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RACIAL PROFILING :: 09/19/06 Racial profiling is, for obvious reasons, a complex issue. Proponents of the practice argue that statistics are in their favor - because more people of certain races are arrested for certain crimes, a proactive effort against people of those races is justified to prevent similar crimes from being committed in the future. Opponents argue that it is racist - the statistics derive from the inherent racism of law enforcement or society, and they seem to continue only because racial profiling is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the police assume that more black people are committing drug crimes, they will probably continue to arrest more black people for drug crimes, whether it's an accurate belief or not. I am opposed to racial profiling, but for slightly different reasons. Even if it could be proven, which it can't, that black people are actually four times as likely to commit violent crimes as white people, I would still be opposed to racial profiling. Some people might be forced to change their mind on the issue if racial profiling could be proven to be the best policing strategy. I would remain opposed to it, for this very simple reason: I believe that the moral values of living in a non-prejudiced society ultimately outweigh the value of crime prevention, no matter how effective that crime prevention is. When I first expressed this idea to a friend of mine, they were fairly shocked. "You're saying you would rather have people be raped and murdered than have innocent black people arrested every once in a while?" Yes, I would. The thing that people often don't see is that crime and racial profiling both have victims. To say that racial profiling is a viable strategy to prevent harm to innocents is actually to say that you would rather have innocent black people (or Arabs, or Hispanics, or whatever group is in question) hurt than their theoretical innocent victims. And, however harsh this may sound, there are always ways to make yourself less likely to be victimized. There is no way to change your skin color. |