In 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Terry v. Ohio (1968), ruled that, even without a search warrant, police officers could search a person for a weapon if they have reason to believe that the individual could be armed and dangerous. However, when police simply use the individual’s race as reasonable cause for search or arrest, the police are employing racial profiling.
Need Help Writing an Essay?
Our team of talented writers is ready to assist. We offer essay writing help in over 75 disciplines, ensuring a convenient and comprehensive solution for all your academic needs!
Get Help Now!State police statistics show that racial minorities have been involved in car stops, searches, and arrests more often than non-minorities. In 1998, a Washington Post article reported that in New Jersey, more Hispanics and blacks had their cars stopped and searched on the New Jersey Turnpike than other motorists. Individual stories continue to illustrate this trend. For example, in 2009, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct after police responded to a call reporting an attempted break-in. Gates had misplaced his keys and was spotted outside of his home, pushing open his door. When police arrived and questioned Gates, he became outraged and accused the police of racial profiling. He was subsequently arrested for disorderly conduct and, almost immediately, public accusations of racial profiling were made. Those who believed that the arrest was due to racial profiling claim that the police would not have assumed that Gates was breaking into the house if he had been a white man. Those who believe the arrest was not due to racial profiling claim that the police officers had a right to question a man trying to push open a door, especially since he had become belligerent with the officers at the scene.
Since the events of 9/11, racial profiling has led to accusations of terrorism and arrests of innocent people. Some people attest that these arrests are appropriate because it is better to err on the side of caution, while others oppose racial profiling because it is a civil rights abuse. Obviously, racial profiling is a controversial issue, and it continues to be at the forefront of questionable police arrest behaviors. Forensic psychology professionals can be instrumental in helping police professionals and organizations deal with issues concerning racial profiling.
• Review the following articles and consider the roles that forensic psychology professionals can perform related to helping police professionals understand racial profiling issues. Focus on the use and value, if any, of racial profiling in preventing terrorism. Think about how the use of racial profiling complies with ethical standards.
• “Interaction Patterns in Crisis Negotiations: Persuasive Arguments and Cultural Differences”
• “Better Unsafe Than (Occasionally) Sorry?”
• “Racial Profiling and Moral Panic: Operation Thread and the Al-Qaeda Sleeper Cell That Never Was”
• “Racial Profiling as a Preemptive Security Measure After September 11: Suggested Framework for Analysis”
• “Profiling Terrorists”
• “Black or Blue: Racial Profiling and Representative Bureaucracy”
• Select at least one role that a forensic psychology professional performs related to issues of racial profiling.
a description of at least one role that a forensic psychology professional performs related to police professionals and racial profiling. Then, evaluate the value and ethics of using racial profiling to prevent terrorism.
© BrainMass Inc. brainmass.com March 22, 2019, 3:17 am ad1c9bdddf
https://brainmass.com/psychology/abnormal-psychology/forensic-psychology-professionals-racial-profiling-608296
Solution Preview
Racial Profiling & Terrorism in Forensic Psychology
Racial profiling, simply put, is the notion that people behave in accordance with their socialization, their ethnicities and their race. Sun (2009) put it broadly as follows – “Racial profiling can be broadly defined as a practice in law enforcement based on the belief that a person’s category membership (e.g., ethnicity, national origin) functions as an indicator of criminal propensity.” For civil liberties advocates, this is discriminative in that race should not be indicative or criminality. Culturally and socially however, social realities and cultural traditions and collective histories of social groups create limitations, ways of thinking and doing and expected behaviors in their membership that statistically have rendered racial or ethnic profiling a useful tool in law enforcement. Racial profiling is deemed contra racial equality in that it looks into ethnic and racial elements to ‘profile’ criminal behavior.
For forensic psychologists who look to the principles of psychology to understand human behavior and motivations, culture and ethnicity is an important foundation in an individual – it shapes …
Get Quick Assignment Writing Help – No Plagiarism Guarantee!
Online assignment writing service website that provide university students with original and quality academic essays, term papers, admission essays, annotated bibliographies, reports, scholarship essays, personal statements, research proposals, research papers, projects, presentations, dissertation, theses, movie reviews, Book reviews, application papers, among others.
Having trouble with a homework question? Our skilled assignment writers are here to provide answers to all types of queries, ranging from fundamental mathematics to cutting-edge rocket science!
