Racial profiling stated by American Civil Liberties, is defined as the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Racial profiling is commonly known to happen in large cities like New York City. It happens to the most innocent people just from what they look like, and the stereotypes that were created. Racial profiling occurs despite the Constitutional guarantee of equal treatment. The fourth amendment prohibits unreasonable search and seizure; along with that comes the fourteenth amendment which granted all people born in the U.S. citizenship, meaning that no matter the color of skin, they were American and should be treated equal.
That is to say a pro to racial profiling is that it helps with illegal immigration. Law enforcement can stop them to have them show their legal papers saying that they are allowed in the U.S. When law enforcement stops them they can also be fingerprinted and ran through the Federal Immigration Database, if caught for infraction they would be charged with a minor. Another pro is that it can initially prevent terrorist attacks. since 9/11 members of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian have been profiled by airline personnel, federal …show more content…
Ashley Lee states “police officers can decide to pull over over pedestrians who are minorities because they think they are more likely to be engaging in crime.” Thus making minorities more likely than whites to view law enforcement with suspicion and distrust. Another con would be that minorities have the view of ethnocentrism from law enforcement; ethnocentrism is when one race believes theirs is superior over another race. Minorities would then start to believe that is why they are being targeted for no real