Racial profiling Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Racial profiling - Coursework Example Indeed, it has been increasingly common in light of the perceived threats to the population by Islamic terrorists. Thus, in airplanes, Islamic-looking individuals are subjected to inspections and interviews of an intensity that white people are not normally subjected to. The increasing numbers of crime, and the associations by people that these crimes emanate from race-based communities such as Hispanic communities, are also responsible for the growing trend towards racial profiling. While racial profiling is never really legislated as a policy in its explicit sense, the ever-widening range of methods that a law enforcement officer are allowed to employ allow the use of racial profiling as a legitimate strategy. We now proceed to discussing the costs against the benefits of racial profiling. Those who support racial profiling believe that a utilitarian approach must be taken. The argument is that because it is true that there are crimes which certain racial groups are more predisposed to committing than other racial groups, â€Å"special efforts at crime reduction directed at members of such groups are justified, if not required.† (Risse and Zeckhauser, 2004). This basically means that law and order is a more important consideration than improving racial relations or fighting racial inequality. Because crime has such pernicious effects on society, so the argument goes, the order of the day is to end it. In contrast, those who are opposed to racial profiling dispute the position that some races have a greater tendency to commit some crimes than others. Indeed, in a study conducted, the officers’ behaviour of racial profiling is not supported by any showing that the criminal acts in the predominantly white community were committed by African Americans (Meehan and Ponder, 2002). Of course, the deeper objection to racial