Racial_Profiling

Racial Profiling Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and a fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior (Meeks, p. 4-5). This practice can be conducted with routine traffic stops, or can be completely random based on the car that is driven, the number of people in the car and the race of the driver and passengers. The practice of racial profiling may seem more prevalent in today's society, but in reality has been a part of American culture since the days of slavery. According to Tracey Maclin, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, racial profiling is an old concept. The historical roots "can be traced to a time in early American society when court officials permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to 'take up' all black persons seen 'gadding abroad' without their master's permission" (Meeks, p. 5). Although slavery is long since gone, the frequency in which racial profiling takes place remains the same. However, because of our advanced electronic media, this issue has been brought to the American public's attention. Some consider racial profiling a viable tool to reduce crime. The New Century Foundation, a non-profit organization based in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Oakton, VA, published profiling, racial, color, one, because, person, arrests, american, whites, states, law, issue, enforcement, crime, been, years, statistics, persons, crimes, commit, white, stop, society, simply, same, right, reason, published, people, officials, must, freedom, ethics, civil, believes, article