Racial profiling is acting with suspicion towards an individual because they belong to a certain group. In most instances, racial profiling works against minority populations, causing a negative build-up on existing negative stereotypes. While some think racial profiling is necessary, its negative effects outweigh its benefits. In all circumstances, racial profiling should be made illegal.
While one may want to think that acts of racial profiling only affect the victims, the truth is that these acts have adverse effects on the societies they happen in. One of the main effects is causing the wastage of resources that would have been put into better use within the community. Racial profiling is dehumanizing and should, by all means, be illegal in whatever circumstances. To victims, racial profiling is a constant source of stress, which is not healthy and makes victims prone to stress-related health conditions. These effects may not be outrightly pointed in the short term but will always be evident in the long term. No dehumanizing act should be legalized on whatever condition, which makes racial profiling wrong on whatever condition (Legewie, 2016). In the case of George Floyd, for example, his death was a direct consequence of racial profiling. His death was only a result of the fact that racial profiling is dehumanizing, and it was out of being dehumanized that he died.
Racial profiling, in some instances, is considered okay when connected to motor vehicle violations. An officer who was racially profiling is considered to have not done anything legal as long as the profiling is connected to motor vehicle violation. It seems to be a case of the end justifying the means, which makes it all wrong. Whatever outcome officers get after racial profiling does not justify the act. Therefore, there should be a separation of these issues where each should be handled separately and not in connection to another by any means. As a matter of fact, whites as much as individuals from minority groups, are caught up in motor vehicle violations. In fact, Whites are more likely to get involved in intentional motor vehicle violations just because they are aware that the police pay less attention to them since all their attention is unjustifiably concentrated on minority groups they treat as criminals even where they find nothing against them.
Racial profiling is something that should never be heard of during investigations. There has never been prove of connections between crime and belonging to a certain racial group. Justice means that suspects get to either be convicted or set free based on concrete evidence and not on some stereotypes. Racial profile kicks out professionalism, giving room to all manner of assumptions that cause results of an investigation to get defective. There is, therefore no legitimate reason for having racial profiling as part of an investigation. Humans should be treated as humans and with absolute respect in justice systems.
Pro-racial profiling policies have the potential to continually cause deterioration to the community. The economy of a society depends on the minority within a community as much as it does on the majority. When people are aware of policies that racially discriminate against them, they are unwilling to give their best in that society, including talent. There is also a huge likelihood of having them invest in other communities where they feel more comfortable and are assured that their efforts bear fruit regardless of their race. Such policies also may cause individuals who feel discriminated against to live under stress (Glaser, 2015). Stressful conditions are likely to make individuals prone to chronic diseases. If these are the outcomes, processes of getting them treated within the community only eats into resources that would have otherwise been made better use of within the society. Some funds are dedicated to law enforcement, meaning that having racial profiling policies causes some of these funds to be used on a totally wrong ground while they would have been made good use of elsewhere.
References
Glaser, J. (2015). Suspect race: Causes and consequences of racial profiling. Oxford University Press, USA.
Legewie, J. (2016). Racial profiling and use of force in police stops: How local events trigger periods of increased discrimination. American journal of sociology, 122(2), 379-424.
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