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Joshua Garcia

Ms. Sanchez

ERWC, Period 3

14 October 2016

The Avoidable Dilemma

Racial profiling has become a popular topic in todays society. This topic has been

debated whether racial profiling is truly necessary. Due to past incidents and experiences, I

have concluded that racial profiling is not necessary. Also, racial profiling has the possibility of

violating the 4th amendment, which creates conflict in society and around the world.

Because of racial profiling, false accusations and police brutality have surfaced. Two

officers falsely accused an off-duty chief, who was African American, due to racial profiling. The

two officers had no reason to stop Chief Douglas Zeigler and requested a search. NYPD Chief

Douglas Zeigler states that one officer did not believe the NYPD identification he gave him."

This was a perfect example of racial profiling and false accusation. In the situation, there was no

search for a suspect, which doesnt rationalize the unreasonable search made by the two

officers, but just because he was African American, he was stopped. According to Cassidy Pitt,

she explained that, ...racial profiling and discrimination one time can cause a variety of negative

outcomes Cassidy explains how racial profiling can lead to a conflict, which can lead to

worse outcomes. If racial profiling causes discrimination and negative outcomes, then I believe

it is unnecessary.

Another reason why racial profiling is unnecessary is because it violates the 4th

amendment. According to the US Patriot Act article, there tends to be an imbalance between

many of the grey areas of law and human rights. The grey areas this article pertains to would

be the violation of the 4th amendment. The 4th amendment states that, ...[t]he right of the

people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches
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and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,

supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the

persons or things to be seized (www.law.cornell.edu). Unreasonable searches and arrests,

resulted by racial profiling, violates and contradicts the security promised in the amendment.

From the article, Profiling Color, it states that It is perhaps rare that a person acts like a criminal

suspect(Corlett). In this phrase, Corlett shows the realism at work. In reality, it is hard to

depict if a person is a true criminal, but that doesnt mean that racial profiling should be put into

play. I believe that in order to suspect a person, you must have harder evidence than just by the

observation of color. In the end, racial profiling becomes an unneeded approach in certain

situations.

This has become an immense issue because of how wrong and unjustifiable it is. I believe

racial profiling is unnecessary because of the negative outcomes of past incidents or experiences.

I also believe that there are more cons than pros to this issue. Resulting from police brutality to

false arrest, racial profiling has become an epidemic in society and the law department. In

conclusion, I hope for solutions towards this issue because of how avoidable this problem can be.

Works Cited
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Pitt, Cassady. U.S. Patriot Act and Racial Profiling: Are There Consequences of

Discrimination? Michigan Sociological Review, vol.25, no.1, 2011, 53-64.

Corlett, J. Angelo. "Profiling Color." The Journal of Ethics, vol.15, no.1-2, 2010, pp. 21-32.

Natntarajan, Ranjana. "Racial Profiling Has Destroyed Public Trust in Police. Cops Are

Exploiting Our Weak Laws against It." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 15 Dec.

2014,https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/15/racial-profiling-

has-destroyed-public-trust-in-police-cops-are-exploiting-our-weak-laws-against-it/?

utm_term=.c176e0fa755f. Accessed 17 Oct. 2016

By Using An NSL, an Agency Has No Responsibility to First Obtain a Warrant or Court Order

before Conducting Its Search of Records. . "Fourth Amendment." LII / Legal Information

Institute. Cornell University Law School, n.d. Web. Accessed on 21 Oct. 2016.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fourth_amendment