Racial Bias and its impact on law inforcement decisions
Racial Bias and It’s Impact Upon Law Enforcement Decisions Many argue that racism barely exists in America today. ... One domain of American society where such racism is overtly apparent is in the domain of law enforcement and criminal justice decision. ... I will herein refer to white and black racism within the domain of law enforcement and criminal justice decision-making as racial profiling. ... Charles Ogletnec, a Harvard Law Professor stated that, “blacks are ten times more likely to be shot in confrontation with the police than whites”(Cassebaum & Haskell, 1997, p. ... Taylor cites specific highly publicized cases of racial profiling. ... Racially disaggregated incarceration rates that measure the number of confined blacks and whites per 100,000 residents of each racial group yield another perspective on the extent of racial disparities in imprisonment. ... Among individual states, there are even more extraordinary racial disparities in incarceration rates. ... Even in Hawaii and Vermont, the states with the smallest racial disparities in incarceration rates, blacks are still incarcerated at more than twice the rate of whites. ... This disparity suggests a racial bias in criminal justice decisions. ... If in fact racial profiling is a reliable indicator that aids police in finding real criminals than why are so many more blacks apprehended yet never incarcerated?