Racial Profiling: Towards Simplicity and Eradication
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Authors
Bard, Branville G., Jr.
Issue Date
2014-05
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Dissertations, Academic--United States , Police brutality , Police , Race discrimination , Racial profiling in law enforcement
Alternative Title
Abstract
Racial profiling has been studied, analyzed, and been the subject of policy formulation for some period of time now; the assessment conducted herein yielded interesting and informative data on the subject of ‘Racial Profiling’ and seeks to contribute further to policy formulation both at the jurisdictional and agency levels. Historically, methods that have been developed to determine the existence of racial profiling have been used to prove discriminatory intent injudicial settings and as such, have been characterized by the heavy use of advanced statistical methods. However, Court rulings, particularly the Whren (1996) decision, has made proving discriminatory intent a nearly insurmountable hurdle. The primary purpose of this study was to examine police commanders’ perceptions as to the usefulness of an easier to understand tool to determine the existence of racial profiling. This study does not seek to divorce statistics from the process; however, the underlying thought process is that those with the most cause to use and discuss racial profiling, do not fully understand the statistically complex methodologies currently in use. The study revealed that a decided majority of police commanders affirmed the usefulness of an easier to understand tool to determine the existence of racial profiling. Specifically, police commanders indicated that they do not believe that the complex methodologies are easily understood by themselves, their Law Enforcement Officer (L.E.O.) counterparts, or community stakeholders. As a result the researcher develops this more practical, easier to understand method of determining racial profiling. The researcher also sets forth a framework, consisting of a multi-pronged approach designed to eradicate racial profiling at the agency level by, among other things, establishing a watchdog-like entity and assigning individual officers a racial profiling statistic.
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This dissertation is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, revised in 1976). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of the materials for financial gain with the author's expressed written permissions is not allowed.