Racial Profiling in Traffic Stops: Law, Evidence & Reform

Introduction to Racial Profiling

Racial profiling is generally defined as the practice of law enforcement stopping a vehicle — not based on an infraction of highway safety laws, but because of the driver's ethnicity or race. This paper reviews and critiques the instances in which racial profiling takes place, what the law requires in terms of justifications for a traffic stop, and the legislation that is in place regarding racial profiling on the highways.

There may be a number of reasons why a particular driver is stopped. The officer may suspect that the driver is involved in illicit drug trade, for example, or perhaps the driver appears nervous. In some cases the person driving the vehicle does not "fit the type of vehicle they occupy," according to author Steven J. Muffler (Muffler, 2006, p. 2). An example of a driver not fitting the type of car they are driving would be, Muffler writes, "…a young black male in an expensive car" (2). There are other justifications that police use to stop motorists — especially if the driver is African American, Latino, or Muslim — that are addressed throughout this paper.

Studies that have tried to measure the extent of racial profiling in a particular region of the country have been "for the most part methodologically flawed," Muffler writes. The General Accounting Office (GAO) reports that "different groups may have been at different levels of risk for being stopped" not necessarily because of the color of their skin or their ethnicity. They may be stopped because "…some racial/ethnic groups may commit more traffic violations such as speeding, tailgating, or having faulty equipment than other groups" (Muffler, 3).

While that may sound like a bureaucratic rationalization to some critics of racial profiling, there is no doubt that some drivers are pulled over simply because of their race or ethnicity. In particular, since the terrorist attacks of 2001, Muslim Americans have been profiled by law enforcement on the highways and elsewhere. Muffler writes that most Americans in polls leading up to 2001 disapproved of racial profiling. However, after the 9/11 attacks, a majority of Americans favored "…requiring Arabs, including those who are U.S. citizens, to undergo special, more intensive security checks before boarding U.S. airplanes" (Muffler, 6). A poll cited by Muffler showed that a majority of Americans would require Muslims to carry a special identification card. Another poll — taken between October 21 and November 25, 2002 by Cornell University — found that 68% favored using racial profiling "as a tool to fight terrorism" (Muffler, 6).

Profiling Muslims has its drawbacks, however. Muffler explains that 63% of the three million Arab Americans were born in the United States, and moreover, the physical appearance of a Muslim adult can vary a great deal. They may have blue eyes, white skin, and blond hair, or dark hair and dark skin with brown eyes. There are an estimated six million Muslims in the U.S., and the largest group among them is African American, Muffler continues (7).

Muffler (7) points to the specific arguments that civil rights advocates use to assert that racial profiling is unconstitutional. First, the Fourth Amendment protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures. Second, the Fifth Amendment protects citizens against discrimination by federal law enforcement officers based on "race, ethnicity, or national origin." Third, the Fourteenth Amendment provides "equal protection of the laws" (Muffler, 7).

There are extreme cases of racial profiling, such as the case of Dr. Elmo Randolph in Newark, New Jersey. According to The American System of Criminal Justice, Randolph, an African American dentist, was stopped more than 50 times over a 15-year period. The reason for the multiple stops was that Randolph was driving a gold BMW. Each time he was stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike, the officer would ask the identical question: "Do you have any drugs or weapons in your car?" (Cole, et al., 2006, p. 98). Each time Randolph said no. On one occasion he refused to allow the highway police to search his car, and the officer took his license and "made him wait on the side of the highway for twenty minutes" (Cole, 98). Randolph is quoted as saying, "Would they pull over a white middle-class person and ask the same question?" Following those numerous unjustified traffic stops, Randolph sold his gold BMW (Cole, 98).

Cole points out that police are apparently trained to develop "a sixth sense" — a kind of instinctive skill that allows them to "sniff out situations or isolate individuals who seem potentially unsafe" (98). While leaders in minority communities insist that racial profiling is based on an erroneous assumption that "African Americans and Hispanics are linked to crime or that Arab Americans might be linked to terrorism," law enforcement experts assert that effective police work depends on quick analysis "and that skin color is one factor among many… that officers must consider" (Cole, 98).