Racial Profiling

Racial profiling - the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime

Much like prejudice, racial profiling has many facets, and not all of them are necessarily negative. For example, there are minor genetic differences between races/rationalities which determine the way that medications work. Therefore, different types of medicines can be given to people of different backgrounds to target and treat their, errm, ailments.

Unfortunately, in everyday lives, racial profiling is most prevalent in the very negative sense – a “…disproportionate number of convicted minorities is due to racial profiling.” Some examples include the process by which passengers are screened in airport security terminals. Some advocate singling out those of Middle Eastern, North African or South-Asian origin, because, allegedly, most terrorists are from those parts of the world. Apparently no has bothered to think about the IRA, ETA, etc.

This issue has come to the fore in light of the 9/11 attacks and fears of further terror acts. Critics argue, though, that racial profiling is not effective and furthermore, fails to safeguard the civil liberties of people.

“In Los Angeles in December of 2001, a man of Middle Eastern descent named Assem Bayaa cleared all the security checks in the airport. He was an American citizen and he got on a plane to New York. He had barely gotten settled in his seat when he was told that he made the passengers uncomfortable by being on board the plane. Once Bayaa got off the plane, he wasn't searched or questioned any further. The only consolation he was given was a boarding pass for the next flight to New York. The luggage he had checked wasn't even taken off the plane he was originally on.”

From a psychological perspective, racial profiling on the personal level occurs due to a combination of different factors – inherent as well as socially developed prejudice, stereotypes, as well as the tendency to find scapegoats…all things that we will or have covered.