NCJ Number
204179
Journal
Stanford Law Review Volume: 56 Issue: 3 Dated: December 2003 Pages: 571-603
Date Published
December 2003
Length
33 pages
Annotation
In attempting to reorient the debate about racial profiling, policing, and the drug war, this paper argues that policymakers should consider the race-related consequences of the drug war, without regard to whether law enforcement officers engage in racial profiling.
Abstract
The author concludes that policymakers should abandon efforts to ferret out and eliminate racial profiling in drug interdiction. The view that pervasive, irrational, and biased racial profiling invariably accounts for the widespread investigation of Blacks and Latinos is a misinterpretation of the empirical studies of law enforcement officers' stop-search practices. Although studies of police officers' stop-search practices do not refute the practice of irrational and biased stops based on the race of the subject, findings are also consistent with the possibility that the extensive investigation of racial minorities reflects their higher rates of criminal activity, along with officers' rational use of racial profiling. Therefore, one reason to abandon the racial-profiling inquiry is that efforts to prove racial profiling founder on empirical findings that invite contrary interpretations. There are two other reasons why policy reform should center on the drug war and its consequences rather than on racial profiling. First, if officers engage in racial profiling because it helps them to apprehend drug traffickers, then efforts to eliminate the practice without reducing the incentives to apprehend drug traffickers may be futile or counterproductive. Second, the problems most often associated with racial profiling -- the widespread investigation and mistreatment of racial minorities and the tension between racial minority communities and law enforcement agencies -- do not necessarily depend on whether officers engage in racial profiling. These problems could persist even if racial profiling were actually eliminated. Policy decisions should instead focus on the race-related outcomes of the drug war, particularly the high level of incarceration of racial minorities. This paper highlights the social harms of incarceration, notably the undermining of neighborhoods' stability, the impeding of effective law enforcement by bolstering minorities' mistrust of the criminal justice system, and the intertwining of race and crime in a way that increases the racial divide. The main argument of this paper is that the inordinate attention given to racial profiling in policing stop-search practices has diverted attention from the broader race-related impact of the drug war, which involves the neighborhood impact, perceived injustice, and the disproportionate criminalizing of minorities. 201 notes