Search Results

Selective Use of Police Powers

Moeckli Daniel

in Human Rights and Non-discrimination in the 'War on Terror'

This chapter demonstrates that the law enforcement agencies of all states examined are increasingly relying on so-called ‘terrorist profiles’ to select the targets of their vast array of preventive ... More

This chapter demonstrates that the law enforcement agencies of all states examined are increasingly relying on so-called ‘terrorist profiles’ to select the targets of their vast array of preventive anti-terrorism powers. It argues that profiling practices that are based on stereotypical assumptions that people of a certain ‘racial’, ethnic, or religious appearance, or a certain national origin, pose a greater terrorist risk than others are not a suitable means to identify potential terrorists. Such profiles are both over- and under-inclusive and may shift the attention of law enforcement officers away from what should be their main focus, namely behaviour. Furthermore, by singling out persons for enhanced law enforcement attention simply because they match certain group characteristics, terrorist profiling practices contribute to the stigmatisation and alienation of the targeted groups, which, in turn, may have significant negative implications in terms of their willingness to cooperate with law enforcement authorities.Less

State of the Science in Racial Profiling Research: Substantive and Methodological Considerations

Meaghan Paulhamus, Robert J. Kane, and Alex R. Piquero

in Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings

This chapter reviews substantive issues related to racially biased policing, and discusses how those issues complicate the definition and measurement of the phenomena. In particular, it points to the ... More

This chapter reviews substantive issues related to racially biased policing, and discusses how those issues complicate the definition and measurement of the phenomena. In particular, it points to the notion of the “symbolic assailant” and drug courier profiles associated with the “war on drugs” as early predecessors of the racial profiling problem. It also notes that rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court—particularly in Terry v. Ohio and Whren v. United States—provided the legislative foundations of police profiling. The chapter ends by suggesting the scrapping of the term “racial profiling” in favor of the term “differential stops,” as the latter allows researchers to begin from a neutral and objective position.Less

Racial Profiling

Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen

in Born Free and Equal?: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Nature of Discrimination

Chapter 11 considers the controversial issue of racial profiling. Suppose that being a member of a certain racial group is a useful proxy for, say, an above-average probability that one engages in ... More

Chapter 11 considers the controversial issue of racial profiling. Suppose that being a member of a certain racial group is a useful proxy for, say, an above-average probability that one engages in drug smuggling on transatlantic flights. Is it permissible for customs officers to discriminate against members of this racial group, i.e. by being more inclined to stop and search travellers with this particular racial identity? Obviously, most find racial profiling morally objectionable and perhaps even noninstrumentally wrong. The chapter argues that racial profiling is a form of statistical discrimination; that, like other forms of statistical discrimination, racial discrimination is not moral wrong per se; but that it is often wrong, and for interesting reasons.Less

A Case Study: Racial Profiling

Benjamin Eidelson

in Discrimination and Disrespect

The disrespect-based theory developed earlier in the book aspires to explain what is characteristically and intrinsically wrong about core cases of wrongful discrimination. This chapter considers at ... More

The disrespect-based theory developed earlier in the book aspires to explain what is characteristically and intrinsically wrong about core cases of wrongful discrimination. This chapter considers at length one example of the kind of discrimination that is not necessarily ruled out by the moral demands of respect for persons: racial profiling in law enforcement. The chapter argues that this practice, and others like it, may be troubling on grounds that are fundamentally contingent and hence very different in character. What makes racial profiling morally wrong may not be that it is distinctly unfair, or that it is necessarily racist, but rather that it contributes to a set of conventional social understandings that do unjustified harm. The chapter develops this argument by clarifying the general conceptual distinction between “profiling” and the use of “suspect descriptions,” and proceeds to consider the merits of several different arguments often advanced against profiling.Less

Racially Biased Policing: A Review of the Judicial and Legislative Literature

Delores Jones-Brown and Brian A. Maule

in Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings

This chapter provides an overview of the fundamental constitutional rights that inform the study of race, ethnicity, and policing; the socio-legal background in which these rights are embedded; and ... More

This chapter provides an overview of the fundamental constitutional rights that inform the study of race, ethnicity, and policing; the socio-legal background in which these rights are embedded; and the conditions under which judicial and legislative bodies take to protect them. It contends that the U.S. Supreme Court has been ineffectual in establishing a clear standard on the impermissible role of race as the sole determinant of reasonable suspicion. When coupled with decisions that have expanded the scope of police discretion, these failures make racially biased policing legally invisible in the absence of direct admissions or overt racial epithets by police during traffic or pedestrian stops. The chapter outlines cases that expand police discretionary authority in ways that enhance the likelihood of racially biased policing. It concludes with a discussion of successful settlements of racial profiling lawsuits and an account of legislation that covers data collection on racial and ethnic profiling.Less

The Mathematics of Actuarial Prediction: The Illusion of Efficiency

in Against Prediction: Profiling, Policing, and Punishing in an Actuarial Age

One of the strongest arguments for the use of actuarial methods is the economic argument based on deterrence and efficiency: assuming that people respond rationally to the costs and incentives of ... More

One of the strongest arguments for the use of actuarial methods is the economic argument based on deterrence and efficiency: assuming that people respond rationally to the costs and incentives of policing, using predictions based on group offending rates will result in greater detection of crime. By maximizing the detection of crime, law enforcement will deter the higher-offending targeted population. This is the most efficient allocation of law enforcement resources. A number of able economists are developing models of criminal profiling and demonstrating that using actuarial methods may be an efficient way to engage in law enforcement—in fact, that profiling based on group offending rates may be the most efficient way to allocate police resources. This chapter analyzes the mathematics of profiling, with special attention to the assumption of equal elasticity at the heart of the economic models of racial profiling.Less

Measuring Discrimination

Ashwani Deshpande

in The Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary India

This chapter discusses how economists define discrimination and how it can be measured in the labour market. The primary method is called the ‘decomposition method’, which focuses on the gap in ... More

This chapter discusses how economists define discrimination and how it can be measured in the labour market. The primary method is called the ‘decomposition method’, which focuses on the gap in average wages/earnings between social groups. Through an econometric technique, the researcher decomposes the wage gap between groups in order to determine how much of the gap is explained by differential group characteristics or endowments and how much is due to discrimination. The chapter also discusses the critiques of this method and examines additional new techniques, such as correspondence and audit studies, which are being used to gauge the extent of discriminatory attitudes and their manifestations during economic interactions.Less

Racial Profiling

Sora Y. Han

in Letters of the Law: Race and the Fantasy of Colorblindness in American Law

This chapter examines the problem of legal interpretation in constitutional protections of privacy, including the Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection and due process, and the Fourth ... More

This chapter examines the problem of legal interpretation in constitutional protections of privacy, including the Fourteenth Amendment rights to equal protection and due process, and the Fourth Amendment right requiring probable cause during police searches and seizures of persons and property. It argues that legal interpretations of these privacy rights and the policing such rights delimit both rely on the fantasmatic pursuit of an escaping image, the racial profile, to enforce the universal democratic value of personal sovereignty. The fantasy of colorblindness appears in this doctrinal context as a constitutional gaze that both creates and obscures the racial profile in the imaginative domain of producing legal meaning.Less

The Effects of Racial Profiling: Benefits and Costs

Jack Glaser

in Suspect Race: Causes and Consequences of Racial Profiling

The efficiency and effectiveness rationales for racial profiling are addressed, in terms of both criminal incapacitation and deterrence. Estimating the effectiveness of racial profiling is nearly ... More

The efficiency and effectiveness rationales for racial profiling are addressed, in terms of both criminal incapacitation and deterrence. Estimating the effectiveness of racial profiling is nearly impossible because the offending benchmarks for the commonly profiled crimes (drug possession, terrorism) and the rates at which police are profiling are generally unknown. Consequently, a mathematical simulation approach is employed. In all simulations, racial profiling causes the targeted group (e.g., Blacks) to be incarcerated at a rate that is disproportionate to its relative offending rate. Profiling also leads to greater proportions of innocent minorities getting subjected to policing. With regard to deterrence, racial profiling presents a special case because enforcement is not secularly increased but redirected. Reverse deterrence theory holds that profiling leads to an increase in crime as targeted minorities commit less, and neglected majorities commit more. Collateral effects of racial profiling include loss of real and human capital, alienation, and democratic disenfranchisement.Less

What Is Racial Profiling?

Jack Glaser

in Suspect Race: Causes and Consequences of Racial Profiling

Racial profiling is defined as the use of race or ethnicity, or proxies thereof, by law enforcement officials as a basis for judgments of criminal suspicion and is discussed as a contributing factor ... More

Racial profiling is defined as the use of race or ethnicity, or proxies thereof, by law enforcement officials as a basis for judgments of criminal suspicion and is discussed as a contributing factor to the very high rates of incarceration in the United States in recent decades, particularly due to drug crime arrests. This is accomplished primarily by looking at Bureau of Justice Statistics and U.S. Census data. The data illustrate that, while the overall incarceration rate grew dramatically from the 1970s to the present, the increase has been driven disproportionately by incarcerations of African Americans. Multiple causes are considered for the racial disparities in criminal justice, but crime and survey data indicate that stops, arrests, and convictions of Blacks are disproportionate to their rates of offending. This is borne out by correlational and experimental research that demonstrates racial bias in criminal justice decision-making.Less

Flying While Arab: Racial Profiling in Counterterrorism

Jack Glaser

in Suspect Race: Causes and Consequences of Racial Profiling

A review of the history of terrorism and counterterrorism in the United States is provided, with an emphasis on profiling. Differences and similarities between drug war and counterterrorism profiling ... More

A review of the history of terrorism and counterterrorism in the United States is provided, with an emphasis on profiling. Differences and similarities between drug war and counterterrorism profiling are discussed. Evidence of racial profiling in counterterrorism includes disparate registration and investigation activities for people in the United States of Middle Eastern and South Asian origins. The Justice Department’s exception for national security in its otherwise blanket ban on racial profiling in federal law enforcement has the ironic effect of institutionalizing the practice. Discussion is provided of the precedent for domestic terrorism to be perpetrated by White Christians, and one analysis strongly suggests that profiling allows more plots for these types of groups to become operational instead of just aspirational. Law enforcement experts agree that profiling in counterterrorism (as in other domains) may be counterproductive because it alienates people whose cooperation is helpful to investigations.Less

The Policy Landscape

Jack Glaser

in Suspect Race: Causes and Consequences of Racial Profiling

The American policy landscape vis-à-vis racial profiling is multifaceted and complex, but a pervasive theme is that there is little effective policy that prevents police from racially profiling. ... More

The American policy landscape vis-à-vis racial profiling is multifaceted and complex, but a pervasive theme is that there is little effective policy that prevents police from racially profiling. Explicit bans cannot prevent discriminatory judgments of suspicion that are based on implicit race-crime stereotypes, and because racial discrimination is so taboo in contemporary America, there is a de facto ban in most places. The judiciary has been very permissive of profiling in pedestrian and vehicle stops and searches, requiring only that a legal, articulable pretext be provided. The federal ban on profiling exempts counterterrorism. State laws typically require data collection (although often not analysis or follow-up) but include no remedial measures. Most of the policy traction appears to be occurring at the agency level, with police executives taking initiative to train officers in nondiscrimination, although there is little evidence to date that the types of trainings employed are effective.Less

Shades of Gray

in Against Prediction: Profiling, Policing, and Punishing in an Actuarial Age

This chapter begins by examining one instance of actuarial progress—Manhattan Bail Project—that has benefited poor and minority communities. The Manhattan Bail Project was initiated in October 1961 ... More

This chapter begins by examining one instance of actuarial progress—Manhattan Bail Project—that has benefited poor and minority communities. The Manhattan Bail Project was initiated in October 1961 in an effort to create risk-assessment criteria that would allow judges and magistrates to determine quickly whether defendants could be released on their own recognizance pending trial. The project was largely a response to the plight of poor and indigent defendants who could not afford bail. Because of the project's age, its place in today's literature is generally fixed as the starting point of efforts to reform bail in the American criminal justice system. The chapter then presents a general framework for analyzing the use of actuarial methods. The final section turns to racial profiling in the counterterrorism context to illustrate how the framework can resolve an important issue of national security.Less

Racial Profiling Is Real

Jack Glaser

in Suspect Race: Causes and Consequences of Racial Profiling

Research on racial profiling is reviewed, covering a wide array of methodologies (e.g., anecdotal, historical, survey, correlational analysis, and econometric modeling). The analytic challenges of ... More

Research on racial profiling is reviewed, covering a wide array of methodologies (e.g., anecdotal, historical, survey, correlational analysis, and econometric modeling). The analytic challenges of studying racial profiling are discussed, including the “benchmark problem”—estimating the correct denominator in the equation determining if policing is racially disproportionate. The primary conclusion is that it is overwhelmingly evident that racial bias is operative in policing in many locales, but there are also places and times where it is not evident. Special focus is paid to cases where the data are robust and the evidence is particularly probative, including New York City’s stop and frisk program, consent searches, and customs searches.Less

You Are Not a “Racist”: Destigmatizing Stereotyping and Profiling

Jack Glaser

in Suspect Race: Causes and Consequences of Racial Profiling

This chapter offers basic principles for addressing racial profiling through policy, administrative or otherwise. First is promoting among law enforcement officials an understanding of what gives ... More

This chapter offers basic principles for addressing racial profiling through policy, administrative or otherwise. First is promoting among law enforcement officials an understanding of what gives rise to racial profiling (e.g., stereotyping) and what its effects are (discrimination and potentially reverse deterrence). Next, it is important for law enforcers and policymakers to recognize that implicit stereotyping is not “racism” but an aspect of normal cognition, however undesirable and harmful. Methods for measuring bias in policing are discussed. The role of implicit stereotypes in racial profiling implicates that it will not be sufficient for supervisors to hold officers to a standard of “not intending” to discriminate but to a standard of “intending to not discriminate” and taking steps to meet that goal. Finally, practical strategies for reducing racial profiling are offered, including reducing the types of discretion that promote stereotype-based judgments, reducing officers’ biases through intergroup contact, and promoting monitoring and accountability for biased policing.Less

The Stories, the Statistics, and the Law: Why “Driving While Black” Matters

David A. Harris

in Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings

This chapter describes David Hariss's continuation of the census discussed in Chapter 2 by focusing on Ohio traffic stops. Harris further contextualized the findings by incorporating interviews with ... More

This chapter describes David Hariss's continuation of the census discussed in Chapter 2 by focusing on Ohio traffic stops. Harris further contextualized the findings by incorporating interviews with African Americans who were targets of traffic stops. The chapter then situates racial profiling in the broader context of race in the criminal justice system, outlining legal principles that relate to allegations of profiling and the recourse available to those who perceive unfair treatment. It ends by calling for additional local- and state-level enactment of measures similar to the Traffic Stops Statistics Act of 1997 so that complainants can more readily utilize the host of legal rights available to them.Less

Moving Beyond Profiling: The Virtues of Randomization

Bernard E. Harcourt

in Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings

This concluding chapter argues that the common actuarial tools used by researchers in predicting future dangerousness/violations are counterproductive. Throughout their use of strategies such as ... More

This concluding chapter argues that the common actuarial tools used by researchers in predicting future dangerousness/violations are counterproductive. Throughout their use of strategies such as racial profiling, the researchers themselves produce racial distortion in the prison system. The findings unfortunately diverge from effective crime prevention philosophies, and bias the public's conception of fair and just punishment. The primary means through which racial distortion emanates, the chapter explains, is when a profiled group is less elastic or less responsive to policing. The chapter calls for an embrace of randomization by making justice determinations independent (blind) to predictions of future dangerousness. This orientation simply means that criminal justice should get out of the business of making decisions based on (highly imperfect, and counterproductive) predictions of future dangerousness, and instead (for example) randomly sample from among suspects where there is probable cause.Less