CRJS420 IP3

Racial Profiling

CRJS420-IP3

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Racial Profiling

One of the most controversial topics in the law enforcement in current society is racial profiling. Racial profiling is when police officers pick criminal suspects in society based on the fact they are from minority group or come from a specific ethnicity. Due to current practices by police the end result has been a larger representation of minorities in the criminal justice system despite the fact minorities only make up a small portion of the American population. While many blame the overrepresentation of minorities on the racial profiling practices of the police this is not the viewpoint of law enforcement. In fact police claim minorities commit more crimes resulting in a higher number of minorities being represented in the criminal justice system.

In order to understand the problem associated with racial profiling it is important to understand the racial disparities contained in the American criminal justice system. In current society 60% of the prison population is made up of minorities even though the represent less than one quarter of the entire American population (Sentencing Project, 2013). The overrepresentation has been blamed on the racially profiling practices of police despite the fact they are trained to apply the law fairly and use ethical decision making when dealing with criminal suspects in society. The bias against minorities has resulted in complaints of more excessive use of force against the minority and a stereotype all minorities are criminals.

The misconceptions developed against the minority, especially the African American, are the result of policies and training practices by police as well as the police culture. For example the drug courier profile was a leading cause for the high number of minorities in the criminal justice system. The drug courier profile involves police being trained to identify the drug dealer by being trained to look for African American men or Latino men wearing gold chains and driving a car that would be too expensive for this particular race. As a result every African American and Latino in a nice car has been stopped by police and searched like they were dug dealers,

The more society labels a particular group in society as criminals or deviants the greater the likelihood they will be treated like criminals by members of society. While police officers are trained to act ethically they are also trained to identify threats in society based on past experience. Once a large majority of criminal in society or that are arrested are minorities it creates a false impression that all minorities are criminals. In order to stop the obvious bias by police they need to be retrained to recognize criminal behavior and not base any suspicion on race or ethnicity.

For example if an African American is driving down the road in a nice car this should not be a reason to stop the citizen but if they have joint in their mouth or the car is stolen then this would be reasonable suspicion. The drug courier profile and other profiles used to select criminal suspects in society create more harm than good. Despite an ethical obligation to treat all criminal suspect equally when one group is targeted the criminal justice is neither equal nor fair. In normative ethics the failure to treat all criminal suspects equally is a violation of their right to justice.

Based on virtue ethics the police officer must have the necessary morals and values to be able to apply ethical decision making. In other words it is the responsibility of the police officer to apply their morals and values to dealing with criminal suspects in society. If the police officer understands it is immoral to select criminal suspects based on race they will select criminal suspects based on a reasonable suspicion. Deontology is a normative theory in ethics focused on the act instead of the individual. Based on deontology the actions of police officers are causing the overrepresentation of minorities in the criminal justice system. If the actions of police are causing the problem then the actions of the police are not good. According to deontological theories, certain types of act are intrinsically good or bad, i.e. good or bad in themselves (Holt, 2009). The act of selecting suspects by race is intrinsically bad.

In normative ethics consequentialism is an ethical approach were police officers would act in a way that ensures the end result has the best consequence. In the case of the police officer the best consequence would be not to look at minorities as criminals but instead to select criminal suspects based on their actions. Without applying ethical decision making to the duties of the police officer the end result will be an unequal distribution of the law. An ethical police officer is capable of following the law and applying ethical decision making to selecting suspects in society.

References

Holt, T. (2009). Moral Philosophy: Normative Ethics. Retrieved June 28, 2013 from

http://moralphilosophy.info/normative-ethics/

Sentencing Project. (2013). Racial Disparities. Retrieved June 28, 2013 from

http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=122