Racial profiling in criminal justice: ethics and police accountability

Ethics-CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Details of the Source

When does police mistake become murder?

The Christian Science Monitor,

Date of publication: 04-05-1999,

Summary of Facts

Racial profiling is probably the biggest concern of minorities groups in our country because it has been the cause of numerous injustices against them. Our law enforcement agencies appear to be ruthlessly biased in their exercise of duty as is clear from this article. The author shows that racial profiling has resulted in prosecution and death of many innocent immigrants. The article argues that when death results from irresponsible actions of the police, it should be counted as murder because it violates basic civil rights provided by the constitution to every citizen regardless of color or creed. However it has been noticed that our police would open fire on any immigrant who appears to be a threat. The author asks: "Should the police officer be tried for murder?" when it is clear that his actions were based on irrational fear and bigotry and nothing else.

Imagine a police officer kills a person because it is dark and it appeared the other man, a black immigrant was holding a gun. However on close examination, he found that the "gun" was actually a "cell phone." Shouldn't the police officer involved be given death penalty or life imprisonment? Similar in 1999, we came across the case of Amadou Diallo who was killed by police officers in Bronx area. Diallo was an African-American immigrant who was absolutely unarmed at the time of the fatal encounter. Two police officers fired 41 bullets at him to practically remove any chance of survival.

When such cases surface, we are always reminded of Rodney King tragedy in which a black man was seriously beaten by police officers in LA. Though such police behavior is clearly unethical and unfair, no legislative actions has been taken so far to prosecute law enforcement officers for murder charges. Their behavior is widely condemned and some are even brought to the court, but they normally face federal civil rights charges. In the famous King case, state courts had acquitted the police officers involved before the federal court levied charges against them.

OPINION/SOLUTION

The author believes we must have some laws that would protect us against police brutality. However no such laws have managed to make it to the Senate. William Heffernan, editor of Criminal Justice Ethic, says we need these laws because "There must be a concern for minority misgivings about routine illegal stops and seizures and frisks...The key minority concerns are not about deadly force but about the indignities to their Fourth Amendment rights."(Quoted in the article). Whenever such laws are proposed, law enforcement agencies oppose them on the selfish grounds. They see themselves as "scapegoats" but the truth is that in the absence of adequate laws, we have given immense powers to the police agencies. They can kill anyone at any time for any reason whatsoever. This is not why the police are needed. The author believes that since there are no laws against police brutality, we must make sure that all such cases are at least tried in the court of law. This can have a "restraining effect" on police officers and might protect others from becoming victims of racial profiling.