They Say, a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Leave a comment

August 19, 2013 by canyoufeelitburning

There has been a lot of talk recently about the stop-and-frisk policy, specifically how it’s been enforced in New York. Racial profiling seems to be the biggest point of argument. Stop-and-frisk was put in place to alleviate crimes that are a result of the possession of illegal objects. The police are supposed to stop people at random and search that individual for illegal items. This graphic does a great job of summarizing how this policy discriminates against black people. The police stopped 2.3 million black people and only 435,00 white people but ended up having the same amount of seizures (16,000) from both groups.
Advocates of the policy argue that African Americans fit the profile. But how is that? That statement reflects the sentiment that darker skin is factor in determining who is prone to committing crimes. This sentiment becomes more clear when data shows otherwise. Stopping white individuals has resulted in 1 seizure per 27 stops, and black people have yielded 1 seizure per every 143 stops. Wouldn’t the high yield from white people imply that they “fit the profile” even more so than Hispanics and African Americans? Even with this data, the NYPD continued to stop and frisk significantly more black people. That is racial profiling at its worst. Our society still believes that darker skin makes you more likely to be a criminal.

In our criminal justice system today, race continues to be a relevant issue. Being a minority means that you are much more likely to be deprived of your liberty than if you were a member of the majority. This was apparently true from the very moment you walk down the street in New York due to the manner by which stop-and-frisk is enforced.