Department of Public Safety and Racial Profiling

            For the most part, there is a general belief that all men are created equal, and as such, are expected to be treated as equals. This conception influences worldview regarding how people approach racial profiling in the justice system. In identifying strategies to curtail racial profiling in the criminal justice system, focus must be placed on the sources of the problem, discretion of criminal justice personnel, and perceptions. Racial profiling reflects the unjustifiable and unethical implication the criminal justice system imposed either by legal legislation, individual security officer, and prosecutors. As a minority, especially Blacks and Hispanics continue to distrust the legal system, racial profiling remain a major factor influencing minority views of the criminal justice system. Racial profiling is derived from criminal profiling, a technique used by law enforcement according to D.A. Harris (Harris 2002).
             Most complaints of racial profiling are derived from a police officers stop and searches according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The Center, in its 1999 publication claimed Latino in Southern States remained the most targeted groups for police stop and searches. In a recent development in Arizona on April 23, 2010, the state passed a Senate Bill 2010, requiring local law enforcement officers to ask people for their legal status at all stop and searches. The law reflects the state attempt to curb and deter illegal immigration in the state. The enactment of Arizona Senate Bill 1070 could be seen as the State attempt to enforce Federal authority. On the other hand, the State actions can be construed as an attempt to promote racial profiling, especially against the Latinos that are believed to be the dominant illegal immigrants within the state. .
             In a research paper titled Racial Profiling and Criminal Justice, Prof. Jesper Ryberg of the University of Roskilde, Denmark argued against the police used of racial profiling as a law enforcement tactic that help police to target likely criminal (Jasper Ryberg, 2010).