Racial profiling; a government activity directed at a suspect or group of suspects, is used by law enforcement officers to reduce violent crimes. Even though racial profiling reduces crime, officers should not engage in it for the reason that it is unconstitutional and a form of discrimination against citizens. Racial profiling typically occurs after a traffic or pedestrian stop, in many cases an officer is accused of singling out a person solely because of his or her race, religious attire, or some other form of outward appearance. People are greatly affected by this type of discrimination, living with the fact that every place they go to there is a possibility that they may be stopped and detained for no probable cause.
The fourteenth amendment states in the constitution that all citizens are to be treated equally, any unfair treatment against a citizen is considered unconstitutional and the contrary of the fourteenth amendment. In Phoenix, Arizona a sheriff named Joe Arpaio was sued for using racial profiling against Hispanics. According to CNN reporter Ben Brumfield” The sheriff's office has a history of targeting vehicles with occupants with darker skin or Latin heritage, scrutinizing them more strictly and detaining them more often” (Brumfield). Judge Murray Snow has banned some of Arpaio’s operating procedures and the court’s ruling prevented the sheriff’s office from carrying out some of his policies that amounted to a violation of the fourteenth amendment. The sheriff’s office will no longer be allowed to use racial profiling to make any law enforcement decisions, including stopping vehicles, making detentions or holding suspects longer than necessary. Joe Arpaio’s defense attorney Tim Casey was very disappointed by the outcome of the decision and stated, “Neither Arpaio nor his sheriffs have never used race and will never use race in their decisions”.
People are discriminated and victimized by a perception of criminality simply because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. Two democratic lawmakers, Sen. Ben Cardin and Rep. John Conyers introduced legislation that would seek to end racial profiling at the hands of law enforcement. Together the two lawmakers announced the companion versions of the End Racial Profiling Act of 2013, according to Huffington Post reporter Sabrina Siddiqui “The legislation would attack racial profiling by several means, including mandating training for federal law enforcement officials on racial profiling issues, submitting data on all routine and spontaneous investigatory activities to the Department of Justice, providing Justice Department grants for the development and implementation of protocols that discourage profiling, and requiring the attorney general to make periodic reports assessing the nature of any ongoing discriminatory profiling practices” (Siddiqui). Conyers announced the legislation at a press conference and also spoke about the Trayvon Martin case, an unarmed teenager who...
