, while driving, in shopping malls or walking in public places.
The police officers usually stop them and conduct thorough searches on them. In airports the minorities are checked more keenly as the police have the notion that these are the people most likely to commit crimes.
Sometimes the police officers go into their and conduct searches on them. This discriminatory behavior is humiliating, annoying and inconveniences innocent citizens. This discussion explores the extent of unfair police practices on the minorities and how they impact on the victims.
Theories Explaining Racial Profiling
Research has been conducted to explain the issue of disparity in the way the police treat the whites and the minorities. According to research statistics, the police are usually on the minorities than the whites.
The number of minorities stopped on the road for police checks are more than whites, and they usually end up getting frisked or apprehended.
This biased treatment of the minorities by the police happens in all law enforcement agencies including highway patrol, federal agencies, county police, municipal police, highway patrol and Sheriff Departments.
The justification for this discriminatory treatment of the minorities is that according to the national crime data, the minority groups are the greatest offenders and therefore, the police officers have to be more vigilant on them.
That is why most of the times they are the ones being stopped on the road and searched by the police while whites are rarely stopped. Even when whites get stopped, a body search is not conducted on them. The officers just check the necessary documents and allow them to leave1.
Theories have been invented to explain the reason why harsher treatment is meted out on minorities like the blacks and Hispanics. The social conditioning and illusory correlation theory suggests that the police have formed unintentional stereotypes of race towards the minorities. These attitudes make the police to treat the minorities harshly.
The police officers acquire these racial stereotypes from the society as they grow up. They mostly learn these racial stereotypes from the media like newspapers, television, songs, among others.
Therefore, these attitudes and beliefs about minorities affect the decisions that they make at work. The police rely on the race of a person to make certain decisions as they work.
These decisions include whether they should stop motorists or not, whether they should make arrests or give a warning to the offenders, among others.
The police officers may not necessarily hate the minorities but they may draw conclusions from the statistics that show that minorities are most likely to commit crimes.
Historically, the police have been known to have racist attitudes towards the minorities. Before the 1960’s the police departments were racist and rarely accommodated black officers. The black officers were not given equal advancement opportunities as their white counterparts.
Competition for resources between various groups can also increase racial stereotyping. When different races compete for resources or jobs, hatred arises between them and they may form offensive opinions and attitudes towards each other2
History of Racial Profiling
The current hostility that is directed towards the minority groups is as a result of America’s history of slavery and discrimination. Historically, members of the minority groups have been viewed as the greatest perpetrators of criminal activities.
These people have been seen as dangerous and violent and therefore most likely to commit crimes. Therefore, the police are more suspicious and vigilant when dealing with people from these groups.
When the minorities are found guilty, their penalties are harsher than those of the whites. The criminal justice system has been racist and oppressive to the minority groups from time immemorial.
For instance, during the era of slavery, the police were charged with the responsibility of going after the slaves who had escaped and bring them back to the owners.
Another example is that there were laws forbidding Chinese immigrants from owning land in the 1800’s. In the late nineteenth century, minorities suspected of committing crimes were killed through mob justice and these acts were ignored by the criminal justice system. Discrimination and unfair treatment of minority groups was allowed during the era of slavery and the police were supposed to implement that.
Before the civil rights revolution that took place in the 1960’s, the minorities experienced immense discrimination. It was evident in unfair police services distribution, unequal employment opportunities in police departments, disrespect of the minorities’ rights, among others3.
Causes of Racial Profiling
There are several reasons why the police treat minority groups differently. Firstly, the mass media has been a major instrument in perpetuating racial stereotypes. In movies, songs and television, minority groups are portrayed as violent and this makes them to be treated with suspicion.
Mostly, the black men are given roles of violent or bad people in moves. This makes people to form attitudes that the people from minority groups are dangerous and violent and consequently, they are treated more harshly by the police.
Criminal justice officers have biased attitudes and opinions about the minority groups and therefore, they treat them unfairly. Some people still uphold past beliefs that the minorities are inferior and are not entitled to all the human rights.
Therefore, these officers, who include judges, police officers, prosecutors and probation officers, end up making racially prejudiced decisions and conclusions about the minorities.
Impact of Racial Profiling
Racial profiling has negative impacts on individuals and society. The victims feel angry, afraid and humiliated. They also lose trust in law enforcement agencies.
In addition, if these individuals get into any trouble, they are not willing to seek help from law enforcement agencies. The witnesses of such incidents are also affected and they develop negative attitudes towards police officers.
Racially biased policing also has negative impacts ion the nation as a whole. This is because it diverts the attention of law enforcement officers from real threats that could endanger the safety of the citizens.
The perception that minorities are more likely to commit crimes may make the law enforcement agents to be lenient on the whites during security checks.
This can endanger the safety of citizens because as white criminal may be able to go through the checkpoint undetected due to the police officers’ laxity. For instance President McKinley was assassinated by a white who was overlooked during the security check.4
How Minorities Feel About the Police
Due to the racial profiling towards the minorities, they have developed certain perceptions towards the police officers. Most minorities view police officers with suspicion.
They do not like encountering them because they know they will be subjected to racial profiling. They feel that the police officers should stop using their race as a basis for unnecessary searches and arrests.
Many minorities feel anger and resentment for the police officers because of instances where they were harshly treated for no reason. Some even claim to have been arrested and locked up for some time just because of unfounded suspicions based on their race.
The police officers are supposed to be looked at as a source of protection and justice for all the citizens. However the perception of the minority groups towards police officers is that of suspicion.
These people are even afraid to report crimes to the police for fear of being victimized. They also do not trust the police because they do no take seriously incidents where minorities are the victims.
Minorities do not have access to all law enforcement services. Moreover, the police use more physical force when apprehending minority suspects than whites because they believe that the minorities are violent and might resist arrest.
Discrimination of Minorities in Employment
Minority groups are usually discriminated in employment in organizations and even in the police force. Most organizations prefer to employ whites instead of minorities.
Even those who are lucky to secure employment usually face a lot of discrimination at their places of work in terms of promotions and general welfare.
The minorities have fewer opportunities to advance themselves at the workplace. Incase of employee misconduct, employees from the minority groups receive tougher penalties than their white counterparts.
During economic crisis when organizations want to cut down on the number of employees, the minorities are usually the first targets. These people are also more likely to experience sexual harassment at wok.
Minorities also do not have equal opportunities with the whites in accessing labor markets. In some organizations, the minorities are given a less pay than the whites for the same task.
Unfair Treatment of Minorities In Legal System
All human beings have equal rights regardless of their race. However, the current legal system treats minorities unfairly because of their ethnicity or race. Law enforcement officers unfairly target minorities and treat them unfairly.
The whole justice system, from the investigation to the point where punishment is meted out is not fair to the minorities. The decisions concerning the charging and sentencing of criminals are dependent on racial prejudices. Even the judges and policy makers discriminate against the minorities.5
There is racial disparity in the justice system in that minorities are the largest number of people in prison and on death row. These people also get arrested more often than whites.
In addition the minorities are more likely to be stopped and searched and receive a harsher penalty than the whites for committing the same crime. This unfair treatment affects even the innocent minorities.
During traffic checks, the members of minority groups are delayed for longer hours than the whites because they need to be checked more thoroughly.
They are suspected as capable of violating the law on the basis of their race. The law does not provide equal protection to all the citizens as the minorities who are found guilty are treated unfairly and more harshly than the white criminals.
The juvenile justice system is also unfair to the minorities and their processes are racially discriminative. Minorities receive harsher treatment and punishment than the whites in the whole process.
Even if the offences committed are the same, the sentence is not usually equal for the minorities and the whites. The number of minorities in these facilities exceeds that of the whites.
Statistics show that more people from minority groups get arrested than the whites. Even in prisons, the greatest percentage of inmates comprise of minorities.
The criminal justice system is also racially prejudiced as there is a reluctance to employ African-American judges. The justice system puts the minorities at a disadvantage because most of them are poor and can not afford the services of competent lawyers. They also can not afford to pay exorbitant bonds.
Therefore, most of the minority crime perpetrators end up in jail and that is the reason why most of the population in jail comprises of minorities.
Minority groups are mostly low income earners they mostly commit street crime. On the other hand, white-collar crime is most likely to be perpetrated by whites.
Law enforcement agencies are more concerned with street crime and that is why more minorities are in jail than whites. White-collar crime is given little attention and therefore, the perpetrators of these crimes are never identified and tried. This makes it seem as if the minorities commit more crimes than the whites.6
Solutions to Racial Profiling
The problem of racial profiling can be curbed through several ways. Racial profiling should be banned and those found practicing it severely punished.
Information about cases of racial profiling during traffic checks should be kept in order to determine the agencies that practice the vice. Law enforcement agencies should be properly funded so as to acquire equipment like video cameras which can assist in investigating cases of racial profiling.
The police officers should also be sensitized on the dangers of racial profiling and discouraged from practicing it7. A prosecutor was interviewed about the role of criminal justice officials and law enforcement agencies in fighting racial profiling. The following questions were asked:
Do you think the police treat the minorities the same as the whites?
No. the minorities are usually treated more suspiciously and more harshly than the whites. The police officers have the notion that people from minority groups are more likely to commit crimes.
Do you think the police perform their job perfectly?
I think the police spend most of their time and resources going after petty street crimes perpetrated by the minorities and ignore more serious crimes like white-collar crimes. Racial profiling may make them ignore white criminals and put the safety of the citizens in danger.
Do police officers treat people from all races fairly during traffic stops?
Most of the time, the minorities are stopped and searched while the traffic officers may not stop the whites. Checking of the minorities takes time as the police officers conduct thorough searches because they are suspicious of them.
Do you think the current legal system treats both the whites and the minorities equally?
The minorities are arrested and detained on the basis of mere suspicions and when taken to court, they often get unfair trials. The system is not fair to them as they can not afford to pay competent attorneys to represent them.
They therefore end up getting imprisoned even if they are innocent. There is racial disparity in sentencing criminals to death penalty and also the amount money for bail. More minorities are sentenced to death and are expected to pay a higher amount of bail than their white counterparts for the same crime.
How do you think the unfair treatment of the minorities by the police and legal system impacts on them?
When criminal justice officials and police officers make decisions based on the race of an individual, that person’s rights are violated. An innocent person may be locked up and punished just because of racial discrimination. Therefore, these officers should exercise tact when handling all citizens to avoid punishing innocent people.
How can the problem of unfair minority policing be addressed?
Law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice officials should treat all citizens equally and avoid making decisions based on their race. Instead, they should conduct proper investigations and base their decisions on well-founded evidence.
Societal Response
The society heavily criticizes unfair treatment of the minorities by the police. They perceive racial profiling as a violation of human rights. Community groups are conducting research and coming up with statistics about the extent of unfair treatment of the minorities by the police. Members of minority groups are not happy with the disparity in treatment that they receive at traffic check points.
International organizations like Amnesty International are calling for an end to this violation of the rights of the minorities. They are pushing the government to enforce laws which ban racial profiling.
They are also recommending for information to be recorded concerning the search habits of police officers. This will prevent them from delaying minority drivers unnecessarily with lengthy searches. They are also urging the law enforcement agencies to enforce legislation and policies that are against unfair treatment of the minorities by the police.
Conclusion
The problem of unfair treatment of the minorities by the police is rampant in our society. Minorities live in fear because they do not feel protected by the law enforcement officers.
Instead, the police harass them and treat them unfairly as they view them as potential crime perpetrators. The minorities also do not get fair hearings in court.
They are also discriminated during police recruitments. All human beings are equal and therefore the problem of racial profiling violates the rights of the minorities. The government has enacted legislation and policies to put an end to this problem once and for all.
Reference List
Amnesty International. (2004). Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domestic Security, and Human Rights in the United States. Web.
Portis, E. (2001). Racial Profiling: Issues & Solutions. Web.
Schacher, Y. (1999). Evidence of racial bias in legal system. Web.
Smith, M. R. and Alpert, G. F. (2009). Explaining Police Bias: A Theory of Social Conditioning and Illusory Correlation. Web.
Williams, H. and Murphy, P. V. (1990). The Evolving Strategy of Police: A Minority View. Web.
Footnotes
- 1 M. R. Smith and G. F. Alpert. (2007). Explaining Police Bias: A Theory of Social Conditioning and Illusory Correlation.
- 2 M. R. Smith and G. F. Alpert. (2007). Explaining Police Bias: A Theory of Social Conditioning and Illusory Correlation.
- 3 H. Williams and P. V. Murphy. (1990). The Evolving Strategy of Police: A Minority View.
- 4 Amnesty International. (2004). Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domestic Security, and Human Rights in the United States.
- 5 Y. Schacher. (1999). Evidence of racial bias in legal system.
- 6 Y. Schacher. (1999). Evidence of racial bias in legal system.
- 7 E. Portis. (2001). Racial Profiling: Issues & Solutions.