Risse, Mathias, and Richard Zeckhauser. "Racial Profiling." 32.2 (2004): 131-70.

Blackwell Publishing. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.

Mathias Risse is a professor of Philosophy and Public Policy at Harvard. His research
areas include contemporary political philosophy and decision theories. He received his
B.A., B.S., and M.S. in mathematics from Bielefeld and his M.A. and Ph.D. in
philosophy from Princeton. Richard Zeckhauser is a professor of Political Economy at
Harvard. He graduate and earned his Ph.D. from Harvard as well. He was written many
books and researched a lot on ways to promote the health of human beings, to help
markets work more effectively.

Risse and Zeckhauser highlight in their article of why racial profiling is acceptable
although it is often frowned upon. Racial profiling is used to combat crime. Risse and
Zeckhauser rest their debate on two assumptions First, we posit that there is a
significant correlation between membership in certain racial groups and the tendency to
commit certain crimes. Second, we assume that given this tendency, police can curb
crime if they stop, search, or investigate members of such groups differentially.(1)
Leading to their central points of the article in a range of plausible cases, the utilitarian
argument supports police and security measures that make race a consideration in
deciding whom to stop, search, or investigate. Second, under conditions to be specified,
the use of race in police tactics is neither unfair nor does it violate any moral rights.
which I have some disagreement with. I believe that racial profiling is unfair in some

cases, but considering the fact that this article was written in 2004 it makes sense
because racial tension was not as high then as it is now.

Other quotes: Arguments for profiling tend to be utilitarian, but it also has been argued
that if all costs of profiling were acknowledged, utilitarian considerations would speak
against profiling. Non-consequentialist arguments tend to enter the debate by way of
rights- and fairness-based objections to profiling.(1)
The moral problem posed by profiling arises only if measures that appear morally
problematic when seen from other angles (such as racial equality) contribute to the
provision of a public good as basic as security. Otherwise, racial profiling would be
obviously illegitimate.(1)