Profiling

[FretsOnFireGh2]

1. Cops are looking for people carrying drugs from place to place, and certain ethnicities are more likely to have them then some 90 year old white woman.

2. Police are "racist" and only pick on certain types of people.

Which do you believe? We talked about this in Government class today, and honestly, I can't decide if it's right or not.

Don't know what else to say, discuss.

 

[DropKick Murphys]

It's called rational discrimination. The fact of the matter is that x age and x ethnicity is mostly like to have drugs. Therefore police search them more often than y age and y ethnicity.

 

[mrfreakingpeanut]

There is two sides to everything man, but sometimes I think it's alright. Like dropkick said, the facts speak for themselves in certain cases.

 

[FaTaL Sh0t X]

I think it's wrong because it's stereotypical to say that one person of a certain race is more likley to have drugs than another race.

And I do believe cops do this.

 

[EnlightenMe]

It's called rational discrimination. The fact of the matter is that x age and x ethnicity is mostly like to have drugs. Therefore police search them more often than y age and y ethnicity.

Agreed.

Statistically some people are more likely to have drugs then others.

 

[Schnell]

I think it's wrong because it's stereotypical to say that one person of a certain race is more likley to have drugs than another race.

And I do believe cops do this.

It's not just race. Age, income, attitude, clothing style, etc. etc. are factors as well. Of course it's stereotypical, but it works.

 

[Jeezai]

Discrimination is used because, it works, and is most likely true (if it wasn't true, it wouldn't be discrimination). There's a reason that my city (Spokane, WA) has a significantly lower crime rate than say, Seattle. Roughly 90% of our population is white, not trying to be mean, but that's how it goes.

 

[TobyL65]

I think it is totally acceptable, they would only judge and profile the people that are most likely to have whatever it is, they will have got this from facts. To the people that get wrongly accused, then it is unfair but they will just have to accept it because until drugs are gone there will always be drug related arrests and as profiling is the easiest way to these arrests then it shouldn't be stopped.

 

[Arya]

The concept of discrimination and/or "racism", by some lesser standard, in relation to a certain place in which is more "under the eye" of drugs/guns/ect, is, while immoral, completely logical and understandable.

I take a quote from Dwayne Carter. "Drugs are mostly found in the hood". If drugs are mostly found in a certain place, then it would only be logical to patrol, more than usual, that place, than a place with a significantly less crime/drug rating.

People argue that it's 'unfair', because there are these things in other places that aren't as looked down upon, but it's not unfair. Illegal drugs are 'everywhere', in a certain sense. This is true, and we understand it.

Nonetheless, why accept the duty to get rid of all illegal drugs, prolonging the inevitability of failure, when you can have a better chance of success in going to a place where illegal drugs are mostly found?

It's simple, and like others have said, it works.

 

[megaman 2006]

I agree, it is the best method Police have at the moment of finding drugs, I'm going to go with the side against it for the sake of debating.

How do we know some 90 year old white women wouldn't be carrying drugs?
We wouldn't unless we were to check them. There not a way anybody can say that a certain race does drugs more then another. All we have to go off of is what we think about them, stereotypes. Which morally is wrong, and frankly DOESN'T work. For if it worked, no drugs would be entering the country.

I think of it like this, People A and People B carry the same amount of drugs. A cop stops People B more often then People A, then at the end of the day when he writes up his report, he records he arrested more people B. Therefore in the future it would be smarter to stop more People B then People A.
Although in real life, there are many more factors relating to why one race ends up being stopped and arrested more. But in the end nobody knows if one race carries more drugs then another.

I mean personally, If I tried to smuggle drugs somewhere for a living, I would hire 90 year old white ladies to run them for me. I'm sure many drug smugglers hire people that police wouldn't target as much which would make targeting only certain races work even less.

My main argument is that nobody can know where drugs are mostly found, unless we search every wheres.

 

[Schnell]

How do we know some 90 year old white women wouldn't be carrying drugs?

We don't, we just know that it's less likely.

And stop making this about races.

 

[El DLo]

We live in an over sensitive world where everyone's afraid to get their feelings hurt. Is racial profiling wrong? Yes. But you can't stop and call every hunch racist. If you were a security guard in an airport and you saw a middle eastern man looking suspicious with a trench coat and a metal suitcase, you're going to pull him over and search him. That's not racist. They'd probably do the same if he was white. It's all a relative term that people use whenever they can, and sure, sometimes there are racist connotations, but 9 times out of 10 they're following a very good hunch that is based more on instinct than on race.

 

[megaman 2006]

We don't, we just know that it's less likely.

And stop making this about races.

And how do we KNOW that? Opinion isn't fact.

 

[Schnell]

Why do you fuzz so much over this? Listen closely: Everyone is not equal. Visual clues can give away criminals. All these discrimination martyrs make me sick. Being stopped at the airport while your friend go right through is not discrimination.

I've been stopped at the airport for the sole purpose of taking an X-ray of my shoes. Did I make a big deal about how the security guard was discriminating people with bigger shoes? Nope, I laughed and gave him my shoes.

 

[megaman 2006]

Everyone is not equal.

I agree.

Visual clues can give away criminals.

I agree although this works both ways, visual clues give away criminals and also let some sneak on by. A white middle aged lady can potentially commit as many crimes as anyone else, but due to visual clues, She'd be able to get away with more then some other people.

 

[Schnell]

I agree.




I agree although this works both ways, visual clues give away criminals and also let some sneak on by. A white middle aged lady can potentially commit as many crimes as anyone else, but due to visual clues, She'd be able to get away with more then some other people.

The point is that the police doesn't have enough resources, and it would not be well received by the public, to keep an eye on everyone. Even though it could be the old woman who did it, it is more likely the young, unemployed man with an extensive criminal record. So they check him first.

 

[Pray switchin nub]

i personaly think that they descriminate and tbh im glad they do.

 

[DropKick Murphys]

There not a way anybody can say that a certain race does drugs more then another.

Sure you can.
I'll show you, watch.


Figure 1. Percentages of Past Month Illicit Drug Use among Persons Aged 12 or Older, by Race/Ethnicity*: 2004 and 2005 This figure is a horizontal bar graph comparing percentages of past month illicit drug use among persons aged 12 or older, by race/ethnicity*: 2004 and 2005. Accessible table located below this figure.

 

[Triggerfinger]

It's called rational discrimination. The fact of the matter is that x age and x ethnicity is mostly like to have drugs. Therefore police search them more often than y age and y ethnicity.

Winar

I think it's wrong because it's stereotypical to say that one person of a certain race is more likley to have drugs than another race.

And I do believe cops do this.

Truth hurts and sure cops do it. It helps them complete their job better and more efficiently. Just like how the FAA probably searches more Muslim passengers than White or Asian.

 

[Kiabin]

I think it's very wrong to discriminate against people hence their race, or age as said by Dropkick Murphys. It's wrong to jump to assumption.