WHY RACIAL PROFILING IN LAW ENFORCEMENT IS INEFFECTIVE
Martin Luther King had a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood, live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” These words of a visionary and an activist, Martin Luther King, point out the pain-staking effects that racial discrimination not only on the American society but on the entire human race. Racism is a vice that the society has tried to stump out but unluckily enough is still dealing with. It stretches its arms right from the developing nation into the heart of the developed worlds. Its poison has found a way to the core of our societal norms, our justice system and most notably our political systems. Politicians play this card more diligently and better than most. It is a sharp tool they use to divide and conquer.
The sad story of Trayvon Martin says it all, a 17 year-old African American boy shot dead in cold blood by George Zimmerman (white) for the simple reason that he looked “suspicious” wore a hooded sweatshirt and walked slowly. Outrageous does not begin to explain the depth of this injustice, however angle one chooses to look at it from. As if this is not enough the response of the Sanford Police who had received Zimmerman’s 911 call indicating the above allegations (he looked “suspicious”, wore a hooded sweatshirt and was walking slowly) goes to show just how flawed the system of justice is, and how inclined it is to favor a certain group of people in this case and countless others-white people.
Moreover, in the 90s there was the case of Maryland police against African- American motorists along the highways. Eventually both parties agreed the importance of treating motorists equally irrespective of race with dignity under law since racial profiling is illegal and demoralizes safety in the wider society. Racial profiling is ‘politically incorrect’, ‘racially insensitive’ as it is a destructive, inefficient and ultimately ineffective law enforcement technique. Should any member of a racial group be profiled by law enforcement just because statistics indicate that the group is more likely to commit certain crimes? Certainly not as this method of combating, terrorism, drug trafficking and crime in general has more often than not proven ineffective and a huge hindrance in legal investigations.
An ACLU lawsuit unearths that police data indicated that while 73 percent of suspects pulled over on a 1-95 in a period of two years (1995-1997) show that black suspects are no more likely to actually have drugs or illegal weapons in their cars than white suspects. Racial profiling may give the police enforcers more suspects, but in truth research shows that the more time spent catching suspects based on their racial profiles, reduces their effectiveness in doing their job. The human rights …