Racial Profiling
About 32 million Americans have been victims of racial profiling.
Racial profiling of African Americans and Latinos is widespread.
A 2006 report by the U.S. Department of Justice found that among young, male drivers, police were significantly more likely to carry out some type of search on African Americans (22 percent of drivers stopped) and Latinos (17 percent) than whites (eight percent).3 Another survey found that African Americans and Latinos were three times more likely than whites to experience force or threat of force during a police stop.4 An August 2005 study in Rhode Island found that minority drivers were twice as likely to be searched during a traffic stop as white drivers—but were less likely to be found with contraband.5 A 1999 investigation revealed that fully three-fourths of the cars searched by New Jersey state troopers were driven by African Americans or Latinos.6
In the aftermath of September 11, racial profiling of Arabs and South Asians has increased.
Over 8,000 Arab men were questioned after the September 11 attack, but this did not lead to the arrest of any suspected terrorists.7 Arab Americans are three times more likely than whites to have experienced racial profiling since the attacks.8 Nearly three-quarters of Arab Americans report that they have experienced discrimination more frequently since September 11.9 Many Arabs and South Asians have been asked to leave airplanes for no reason other than their appearance. In addition, many Sikh Americans have been asked to remove their turbans in airports—a violation of their religious freedom.10
Until recently, few states or federal agencies collected data on racial profiling.
The U.S. Department of Justice first issued voluntary guidelines for collection of racial profiling data in 2000. At least 27 states collect such data today.11
States must end racial profiling to build trust between law enforcement agencies and communities of color.
Policymakers typically underestimate the burden placed on innocent people stopped by law enforcement officers because of racial profiling. These incidents alienate communities, lead to a reasonable fear of police officers, and undermine law enforcement’s ability to solve and reduce crime. Polls have shown that African Americans have significantly less favorable views of local and state law enforcement than whites, and that dissatisfaction with police behavior is twice as high among African Americans as among whites.12
In recent years, states have taken action against racial profiling.
In 2006, Maryland extended a study of information on traffic stops to determine the extent and severity of racial profiling within that state. In 2005, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Montana, New Jersey and Tennessee adopted or strengthened racial profiling laws. Twenty-seven states (AK, AR, CO, CT, FL, IL, KS, KY, LA, MD, MA, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NC, OK, OR, RI, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WV) now have laws that require law enforcement agencies to collect information, including the race and gender of each driver stopped by police, and what actions were taken. New Jersey makes racial profiling illegal and collects data on traffic stops by state troopers, but not other law enforcement agencies. In addition, governors in Kentucky, Wisconsin and Wyoming have issued executive orders that ban racial profiling, and police in other states collect traffic stop data voluntarily.13
Endnotes
- Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, “Wrong Then, Wrong Now: Racial Profiling Before and After September 11, 2001,” February 2003.
- Amnesty International and New California Media, “Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domestic Security, and Human Rights in the United States,” 2004.
- U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police,” June 2006.
- U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Contacts between Police and the Public: Findings from the 2002 National Survey,” April 2005.
- American Civil Liberties Union, “The Persistence of Racial Profiling in Rhode Island: An Update,” August 2005.
- Chad Thevenot, “Crises of the Anti-Drug Effort, 1999,” Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, 1999.
- American Civil Liberties Union, “The USA PATRIOT Act and Government Actions that Threaten our Civil Liberties,” 2003.
- “Threat and Humiliation: Racial Profiling, Domestic Security, and Human Rights in the United States.”
- Bendixon and Associates, “Multilingual Poll of Arab, Iranian and Pakistani Americans on President Bush’s Iraq Policy and Post-9/11 Discrimination,” August 26, 2004.
- American Sikh Council, “Your Sikh Neighbors,” 2001.
- Racial Profiling Data Collection Resource Center at Northeastern University.
- U.S. Department of Justice, “A Resource Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collection Systems: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned,” November 2000.
- Racial Profiling Data Collection Resource Center at Northeastern University.
Updates