Creating Profiles

Term Paper # 63743

African-American Studies > Racism
Criminology
Ethics

Creating Profiles

An overview of racial profiling in the United States.

1,007 words () | 5 sources | APA | 2005 United States

Paper Summary:

Racial profiling is the use of racial generalizations or stereotypes as a basis for stopping, searching, or questioning an individual. The paper examines this process in the post 9-11 American law system and shows why it is a negative thing.

From the Paper:

"Most important, relying on race as a factor for suspicion violates the first principle of criminal law: individual responsibility. The state's authority to take its citizens' liberty, and in extreme cases, lives, turns on the premise that all are equal before the law (source). Racial generalizations fail to treat people as individuals. As a result, policies that tolerate racial profiling undermine the legitimacy of criminal law."