Blessed Unrest Info: \"Blessed Unrest

Blessed Unrest

Info: "Blessed Unrest emphasizes issues pertaining to four different topics:

• Social Justice

• Destruction of the Environment

• Economical Abuse

• Preservation of Indigenous Cultures

After reading Blessed Unrest, you will have learned more about some of these issues and problems that exist in the world that we live in today. Your goal for this paper is to identify a particular issue thast interests you, research and learn more about this topic, and discuss how you see yourself working to make the world a better place through your service experiences, personal, and academic goals. Your paper should be a minimum of 5 pages and follow MLA format. You will also be required to cite at least three scholarly sources such as books, reputable websites, and journal articles."

***I would like ***** to choose the topic of Social Justice. I am a Criminal Justice major. I am trying to work for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). My personal goals are to make the streets safer and fight against the War on Drugs. Also I want to make sure everyone has equal rights and the government treats everyone equal when it comes to laws. I want people to obey the laws.

p. 66

Racial Profiling

One of the lingering debates in criminal justice and the war on drugs is the issue surrounding racial profiling. Racial profiling has been viewed by states and courts as a violation of an individual's Constitutional rights. When a law enforcement officer makes a traffic stop based on an individual's race, presuming that that individual's race is indicative of a crime in progress, then it is a violation of the individual's Constitutional rights and under the Fourth Amendment, the officer would not have reasonable suspicion that a crime was in progress. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution establishes the legal understand and argument against racial profiling. The social question that has been raised around racial profiling is: If racial profiling more often than not results in evidence of a crime being committed (usually drug trafficking or possession of illicit drugs), then is not the protection of the greater society more important than the Constitutional rights of an individual who was not in the act of committing a crime? The answer, of course, is no. No individual, because of his or her race, should surrender their Constitutional rights as a sacrifice to the greater good of society without volunteering to do so. Racial profiling is an abuse of the power and trust instilled in law enforcement officers who have an obligation to protect the rights, property, and well being of all citizens against crime.

Before introducing the definition of racial profiling as defined by the ACLU, it is first useful to understand the concept of race as it is perceived by American society. By the year 2005, approximately 40% of all prison inmates being held in state and federal penal institutions were black (O'Hear, 2009). Given that blacks are a minority in the United States, representing only 12% of the population (O'Hear, 2009), there is a racial disparity in that the remaining 60% of the prison population would represent Hispanics, whites, and other racial categories. This would suggest either blacks are more likely to be engaged in criminal activity than other racial groups in the United States, or that blacks, by virtue of their race, are targeted for arrest over other racial groups. Most states and courts hold that is the latter, and, as a result, have banned racial profiling, and the courts enforce the Constitutional rights of individuals based on stop and search laws without having to directly address the issue of racial profiling.

Racial profiling is rooted in the American perception of race. Alex M. Johnson Jr. (2009) references the one drop of blood rule as the basis in America for determining race. That rule is that if an individual has an appearance of blackness, they are black. If the individual has a black parent, regardless of outward appearance, the individual is black. If the individual has an ancestor who was black, they are black. if, as Johnson says, we look at our American history, we can readily understand how the one drop of blood rule formed the basis for racial discrimination. It is, like racial profiling, racism in its most blatant and ugliest application.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) defines racial profiling this way:

"Racial Profiling' refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin. Criminal profiling, generally, as practiced by police, is the reliance on a group of characteristics they believe to be associated with crime. Examples of racial profiling are the use of race to determine which drivers to stop for minor traffic violations (commonly referred to as "driving while black or brown"), or the use of race to determine which pedestrians to search for illegal contraband (ACLU, 2009, online)."

In a recent Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision, the Court ruled that, ". . . In most circumstances, law enforcement officials cannot rely on ethic appearance as a factor for deciding whether to stop someone suspected of a crime," and went on to say, "because of the growth in the Hispanic population on the region (the San Diego, California area), ethnicity was an irrelevant criterion for law officers to stop a person, unless there was other very specific information identifying the suspect (Carmen, 2007, p. 148)."

Cases that are predicated on race alone often do not withstand the challenge of defense attorneys as regards probable cause and reasonable suspicion. The Supreme Court defines probable cause as more than a "bare suspicion (p. 75)."

Rather, the Court has said, that probable cause is established by "the facts and circumstances within the officers' knowledge of which they had a reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that an offense has been or is being committed (p. 75)."

The question then becomes one of: What is reasonable cause? The courts and law enforcement rely upon court precedents to ensure that probable cause and the test of reasonableness in the traffic stop and/or arrest is met. To understand if that has occurred, the courts look to the information and events leading to the actions taken by law enforcement (Maryland v Pringle, 540 U.S. 366 (2003) (p. 76). The practical interpretation by the courts of probable cause is that the observations and the information upon which the officer or officers act in searching individuals and seizing evidence is based on a 50% certainty that a crime has been or is being committed (p. 77). Probable cause (and reasonable suspicion which holds the same 50% certainty criteria) prevent law enforcement from being accused of using racial profiling as the basis for their actions in enforcing the laws.

Conclusion

As an individual who hopes to pursue a career in criminal justice and law enforcement, I view racial profiling as an unacceptable tool of enforcing law. Racial profiling is a violation of individual Constitutional rights, and it goes beyond criminal justice, to social justice. We are a society that strives for equality of the people, regardless of race or cultural traditions.