Racial Profiling in the Criminal Justice System

Racial Profiling
Name:
Institution
Racial Profiling in the Criminal Justice System
In the United States of America, the issue on equality has always been at the heart of the society. Dating back to the 1960s when the civil rights movement was intensive in ensuring this profound aspect in society was attained, the gains have indeed come from far. However, while the rights of minorities in general have continued to be addressed and effected, one has entrenched itself into the criminal justice system and threatens to cripple the very gains that were fought for decades ago. From a definitive point of view, racial profiling describes a type of judgment through which law enforcement uses one’s ethnic background and race as the cause to suspect that the person has gone against the law. When it comes to racial profiling, the number of the minority who are at the mercy of law enforcers continues to skyrocket and as such, a course for concern. Therefore, this paper takes an in-depth look at the effect of racial profiling in the criminal justice system and the changes that have and need to be made to address this issue.
While there are many issues affecting the criminal justice system, one may wonder why the writer chose “racial profiling”. The reason was based on two things; the human rights issues involved and the effects that racial profiling has caused. Throughout the 1960s, several Rights and Acts based on discrimination were passed to ensure equality in the American society. There was the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination in employment, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and finally, the 1968 Fair Housing Act (Free, 2003). By threatening these legal acts, racial discrimination in the criminal justice system required to be addressed. The other criterion used for selecting racial profiling was, the degree of the effects caused by the said issue. It is without doubt that racial profi...