Racial and Ethnic Profiling Gang Violence

According to the National Gang Center’s (2011) National Youth Gang Survey, the majority of gangs are comprised of non-white minorities, especially Hispanic/Latino (46 percent of all gang members) and African American (35 percent of all gang members). Because of these statistics, law enforcement has been tempted to rely on racial profiling to fight gang formation, reduce gang membership, and control gang-related crimes. As tempting as it may be to rely on ethnic or racial strategies in law enforcement, these shortcuts undermine the fundamental principles of the criminal justice system.
The use of racial and ethnic profiling and related techniques is illegal as well as unethical, presenting clear procedural justice problems for law enforcement departments that use these tactics (American Bar Association, n.d.). Using racial and ethnic strategies threatens to undermine public trust in, and the credibility of, law enforcement. Racial and ethnic strategies also defeat the purpose of more effective methods that can be used in the long-range fight against gangs, such as community policing. Strategies that are ethnically neutral focus on the criminal behaviors, not on the ethnic or racial composition of gang members.
Law enforcement agencies may be tempted to use profiling based on the fact that gangs to tend to reflect ethnic or racial cleavages in the society. However, racial profiling and similar strategies only enhance the underlying reasons why some young people join gangs in the first place such as experiences with discrimination (White, 2008). Thus, law enforcement departments with racial profiling policies run the risk of driving disadvantaged youth to gangs. If disenfranchised young people view gang membership as prophylactic to widespread discrimination in the society, then it only makes sense to pursue an ethnically neutral policing strategy that focuses on how to address the root causes of gangs. Those root causes are certainly complex, but are generally related to the construction of social identities (White, 2008). Thus, gang reduction strategies can use community level tactics such as working with families, schools, and local businesses, to provide at-risk youth with alternative means of forming meaningful social ties.
Law enforcement in communities that have gang problems can and should also forge strategic alliances with residents, improving neighborhood watch programs and accountability that enhances rather than destroys trust. Using racial and ethnic strategies results in both institutional and contextual biases related to procedural justice. For example, any evidence gained from racial profiling can be stricken from the record (American Bar Association, n.d.). Racial and ethnic profiling therefore defeats the purpose of anti-gang law enforcement policies and procedures. Law enforcement should be providing communities with more effective, egalitarian, and ethnically neutral protection to promote public safety.
Criminology theories that best explain gang prevalence in the United States include sociology approaches like conflict theory and strain theory, as well as psychology approaches like identity construction and opportunity/rational choice theory. Sociological theories like conflict theory and strain theory point to structural problems such as income disparity, which promotes anomie and deviant behavior. A lack of respect for the dominant culture due to the persistence of discrimination, plus the dichotomies between the American Dream and the actual ability to fulfill that dream, can also lead to the breakdown of social norms and social ties. A gang is a substitute for the social ties necessary for support, cohesion, and identity. From a psychological perspective, individuals choose to become gang members because it presents them with some genuine opportunities for financial or social advancement, opportunities that may be unavailable through legitimate or prescribed means. Gang membership also provides a cohesive identity that is otherwise difficult to form in the midst of social upheaval or community disorganization. Therefore, theories that combine both sociological and psychological perspectives best explain the complexity of gang membership and associated criminal behaviors.




References

American Bar Association (n.d.). Report to House of Delegates Commission on Immigration, Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity. https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publishing/criminal_justice_section_newsletter/crimjust_policy_am08104c.authcheckdam.pdf
National Gang Center (2011). National youth gang survey analysis. https://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Survey-Analysis/Demographics
White, R. (2008). Disputed definitions and fluid identities. Youth Justice 8(2): 149-161.