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Racial Profiling is a Public Health and Health Disparities Issue

Cato t. laurencin.

1 Connecticut Convergence Institute for Translation in Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030, USA

2 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Center for Biomedical, Biological, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Farmington, Connecticut, United States of America

3 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, United States of America

4 Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America

5 Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America

6 Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America

Joanne M. Walker

Racial profiling is a public health and health disparities issue through its disparate and adverse health impact on those targeted by this practice, as well as members of their communities. We discuss six ways police profiling and racial discrimination adversely impact Black American health. We identify four direct and two indirect ways. Four direct ways are (1) violent confrontation with police that causes injury or death; (2) police language that escalates a confrontation through micro-aggressions or macroaggressions; (3) sub-lethal confrontations with police; (4) adverse health consequences of perceived or vicarious threat, i.e., the mere belief in potential harm by police injures health. There are two indirect ways: (5) through knowledge of or personal relationship with someone who directly experienced racial profiling; (6) through public events without a personal knowledge of the unarmed person threatened or killed by police as a result of racial profiling, but where such events cause both individuals and the community at large to perceive a threat. We support recognition of racial profiling as a public health and health disparities issue. We recommend support for community programs that address the clinical health effects of racial profiling. We also recommend widespread engagement of trauma-informed policing (TIP) that acknowledges the clinical effects of racial profiling.

1. Introduction

Racial profiling is the act of suspecting or targeting a person of a certain race on the basis of observed or assumed characteristics or behavior of a racial or ethnic group, rather than on individual suspicion [ 1 ]. Black Americans comprise 13% of the population and compared with White Americans are three times more likely to be shot and killed and five times more likely to be killed unarmed by police [ 2 , 3 ]. Black teens are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than White teens [ 3 ]. In Black American boys between ages 15 and 19 and men between ages 20 and 39, the leading cause of death is homicide. Homicide is also the second leading cause of death in Black American young boys between ages 1 and 4 [ 4 ].

Excessive police violence can affect an individual personally and vicariously as well as the community which in turn adversely affects health. The most influential case that launched the “Black Lives Matters” movement was the case of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old boy who was unlawfully shot and killed walking home from a convenience store in 2012 [ 5 ]. In 2015, while in police custody, Freddie Grey, falsely accused of carrying an illegal switchblade, was refused medical attention upon his request which resulted in fatal injury and death [ 6 ]. The refusal of medical attention and the mistreatment while in police custody of this unarmed Black young man caused public health harms that included medication crises linked to the destruction of dozens of pharmacies, opioids from the pharmacies entering the illicit drug street market, mental health trauma, and damage to the economies of neighborhoods already burdened by high rates of unemployment and premature mortality [ 6 ]. Another influential case was that of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old woman who was pulled over by a police officer for not using a turn signal. Sandra Bland was arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer during the traffic stop and later found dead in her jail cell. Her death was ruled a suicide [ 5 ]. The officer involved was later indicted on perjury charges and fired [ 5 ]. The arrest of Sandra Bland and many others like her shows bias excessive force by police against African Americans. Have the police become unconsciously biased towards minorities through social conditioning or professional training that results in excessive suspicion of Black Americas? Violence as well as excessive police violence can greatly affect the health of an individual as well as a community causing public health and health disparity issues [ 7 ].

The senior one of us (C.T.L.) has served as a member of the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition CTRP3 Task Force Advisory Board. The mission statement of the task force begins with the unambiguous statement of fact, “Racial Profiling has historically occurred, and continues to occur throughout America,” [ 8 ]. In this paper, we discuss several ways racial profiling causes’ adverse health effects in Black Americans ( Table 1 ).

Ways by which racial profiling results in health effects in Black Americans.

2. Six Ways of Racial Profiling Affecting Public Health

2.1. way 1: direct effect: confrontation with violence/injury by police resulting in death.

Racial profiling is indicative of the lasting prominence of institutionalization of racism in America. Many perceive police killings of unarmed persons or suspects as a manifestation of structural racism that implicitly assigns a lower value to Black lives [ 9 ]. These behaviors alienate communities from law enforcement, hinder community-policing effects, and cause communities to lose trust in law enforcement [ 9 ]. This negative interaction undermines effective community policing for public safety. Black Americans are three times more likely than White Americans to be shot and killed by police and five times more likely than White Americans to be killed unarmed [ 1 ]. Black Americans are also five times more likely to have a police intervention–related injury to take place [ 3 ]. According to a study by Gilbert et al., in 1994, 465 felons were killed by law enforcement officers in the line of duty, the killings were all considered justifiable homicides [ 10 ]. The number of deaths began to decrease over the next 10 years and surprisingly in 2013 were back up to 465 deaths according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports [ 10 ]. Throughout history, Black Americans have been portrayed as “monstrously aggressive and inhuman,” as was apparent in the testimony of the police officers in the killing of Michael Brown. The police officers involved portrayed Michael Brown as a “demonically aggressive, nonhuman monster,” and the media characterized him as a “thug” and a “gangster” [ 7 ]. Police violence and brutality can cause death which in turn affects the mental, physical, and emotional health of individuals as well as entire communities.

2.2. Way 2: Direct Effect: Confrontation Due to Police Language Micro-aggression/Macro-aggression by Police

The second direct effect of police racism is confrontation due to police language by micro- or macro-aggressions. Micro-aggressions are subtle, everyday verbal or nonverbal negative insults or messages to a person of a different race that may not be apparent or entirely understood to either party involved [ 11 ]. Macro-aggressions involve the act of racism towards every one of a certain race [ 11 ]. A number of reports have chronicled Black drivers perceiving more negative experiences in their interactions with police. An important study by Voigt, R., et al., focused on incidents captured on video involving police use of force on Black suspects. Voigt et al. completed an analysis using police body camera footage examined in the context of racial disparities. Officers were equal in formality between Black and White drivers but higher in respect with White drivers, with officers speaking with less respect to Black drivers [ 12 ]. A linguistic correlate from body camera footage data showed that White community members were 57% more likely to hear respectful utterances while Black community members were 61% more likely to hear a less respectful utterance from a police officer [ 12 ]. These factors lead to micro- and macro- aggressions that take place in the relationship between the police and the community.

2.3. Way 3: Direct Effect: Sub-lethal Confrontation with Police

The third direct effect is the sub-lethal confrontation with police that can involve anything from a police officer pulling a gun or yelling at an individual, to confrontations causing bodily injury. Several published studies have focused on exposure to police violence and the effects of that exposure on individuals. Police officers have the authority to stop individuals without any evidence of suspicion or wrong-doing [ 3 , 13 – 15 ]. “Terry stops” or “stop and frisk” rarely end with arrests and have been associated with adverse mental health effects such as stress responses or depressive symptoms due to police aggression [ 16 ]. Data from Geller et al. reported that ethnic minorities who have been stopped by police were more likely to have higher levels of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); PTSD was higher in Black individuals [ 16 ]. Aggressive policing has major effects on the health of individuals and communities [ 16 ]. In the US population, police violence and aggression have been associated with distress, depression, anxiety, and trauma no matter the ethnicity or race of an individual [ 17 ]. Violence from racial profiling and discrimination was directly reported to cause depression in Black American boys and men, which in turn, is a mediator for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer [ 17 ]. Mental health of young Black boys was also associated with youth witnessed trauma regardless of proximity resulting in PTSD symptoms such as hyperarousal [ 17 ]. In recent studies, Oh et al. focused on the Black population and the effects of police mistreatment on individual health. The study showed police mistreatment of a Black individual was associated with worse mental health such as psychiatric, mood, and anxiety disorders, as well as PTSD and suicidal ideation, plans, and attempts [ 18 ]. Worse mental health can also be attributed to police killings of unarmed Black Americans and racial discrimination in communities not directly affected [ 3 ], causing stress, financial strain, and institutional oppressive practices [ 19 ]. African Americans (81%) who reported racial discrimination also reported having experienced PTSD [ 20 ]. Paired together, the data suggests, “law enforcement violence is a critical but nevertheless under examined public health issue” [ 20 ].

2.4. Way 4: Direct Effect: Actual and/or Perceived Threat from Police

The fourth area in which police brutality can affect mental health is the actual and/or perceived threat from police, the concept of vicarious threat. Several studies have examined the consequences of police violence and the effects it has on people who hear about the threat of violence [ 21 , 22 ]. Studies have focused on the mental and physical effects of vicarious threat. McFarland et al. focused on changes in waist circumference of Black Americans in Nashville, TN, who had been treated unlawfully by police [ 23 ]. The study showed that traffic stops occurred predominantly in low-income Black or Hispanic communities and that Black drivers were five times more likely to be stopped per year and two times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop [ 23 ]. McFarland et al. determined that Black Americans were two to three times more likely to have a larger waist circumference than White Americans. Black Americans in general are faced with higher stress burdens than White Americans [ 23 ]. Unfair treatment by police is a stressor that has not yet fully been understood in terms of health disparities research and in the medical field [ 23 ]. Unfair treatment by police has a large effect on the Black community vicariously and personally. In one study, 45.8% of Black Americans experienced personal or vicarious unfair treatment versus 18.5% of Whites, with men reporting more personal unfair treatment and women reporting more vicarious unfair treatment [ 23 ]. Waist circumference was higher in Blacks who experience unfair treatment and higher (12%) in Black women who experienced it vicariously compared with White women [ 23 ]. Vicarious exposure to unfair treatment by police may be a factor of worse mental health in the Black community [ 23 ].

2.5. Way 5: Indirect Effect: Case Where There Is Knowledge/Relationship of an Individual Who Has Been Racially Profiled by the Police

Indirect effects on mental health from police mistreatment can occur to someone who has knowledge of or a relationship with an individual that has been mistreated or racially profiled. Physiological effects can take place due to defending the character of a loved one after the police have killed them [ 3 ]. These actions can elicit negative emotions that can be damaging to mental health [ 24 ]. The mental health effect on the knowledge or relationship one may have to someone who has been racially profiled has also been evident in young Black American boys. Boys who were interviewed on police violence were all aware that they can be targeted by a police officer and killed without any legal consequence; the exposure to this violence causes trauma [ 17 ]. Young Black boys are taught to stay out of trouble, be respectful, and avoid any confrontation with the police for fear of being mistakenly targeted and racially profiled [ 17 ]. Most recently, a study published in Science Advances focused on birth records in California from 2007 to 2016 and showed that police killings of unarmed Black men were associated with a decrease in birth weight and gestational age of Black infants [ 25 ]. For a pregnant mother, the stressors of knowing someone or hearing about police racial profiling can cause stress and have negative effects on an unborn child [ 25 ]. These emotional stressors on Black women can cause physical health to decline and can be responsible for changes in birth weight and length of gestation, in an unborn child [ 25 ]. In general, studies show that stressors in an early prenatal stage can have damaging effects to an unborn child causing consequences on childhood and adulthood development [ 26 ]. The data suggests that the killings of unarmed Black Americans are linked to decreased birth weights in Black infants but not in other races, accounting for a third of the Black- White gap, indicating the effect is race specific and driven by perceptions of discrimination and structural racism [ 26 ].

2.6. Way 6: Indirect Effect: Case Where There Is No Relationship with an Unarmed Individual Who Has Been Killed by Police and the Effects on the Community

Racial profiling by police can have consequences on health even when there is no relationship to the person who has been racially profiled, but there is knowledge through the media and the community. When unarmed Black members of a community are killed, could it mediate adverse mental health issues within the community? Bor et al. focused on police killings and the effects on the mental health of Black Americans [ 3 ]. This study compared the mental health of Black Americans after a police killing of an unarmed Black American to the mental health before that event or 3 months after the event. The outcome variable that was measured was the number of days in the previous month that the respondent’s mental health was reported “not good” [ 3 ]. Killings of unarmed Black Americans were associated with worse mental health among other Black Americans, even if the Black Americans did not know the person who was killed, while no change occurred in White Americans. The killing of armed Black Americans was not associated with the mental health of Black or White Americans [ 3 ]. The effect of police brutality and mistreatment can be widespread and affect people who have only heard about the event [ 3 ]. This can trigger an individual to relive negative experiences causing stress and anxiety and can even cause the individual to worry about their safety and their families’ safety. Hearing about the event through the media or the community can also have adverse effects on an individual.

3. Discussion

Police violence experienced by racial minorities can cause adverse health consequences through stress, trauma, and anxiety [ 26 ]. Public health officials and policymakers need to treat racial profiling and adverse policing as true public health issues and recognize the scenarios in which medical effects can take place in Black Americans and minorities. There is a significant need to implement programs that mitigate the adverse mental health spillover caused by harmful police acts. The value of educating the public is important because Black Americans and other minorities are encountering clinical medical effects and many do not understand why [ 27 ]. We have two major recommendations. First, adequate public health resources need to be utilized to understand, diagnose, and address the health implications of racial profiling. Second, for police, while most traffic stops are lawful and do not involve racial profiling in our view, the 6 ways in which racial profiling produces medical effects will inform subsequent traffic stop interactions. We, therefore, need to educate law enforcement on the importance of Trauma Informed Policing (TIP) [ 28 ]. Trauma Informed Policing is defined as a framework for police officers to recognize and appropriately address the complexities of trauma experienced by survivors, to acknowledge symptoms and to use response tactics accordingly to prevent further individual trauma [ 28 ]. Several approaches have already been implemented in the use of trauma information such as the Trauma Informed Approach, referred to as Trauma Informed Care (TIC) which we can learn from and adopt in TIP [ 29 ]. The four Rs framework from the Trauma Informed Approach can be implemented for TIP. Officers can be trained to Realize the widespread impact of trauma and the different effects it may have on certain racial populations; Recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma; Respond by fully integrating experiences and knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and Resist retraumatization [ 29 ]. Police officers with TIP training will have the skills to approach situations with caution and care as well as awareness that many racial ethnic groups have a history of trauma and will be able to respond to agitated people in a nonjudgmental and supportive way. Relationships with police may trigger a response based on past experiences, personal or vicarious, that are not related to a current stop triggering PTSD, trauma, or stress causing an adverse reaction at the time of the police stop. Officers with TIP training will be able to recognize trauma and approach situations safely and be aware of cultural sensitivity as well as historical trauma that may impact entire communities [ 29 ]. In sum, the major focus needs to be on reducing disparities in health and promoting a culture of health. It is imperative for police and the community to understand the dynamics of racial profiling and its effects on public health.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge support from National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH BUILD (RL5GM118969) and NIH PIONEER (DP1AR068147) for funding this work (C.T.L.).

Conflict of Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Ethical Approval This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent Not applicable.

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Consumer Racial Profiling and Perceived Victimization: A Phone Survey of Philadelphia Area Residents

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This paper explored the perceived prevalence of consumer racial profiling (CRP) (also known as “Shopping While Black”) among residents in Philadelphia. Based on data collected from a random digit dialing (RDD) phone survey, the authors examined the characteristics of those persons who believed they had been profiled in retail establishments. The research found that African Americans were ten times more likely than non-African Americans to believe they had been profiled in a retail establishment. As for gender differences, males were nearly two times more likely than females to report that they had been experienced CRP. Educated respondents were more likely than those with less education to report having experienced CRP. There were no significant findings regarding income. The authors conclude by noting the policy implications of the research findings.

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Introduction

In 2005, the 156 retailers who participated in the University of Florida’s annual National Retail Security Survey (NRSS) reported losses totaling approximately $37 billion dollars (Hollinger and Langton 2006 ). Of these losses, 33% or $12.3 billion dollars was reported being attributable to shoplifting. According to the NRSS, which includes data from a diverse set of retailers, each shoplifting incident costs retailers on average $802.83 (Hollinger and Langton 2006 ). Besides the NRSS, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) also provides information on the number of reported shoplifting incidents in 2005. In total, their report lists 698,233 reported shoplifting incidents which represented a 5.3% decline from 2004 (UCR 2005 , 2006 ).

It is notable that the UCR does not list the gender or racial characteristics of shoplifting offenders. Therefore, there really is no concrete “profile” of a shoplifter (Henderson 2001 ). However, if the gender and racial characteristics of shoplifting offenders mirrors the characteristics of those arrested for the category under which shoplifting is found in the UCR (larceny-theft), then the largest share of them would have been committed by White males (61%). The reality, though, is that there is currently no standard data source that tracks the race and gender of shoplifters.

Nevertheless, for more than a decade, racial and ethnic minorities have complained that they have been the undue targets of suspicion in retail establishments (Feagin 1991 ). And, in 1999, a Gallup poll of more than 1,000 African Americans continued to reveal concerns regarding discrimination in retail settings. The poll revealed that African Americans felt they were “treated ‘less fairly’ than whites in downtown stores or shopping malls” (Fifield 2001 ). Five years later, in June of 2004, Gallup conducted another poll of more than 2,200 respondents, nearly half of whom felt that racial profiling in retail settings was widespread. Moreover, when asked whether they felt it was ever justified to use racial or ethnic profiling “When attempting to prevent theft in shopping malls or stores” only 24.83% reported yes, while 71.79% said no (The Gallup Organization 2004 ).

In general, consumer racial profiling (CRP) incidents take two forms. First, there are those situations in which a racial or ethnic minority is provided bad service in retail establishments or, in worst case scenarios, are not served at all. The latter was commonly practiced during the Jim Crow era in the southern United States (Harris 2003 ). In recent years, Denny’s and Cracker Barrel, represent some of the more widely known offenders of this form of profiling (see Harris 2003 ). Second, there are those instances where racial and ethnic minorities are profiled as suspected shoplifters and might receive discriminatory attention (Gabbidon 2003 ). This type of incident is the focus of the present paper. The primary purpose of this article is to conduct a victimization survey that quantitatively seeks to determine the nature and scope of CRP. More specifically, this research builds on the limited scholarly literature that examines racial profiling in retail settings, as it relates to racial and ethnic minorities being perceived as suspected shoplifters. The paper begins with a review of the limited scholarly literature on CRP.

Literature Review

In the last fifteen years, there has been an explosion of scholarly literature focused on the nature and scope of racial profiling as it pertains to traffic stops (for a nice summary of this literature, see Withrow 2006 ) and terrorism (see Onwudiwe 2005 ). But absent from this explosion in the racial profiling literature has been any considerable attention devoted to CRP. Except for a few early studies, and some more recent ones, very little is known about the topic.

In line with the two types of CRP incidents that exist, the scholarly literature can similarly be divided into two types. First, there are those research studies that examine the way racial and ethnic minorities are treated in retail establishments, with a heavy emphasis on the nature of the service they receive or lack thereof. Second, and more recent to the literature, are those studies that examine CRP, as it relates to suspicion in retail settings. There is, however, overlap in these two sets of literature.

To begin a brief review of scholarship devoted to CRP incidents, research by Feagin ( 1991 ) provides a good starting point. In his project, he analyzed in-depth interviews from 37 Black middle-class residents living in several American cities. The research was designed to explore the following three aspects of discrimination: (1) in what types of public places did discrimination occur; (2) what was the nature of the discrimination; and, (3) how did respondents cope with the incidents. Feagin ( 1991 ) found that Blacks were encountering discrimination in retail stores where they were receiving terrible service from clerks in retail establishments and restaurants, and often were subjected to excessive surveillance. Irrespective of their class status, Blacks were experiencing more nuanced and subtle discriminatory incidents in public places. And to cope with these situations, Feagin ( 1991 ) found that the participants either confronted the person who perpetrated the discrimination, they withdrew or left the site of the incident, they accepted the incident (essentially did nothing), or they physically responded.

By 2000, business and marketing scholars, who have long had an interest in the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities in retail settings, began to publish additional studies focused on the discriminatory treatment of racial and ethnic minority customers in retail settings. This was, in part, likely due to high profile CRP cases such as the ones involving food and clothing retailers. For example, the well-known litigation involving Denny’s (see Adamson 2000 ) where Black customers alleged they were either not served or subjected to bad service, led to a multi-million dollar settlement. In addition, retailers such as Eddie Bauer Stores (see Russell 1999 ), Lord & Taylor, The Children’s Place, and Dillard’s have all been charged with engaging in discriminatory practices that target racial and ethnic minorities (especially Blacks) shoppers for additional scrutiny by clerks and security personnel (Gabbidon 2003 ). Other CRP incidents have involved prominent African Americans such as Oprah Winfrey, Sheryl Swoops, and others (see Fifield 2001 ), which has also likely sparked scholarly interest in the topic.

During this period, Lee ( 2000 ) also examined the shopping experiences of 75 Black residents in five Black neighborhoods in New York and Philadelphia and found that Black shoppers generally had positive interactions with merchants in their neighborhoods. But, as in Feagin’s research, the Black males in her research were treated with an additional level of suspicion. And while Lee did find that Blacks were treated better based on their class status, in general, irrespective of their social status, Blacks were not given service equal to Whites. Lee’s research supported Feagin’s findings in terms of how Black shoppers deal with their negative encounters.

Following this early work, some scholars began to more fervently argue of the existence of such profiling, and the need to address it (Henderson 2001 ; Williams et al. 2001 ); while others focused on the coping strategies of Black men who encounter discrimination in retail environments (Crockett et al. 2003 ), determining the best legal available to sue retailers who have engaged in consumer racial profiling (Harris 2003 ), and the nature and outcomes of such cases (Gabbidon 2003 ). In the latter article, Gabbidon ( 2003 ) examined legal cases involving CRP. After concluding his analysis of 29 CRP cases, he identified the following standard forms of CRP: mistaken identity; extra scrutiny while shopping; the requiring of additional identification for credit or check purchases; undue use of force; and, the enforcement of blanket policies of how to handle minorities (Gabbidon 2003 ). Moreover, he argued that the best way to handle CRP incidents is through education, legal remedies, and boycotts.

It was also during this period that a pioneering pre-experimental study was conducted to determine the extent of discriminatory perceptions of students enrolled in an introductory marketing course, and whether education can, in fact, reduce such perceptions. Conducted by Jo Anne Asquith and Dennis Bristow (2000), the study, which was based on a one-group pretest-posttest nonexperimental design, involved three stages. First, the researchers distributed a questionnaire to gauge their perceptions regarding the typical shoplifter. Second, they were shown a video that educated them about the “true” or the limited available data on the demographic characteristics of shoplifters (mostly White). Finally, about an hour later, the original questionnaire was re-administered. The analysis of the data from the two administrations of the questionnaire found significant changes in the perceptions of the students. That is, while they originally overestimated the nature of males and ethnic and racial minorities as participants in shoplifting, after the exercise, their views were more likely to align with the actual figures presented in the video. Even with these positive findings, the authors noted that, for some participants, “the classroom exercise was simply not sufficient to overcome the preconceptions, attitudes, and/or biases” (Asquith and Bristow 2000 , p. 274). Though limited in scope and generalizability, this research set the stage for a new stream of CRP research.

Though scholars have continued to examine the legal aspects of CRP (Harris et al. 2005 ; Williams et al. 2006 ), criminologists have started to move the nature of the scholarship in another direction. Dabney et al. ( 2004 ) conducted an observational study of shoppers in a drug store located in a diverse section of Atlanta, Georgia. Stating the focus of their research, they wrote: “the primary objective of this study is to generate an unbiased demographic and behavioral profile of the contemporary retail shoplifter” (Dabney et al. 2004 , p. 699). To pursue this objective, they employed the use of trained observers to randomly select shoppers to determine “who actually steals.” Because of the limitations of the methods and cost considerations, midstream they altered their methods by having the trained observers randomly follow shoppers who had some means of concealment (e.g., baggy clothes, purse, or a bag) or within 10 seconds of entering the store, the person exhibited some widely accepted suspicious behaviors (e.g. looking around, looking for anti-shoplifting measures, etc.). In general, the research produced two important findings. First, they found that only 8.5% of the 1243 observed shoppers actually shoplifted (Dabney et al. 2004 ). And of those who shoplifted, “Black and Hispanic shoppers are no more likely to shoplift than those who are White. Further, shoppers of Asian or other descent are no less likely than Whites to commit theft” (Dabney et al. 2004 , p. 714). Finally, based on the results of their data, they conclude that behavioral variables were more important in identifying potential shoplifters than demographic characteristics of shoppers.

More recently, Dabney and his colleagues have revisited their pioneering research to discuss some “unexpected results” during the original project. The serendipitous findings were revealed when the researchers had to change their strategy for observation. Largely because of cost considerations, the researchers decided to have the observers rely on behavioral cues to select who was observed. But in the process of providing observers with this additional discretion, the observers were found to be engaging in “implicit stereotyping” or “unconscious or unmotivated stereotyping,” which turned out to be rather troubling. This stereotyping resulted in the increased likelihood of males being observed more than females, and racial and ethnic minorities being more likely to be observed than Whites (Dabney et al. 2006 ).

Current Study

Research tends to suggest that CRP takes place (Dabney et al. 2004 , 2006 ). However, except in a few instances, the research to date has been mostly qualitative, anecdotal, or based on legal cases. That is, a gap exists in the literature as to a far reaching understanding of the individuals that perceive that they have experienced CRP. The purpose of the present study is to provide this understanding using data from a large metropolitan area, Philadelphia.

Our effort presents the first systematic investigation of this issue within the context of consumer behavior, and can be seen as contributing to the base knowledge both with the scientific study of racial profiling and consumer behavior. Regarding racial profiling, we note here that researchers have expended a substantial amount of energy and resource in understanding racial profiling from the perspective of policing, but have largely neglected the pursuit of an understanding of CRP. No study to date in the consumer behavior literature has provided an understanding of who perceives themselves to have experienced CRP.

Methodology

This research is based on a phone survey of Philadelphia residents. Using random digit dialing (RDD), the study was carried out by Penn State Harrisburg’s Center for Survey Research, which utilizes VOXCO computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) software. The CATI system accommodated eleven concurrent interviewers and quality control supervisors assisted by VOXCO’s monitoring and productivity tools. Before starting the project, each interviewer was trained in proper data collection techniques through a formalized interview training class, which included role-playing and feedback, in addition to the technical methodology of interviewing. Additionally, the interviewers met with the principal investigator to provide further clarification of the project.

The questionnaire was designed to determine the level and nature of the respondents’ CRP experience. The initial set of questions, which largely form the basis of this research, simply asked whether the respondent had experienced CRP. The study defined CRP as the act of discriminating against customers, by retailers, based on their race or ethnicity. Respondents were informed that the study was concerned with their CRP experiences, as they related to being profiled as suspected shoplifters. Along with whether they had experienced CRP, we asked key demographic questions to determine the characteristics of those most likely to believed they had been profiled.

The phone interviews were conducted between November 30th 2006 and December 13, 2006. The residents were selected from telephone numbers randomly selected from all of Philadelphia’s telephone exchanges. To ensure that each member of a sampled household had an equal probability of being interviewed, the last-birthday method of respondent selection was utilized. More specifically, to ensure that each member of a household had an equal probability of being interviewed, the callers asked the person who answered to the phone to speak to the person (over 18) who had the last-birthday in the household. The actual interviewing took place on weekdays from 4  p.m. to 9  p.m. , on Saturdays from 10  a.m. to 6  p.m. , and on Sundays from 1  p.m. to 6  p.m. . Follow-up calls to households that did not answer or that had a busy signal or an answering machine were scheduled at varying times of day and days of the week. Because these callbacks are the principal means by which response rates are typically increased, the Center for Survey research attempted an average of 4.79 contacts to identify a number’s actual disposition.

This procedure yielded 500 completed and 16 partially completed interviews (which were excluded from the analysis). Of these, five completed interviews were eliminated from the study because the respondents’ self-reported zip code fell outside of Philadelphia. In order to ensure that the results from the CRP survey were not biased toward any singular demographic group or geographic region, the results were checked against the known occurrences of the demographic characteristics and the geographic distribution of Philadelphia’s population. Using census data proved to be most accurate and reliable for verifying survey results (see United States Census Bureau 2005 ). Weighting was used so that the sample’s demographic profile accurately reflects the population’s known properties. Overall, the survey cooperation rate was 40.2%, which is based on the difference between the number of completed interviews and the number of refusals.

The respondents were asked to indicate if they believed they had experienced CRP. More specifically, at the beginning of each call, they were provided with the following definition of CRP: CRP is defined as the act of discriminating against customers, by retailers, based upon their race or ethnicity. This study is specifically concerned with CRP, as it relates to your experience as a shopper being racially profiled by retail clerks, managers, and security personnel. All races and ethnicities can experience this type of discrimination. The participants’ responses were dichotomously coded using no (0) and yes (1). This item served as the dependent measure for the study.

Demographic characteristics (sex, race, income, and educational level) were recorded for the residents. Sex was coded as 0 for female and 1 for male. In addition, race was coded so that non-African Americans are 0 and African Americans are 1. Income was coded using nine categories that begin with less than 10,000 and end with more than 150,000. Education was coded using six categories that begin with less than high school and end with graduate school. We included measures of age, stolen from a retail store, and arrested for stealing from a retail store, but they were not included in the analysis because there was lack of variance. For example, all of the individuals that had stolen from a retail store or had been arrested for stealing from a retail store had expressed the feeling that they had experienced CRP.

The sample was primarily comprised of Black/African Americans (46.9%; n = 228) and Whites (42.5%; n = 207). The remaining participants were Hispanic (6%; n = 29), American Indian or Native Alaskan (1%; n = 5), Asian (.7%; n = 3), and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (.2%; n = 1). Females (54.9%; n = 267) were slightly more represented in the sample than males. In terms of age distribution, except in the older age categories, Table  1 shows that the ages of the respondents were distributed rather equally. Nearly 75% resided in an urban area, with suburban (16.1%; n = 78) and rural (7.9%; n = 38) residents comprising the largest share of the remaining participants.

Table  1 also shows that even though a considerable portion of the residents (45.5%) make less than $40,000 a year, an almost equal share of them (40.7%) makes between $40,001 and more than $100,000. More than 60% of the respondents had at least some college education, with most of the remaining respondents indicating they had either a high school diploma (or GED) or less than a high school education. The households represented in the sample were fairly evenly split between having one (23.8%: n = 115), two (26.4%; n = 128), three (20.1%; n = 98), and more than three (28.3; n=138), residents living in the household.

Next, an examination of the demographic factors that may increase the likelihood that an individual will perceive themselves as having experienced CRP is performed. We note that we did not include demographics such as location (i.e., urban, suburban, or rural) because we were using a sample from one location-Philadelphia, PA. We also did not include age in the analysis because we did not find much variation in our sample based on analysis that is not presented in this article but is available from the second author on request. Table  2 contains the logistic regression analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used because of the dichotomous nature of the dependent measure (i.e., perception of having experienced CRP).

Table  2 shows that African American individuals compared to other races are more than 10 times as likely to perceive themselves as having experienced CRP (b = 2.325, Exp(B) = 10.227). Males were almost two times more likely than females to perceive themselves as having experienced CRP (b = .532, Exp(B) = 1.703). Individuals with more education were more likely to perceive themselves as having experienced CRP than those with lower levels of education (b = .244, Exp(B) = 1.055). There was not any statistically significant difference in the likelihood of perception of having experienced CRP in the context of income.

The purpose of the present study was to quantitatively examine the characteristics of those persons who believe they had experienced CRP. On one hand, the present study found that Blacks, males, and those with more education are more likely to perceive themselves as having experienced CRP. On the other hand, the data from the present study showed that there were no differences in the likelihood of perceiving CRP, with respect to income. That is, no matter the income level, individuals are likely to perceive themselves as having experienced CRP.

While these data show that Blacks, males, and those with more education are more likely to perceive themselves as having experienced CRP, the findings are not without limits. First, the data for this study did not contain a substantial amount of data concerning individuals that had shoplifted in the past (n = 20 or 9.6% of those who reported experiencing CRP). However, the present data indicate that these are constants for the perception of CRP. Second, the data do not contain a substantial amount of variation in ages. However, the homogeneity of ages suggests that these data could represent a specific segment of the metropolitan area. Third, the data are not longitudinal. That is, the perceptions of CRP may be different if the data were longitudinal. Such data might reveal that, over time, even a higher percentage of respondents will perceive themselves as experiencing CRP. Fourth, our data were limited to one geographic location; therefore, we can only generalize the results to the Philadelphia area. Fifth, our 40% response rate suggests that our findings should be viewed with caution. As with all surveys, non-respondents leave researchers unsure whether the experiences of those who participate vary from those who do not. Sixth, we only measured the perception of experiencing CRP. We have no way of confirming whether the incidents described by the respondents actually occurred. And finally, we had a limited set of demographic variables to work with. Hence, it is likely that there are other useful variables that were not captured in our research. Seventh, an interaction between race and gender may reveal some interesting findings that future research may be able to explain.

Despite the limits of the present study, the racial profiling and consumer behavior literature have been informed by these findings. While studies that have more variation in age, shoplifting, and longitudinal data will provide more information, the present study shows that Black, males, and those with more education are more likely to perceive that they have been profiling in retail settings. This leads us to two important questions. First, is this finding new? And second, what is the significance of these findings?

The answer to the first question is yes and no. The answer is yes because, as noted earlier, very few researchers have considered profiling in retail settings. Moreover, from this study, we now know some of the characteristics of those who believe they have experienced CRP. In previous public opinion research, questions have been asked related to the ethics of profiling in public and private policing, but few scholars have pursued the topic further. We can also answer no to this question because there is considerable race and crime scholarship that has suggested that African American males have good reason to believe they are the targets of undue suspicion. As reviewed earlier, the current body of racial profiling literature related to traffic stops clearly supports this, and the limited CRP research conducted to date has pointed to African American males and other racial minorities as being the focal point of those looking for shoplifters.

Beyond simply taking the racial profiling literature in a new direction, the significance of the research is threefold. The most important finding from this research is that it provides additional support for the longstanding suspicion concerning the perceived mistreatment of African Americans in retail settings. Whereas there was previously only anecdotal evidence, there is now more concrete data strongly pointing to the existence of such mistreatment. Furthermore, conventional wisdom regarding who likely gets profiled did not completely hold true in the study. While one might have thought that poor African American males would have been the targets of undue suspicion, our findings went against such thinking. Therefore, no matter how one dresses or, put another way, no matter how one might “wear their class,” according to our results, it doesn’t matter in terms of who believed they had been profiled. And, if one believes the respondents perceptions, which we have no reason to doubt, then retailers do not discriminate by class—all African Americans are likely targeted for CRP.

This paper revealed that African American, and males in particular, have been the targets of CRP. Such findings leave us believing that scholars need to delve into CRP, as they have done with the more “traditional” areas of racial profiling research. The violation of one’s civil rights in retail settings is no less of an evil than doing so during traffic stops. To begin, researchers must systematically examine the forms of CRP. Just as researchers have taken note that racial profiling by police officers occurs in relation to who gets stopped, questioned, and searched, researchers need to do the same for CRP. Such research would indicate what is involved in a CRP stop, and also who is involved in the stop (e.g., clerk, security guard, etc.). Further, future research might examine what are the outcomes of such stops. Again, following the policing literature, scholars might want to examine the outcome of similar stops in retail settings. Moreover, as with the more traditional racial profiling literature, CRP researchers need to conduct nationwide research to determine the scope of the problem.

Finally, if, in fact, CRP is as prevalent as reported by the Black respondents in Philadelphia, it represents a serious problem that needs to be addressed by retailers. Following the suggestions by Gabbidon ( 2003 ), to effectively combat the problem, retailers need to invest in training programs that educate clerks and security personnel about the perils of CRP. If employees still don’t get it, retailers should take a hard line stance against the practice and fire those employees who continue to engage in this dubious practice. However, if the practice continues, Black shoppers need to aggressively pursue remedies that have a long history of changing such discriminatory practices: litigation and boycotts. Lawsuits have, more often than not, been the key to stopping discriminatory practices. In short, companies respond to litigation that has the potential to cut into their bottom line. In a similar vein, boycotts also hurt the bottom line of corporations. As such, they should be considered as a way to stop the practice of CRP.

In closing, we urge scholars to develop a “criminological imagination” when it comes to racial profiling research. Because of the limited parameters of the current racial profiling scholarship, it is likely that the existing research has only captured “the tip of the [racial profiling] iceberg.”

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This project was jointly funded by Penn State’s Africana Research Center and Penn State Harrisburg’s School of Public Affairs. The authors thank Auden Thomas, Stephanie Hintz, and the interviewers from Penn State Harrisburg’s Center for Survey Research who assisted in the completion of this project.

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Gabbidon, S.L., Higgins, G.E. Consumer Racial Profiling and Perceived Victimization: A Phone Survey of Philadelphia Area Residents. Am J Crim Just 32 , 1–11 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-007-9019-6

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10 things we know about race and policing in the u.s..

Days of protests across the United States in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the custody of Minneapolis police have brought new attention to questions about police officers’ attitudes toward black Americans, protesters and others. The public’s views of the police, in turn, are also in the spotlight. Here’s a roundup of Pew Research Center survey findings from the past few years about the intersection of race and law enforcement.

Most of the findings in this post were drawn from two previous Pew Research Center reports: one on police officers and policing issues published in January 2017, and one on the state of race relations in the United States published in April 2019. We also drew from a September 2016 report on how black and white Americans view police in their communities. (The questions asked for these reports, as well as their responses, can be found in the reports’ accompanying “topline” file or files.)

The 2017 police report was based on two surveys. One was of 7,917 law enforcement officers from 54 police and sheriff’s departments across the U.S., designed and weighted to represent the population of officers who work in agencies that employ at least 100 full-time sworn law enforcement officers with general arrest powers, and conducted between May and August 2016. The other survey, of the general public, was conducted via the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP) in August and September 2016 among 4,538 respondents. (The 2016 report on how blacks and whites view police in their communities also was based on that survey.) More information on methodology is available here .

The 2019 race report was based on a survey conducted in January and February 2019. A total of 6,637 people responded, out of 9,402 who were sampled, for a response rate of 71%. The respondents included 5,599 from the ATP and oversamples of 530 non-Hispanic black and 508 Hispanic respondents sampled from Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel. More information on methodology is available here .

1 Majorities of both black and white Americans say black people are treated less fairly than whites in dealing with the police and by the criminal justice system as a whole. In a 2019 Center survey , 84% of black adults said that, in dealing with police, blacks are generally treated less fairly than whites; 63% of whites said the same. Similarly, 87% of blacks and 61% of whites said the U.S. criminal justice system treats black people less fairly.

2 Black adults are about five times as likely as whites to say they’ve been unfairly stopped by police because of their race or ethnicity (44% vs. 9%), according to the same survey. Black men are especially likely to say this : 59% say they’ve been unfairly stopped, versus 31% of black women.

3 White Democrats and white Republicans have vastly different views of how black people are treated by police and the wider justice system. Overwhelming majorities of white Democrats say black people are treated less fairly than whites by the police (88%) and the criminal justice system (86%), according to the 2019 poll. About four-in-ten white Republicans agree (43% and 39%, respectively).

5 Black Americans are far less likely than whites to give police high marks for the way they do their jobs . In a 2016 survey, only about a third of black adults said that police in their community did an “excellent” or “good” job in using the right amount of force (33%, compared with 75% of whites), treating racial and ethnic groups equally (35% vs. 75%), and holding officers accountable for misconduct (31% vs. 70%).

6 In the past, police officers and the general public have tended to view fatal encounters between black people and police very differently. In a 2016 survey  of nearly 8,000 policemen and women from departments with at least 100 officers, two-thirds said most such encounters are isolated incidents and not signs of broader problems between police and the black community. In a companion survey of more than 4,500 U.S. adults, 60% of the public called such incidents signs of broader problems between police and black people. But the views given by police themselves were sharply differentiated by race: A majority of black officers (57%) said that such incidents were evidence of a broader problem, but only 27% of white officers and 26% of Hispanic officers said so.

7 Around two-thirds of police officers (68%) said in 2016 that the demonstrations over the deaths of black people during encounters with law enforcement were motivated to a great extent by anti-police bias; only 10% said (in a separate question) that protesters were primarily motivated by a genuine desire to hold police accountable for their actions. Here as elsewhere, police officers’ views differed by race: Only about a quarter of white officers (27%) but around six-in-ten of their black colleagues (57%) said such protests were motivated at least to some extent by a genuine desire to hold police accountable.

8 White police officers and their black colleagues have starkly different views on fundamental questions regarding the situation of blacks in American society, the 2016 survey found. For example, nearly all white officers (92%) – but only 29% of their black colleagues – said the U.S. had made the changes needed to assure equal rights for blacks.

9 A majority of officers said in 2016 that relations between the police in their department and black people in the community they serve were “excellent” (8%) or “good” (47%). However, far higher shares saw excellent or good community relations with whites (91%), Asians (88%) and Hispanics (70%). About a quarter of police officers (26%) said relations between police and black people in their community were “only fair,” while nearly one-in-five (18%) said they were “poor” – with black officers far more likely than others to say so. (These percentages are based on only those officers who offered a rating.)

10 An overwhelming majority of police officers (86%) said in 2016 that high-profile fatal encounters between black people and police officers had made their jobs harder . Sizable majorities also said such incidents had made their colleagues more worried about safety (93%), heightened tensions between police and blacks (75%), and left many officers reluctant to use force when appropriate (76%) or to question people who seemed suspicious (72%).

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About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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Racial Profiling in the United States Research Paper

Introduction, levels of racial profiling in america, testing the legitimacy of racial profiling, historical evidence of racial profiling in america, works cited.

Racial profiling is any police-initiated act that is based on race, ethnicity, and country of origin rather than the behavior of the person. It also entails information that leads the police to the seizure of individuals who plan to engage in criminal activities. It is racially-biased monitoring that occurs when law enforcement agencies consider the ethnic background of a person to determine how to put the law into effect. Profiling can take different dimensions, such as police stops, questions, arrests, and/or searches. From a broader perspective, it includes a routine exercise and suspicion that eventually leads to an act of discrimination. This paper provides an insight into racial profiling in America using the conflict sociological perspective.

The police profile individuals to apprehend citizens who commit crimes such as drug trafficking and possession of illegal firearms, among others. The occurrence of racial profiling involving the police usually hinges on some assumptions. At the outset, there is a straight correspondence to habits of committing particular crimes besides being a member of a specific race (Shelby 145). The White police in the US have been accused of profiling the African-Americans. The primary reason for such behavior lies in the assumption that Blacks are more likely to commit crimes than their White counterparts.

Heated debates have ensued in an attempt to gauge the legitimacy of profiling. The proponents of the practice have put forward issues that are addressed by racial profiling. The practice deters crime as the suspected group remains in constant and regular checks by the police. Shelby reveals that the effects of such events have been seen in the reduced number of crimes that have improved the quality of life in the US (146). Again, the process of profiling is democratic since there is a weighing of the interests involved, which balance the tilts to favor particular races (Lippert‐Rasmussen 192). Racial profiling is justifiable on legitimate grounds that are needed to control crimes. Lippert‐Rasmussen further attests that it is wrong to ignore the law of probability (193). Breaking of the law is preventable through fast judgment. This objective is achieved by profiling the victims.

The opponents hold that racial profiling causes resentments, hurt, and loss of trust among groups subjected to increased police attention. This state of affairs arises from suspicions generated among the profiled groups. It further leads to a conspiracy that instigates counter-attacks against the police. In an attempt to fight inequality resulting from the practice, crime proves the best solution to revenge. In the US, the Whites have discriminated against the Blacks, giving them the tag of criminals. In fighting the criminality tag, counter-attacks were used. This turn of events cannot auger well with the security apparatus that the police seek to heighten.

Lever holds that profiling is an indisputable act of discrimination and injustice (95). Indeed, the American Civil Liberties Union reveals that profiling alienates the communities from undertaking law enforcement measures. This step hinders community-policing efforts (Ayres and Borowsky, 6). Subsequently, the law enforcers and agents in place lack the credibility and trust people to guard and serve the law. Profiling makes the community live in fear; hence, they fail to exploit their potentials to perform their roles as Americans.

In America, Black people have been subjected to profiling based on their skin tone. At the outset, they faced 240 years of slavery and 90 more of legal segregation. This scenario can still be seen today in traffic and pedestrian stops (Ayres and Borowsky 8). The rights of a profiled person are violated. The ACLU further reveals that discrimination that is based on individual aspects such as color, ethnicity, and race, among others, is a violation of human rights (9).

It has been documented that border police use racial profiling as a tool for security enforcement among immigrants. This kind of institutional alienation brings about lop-sided surveillance, misuse of status, and instigation of violence amongst the victimized citizens. For instance, Reitzel and Piquero reveal that most Whites are subjected to unjustified traffic investigations and increased racial discrimination at the Unites States airports (162).

There are also unnecessary stops and frisking, especially in traffic, to find out whether the minorities are participating in the crime. In 2011, a record of approximately 684,330 civilians who were stopped for checkups, 87 percent of comprised were the Blacks (Reitzel and Piquero 162). According to the Centre for Constitutional Rights, this data underpinned previous studies that showed that race was the primary factor for discrimination. Maximum stops happen in Black and Latino localities. Also, the stop and frisk data show that police officers use excessive force during the stops of Blacks and Latinos. Increased suspicion of a suspected group of people is also evident in US airports. In New York, profiling of people is very intense to the extent that it has become a routine (Cleary 24).

In some cases, school-going children are subjected to racial and religious profiling. Frequent interrogations and searches based on skin color have become a part of the system. Many travelers of the Muslim community or the Middle East are subjected to profiling in airports. The profiling of such nature focuses on the religious backgrounds of the people. The move is to curb terrorist threats posed by groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda in the United States. Terrorism is a serious issue in the US; hence, defending the occurrence of attacks is mandatory. In an attempt to achieve this objective, the administration of the US supports racial profiling (Cleary 23).

The government came up with anti-profiling laws but excluded the transportation security department. This situation is an indication that profiling based on race and religion will continue. The laws followed the public outcry regarding racial abuse and community interactions with the police. They were targeted to ensure fairness and equity to all.

Racial profiling has taken a legal stand in America. The current government has refused to rule out profiling at entry points and during transit. First, the practice is justified where small groups are targeted to secure millions of people and property. On the other hand, the pain and mistrust caused to the people are phenomenal. Accumulated suspicion has impaired the co-operation of the community with the police as they lack trust in the security system that profiles them. Measures to maintain security should be heightened whilst redressing the historical injustices to the victims of racial and religious profiling in America. In so doing, such people will regain trust and support the security mechanisms in place.

Ayres, Ian and Jonathan Borowsky. A Study of Racially Disparate Outcomes in the Los Angeles Police Department, 2008. Web.

Cleary, Jim. Racial Profiling Studies in Law Enforcement: Issues and Methodology , 2000. Web.

Lever, Annabelle. “Why racial profiling is hard to justify: A response to Risse and Zeckhauser.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 33.1(2005): 94-110. Print.

Lippert‐Rasmussen, Kasper. “Racial profiling versus community.” Journal of Applied Philosophy 23.2(2006): 191-205. Print.

Reitzel, John and Alex Piquero. “Does it exist? Studying citizens’ attitudes of racial profiling.” Police Quarterly 9.2(2006): 161-183. Print.

Shelby, Tommie. “Racial Realities and Corrective Justice: A Reply to Charles Mills.” Critical Philosophy of Race 1.2(2013): 145-162. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 17). Racial Profiling in the United States. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-profiling-in-the-united-states/

"Racial Profiling in the United States." IvyPanda , 17 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/racial-profiling-in-the-united-states/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Racial Profiling in the United States'. 17 January.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Racial Profiling in the United States." January 17, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-profiling-in-the-united-states/.

1. IvyPanda . "Racial Profiling in the United States." January 17, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-profiling-in-the-united-states/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Racial Profiling in the United States." January 17, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/racial-profiling-in-the-united-states/.

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Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International France, as well as three other French rights groups, on Thursday announced that they had lodged a formal complaint with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), in which they sought the committee’s intervention to address racial profiling by law enforcement authorities in France. 

HRW and Amnesty were joined by the Community House for Solidarity Development (MCDS); Pazapas; and Equality, Anti-discrimination, Interdisciplinary Justice Network (Reaji) in calling upon the CERD to address instances of racial profiling and deep-seated bigotry within the French police. The police force has repeatedly come under fire in recent years for discriminatory practices during identity checks which disproportionately targeted Black and Arab young men and boys or those perceived as such. 

In October 2023, the French Conseil d’État — or Council of State, the country’s highest administrative court— acknowledged the existence of racial profiling by law enforcement. Though historic, the ruling fell short of inspiring meaningful change, as the court failed to order French authorities to undertake the necessary measures to put an end to a long-standing culture of discrimination, inequity and abuse. 

It is this inaction that the five groups cited to on Thursday as the catalyst for their complaint before the CERD, which is a body of independent experts charged with monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) by its signatories, among whom France.  “By failing to take the necessary measures to put an end to this practice, the French government is failing to meet its obligations under several international treaties,” HRW said .

HRW previously raised concern about the excessive use of force by French law enforcement following the fatal police shooting in June 2023 of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old boy of Algerian and Moroccan descent who was shot at point-blank range by police officer Florian Menespiler in a suburb of Paris. The killing sparked widespread national protests and riots , with many international organizations and rights groups calling on the country to take the necessary measures to eliminate any and all symptoms of racism and bigotry within their police force. 

In their formal complaint, the groups asked the committee to “recognize the systemic nature of the problem of racial profiling in France.” To this end, they outlined specific measures and steps the French government should take to effectively address the issue. Among these measures, the groups called for the redefining and clarification of the legal framework for police identity checks to eliminate discrimination by requiring objective and individualized grounds for all checks and changing the institutional objectives, guidelines, and training for the police, in particular by introducing anti-discrimination workshops and seminars and modifying their approach to interactions with the public. 

“The ball is firmly back in the government’s court,” HRW said. “Now, more than ever, the French government has a duty to act to ensure that no one in France feels like a second-class citizen at the hands of the police because of their perceived ethnicity or skin color.”

The complaint now lies with the CERD, who has previously expressed concern over France’s failure to address the systemic racism that is innate within the French police force.

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Rights groups complain to UN over French police racial profiling

Rights watchdogs including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International on Thursday said they were seeking UN help to end racial profiling by the French police.

Evidence and testimonies from victims and police show that in France "racial profiling particularly targets black and Arab young men and boys or those perceived as such, including children as young as 10," Human Rights Watch ( HRW ) said.

"These abusive and illegal identity checks, which are widespread throughout the country and deeply rooted in police practices, constitute systemic racial discrimination."

HRW and Amnesty International France, as well as three other French groups, lodged a complaint with the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

France's highest administrative court, the Conseil d'Etat (Council of State), in October last year found that racial profiling by the police was not limited to "isolated cases".

But "the government has taken no action to address the problem," said HRW.

"By failing to take the necessary measures to put an end to this practice, the French government is failing to meet its obligations under several international treaties," it added.

The UN committee monitors compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination , which France has signed.

'Excessive use of force'

Read more on RFI English Read also: French police report rise in racist and religion-based offences French police officers given suspended jail terms for brutal arrest Court advised to reject case accusing French police of racial profiling

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