In recent years, public debate over the question of whether or not law enforcement officials at all levels in the United States use the practice known as racial profiling in stopping and/or identifying suspects has become emotionally charged. According to R. Richard Banks (2003), the view that pervasive, irrational racial profiling invariably accounts for the widespread investigation of people of color and ethnic minorities reflects a misreading of empirical studies of law enforcement officersÆ stop-search practices. Banks (2003) believes that the empirical evidence is more ambiguous than critics of law enforcement have suggested and that while it is likely that some officers do use race as a basis in making stop-search decisions, the vast majority of such decisions are often based upon legitimate concerns and beliefs about the possibility that an individual is engaged in some type of illegal behavior.
At its worst and most heinous, racial profiling consists of depending extensively if not exclusively upon the perceived race or ethnicity of an individual in making the decision that he or she should be stopped, searched, or questioned (Frum, 2003). Whereas the subject first gained significance in the context of race relations in the United States, it began to take on new significance in the aftermath of the terrorist attack on America on September 11, 2001. The charge that individuals are being subjected to racial profiling, said Frum (2003), was based initially on the belief that law-abiding individuals were being harassed and arrested for no offense other than ôdriving while black.ö After September 11, 2001, charges that racial profiling was targeting individuals of putatively Middle Eastern Arabic or Islamic characteristics stirred up the debate once again.
It is readily apparent, according to Sally Donnelly (2003), that racial profiling on its face represents at least attitudes or beliefs that reflect prejudice or b...