Racial profiling

Congress addresses racial profiling

Date: 7/26/01

from the Presbyterian Washington Office

This is an issue publication sent to the Civil Rights and Religious Liberties issue network, written by Elenora Giddings Ivory of the Washington Office, Presbyterian Church (USA), taken from the Washington Report to Presbyterians for July/August 2001.

Support efforts to end racial profiling - HR 2074/S 989

[See below for background report]

The 105th Congress (1997-1998), addressed the issue of racial profiling in a bill formally titled "The Traffic Stop Statistics Act." At the time, this bill was designed to provide a mechanism by which local officials could collect data on traffic stops to see if there really was racial profiling going on our nation's highways. Informally, the bill and the concept behind it was referred to as DWB or Driving While Black or Brown. Background information for the bills sponsors was taken from actual stories found in newspapers across the country, where African American men where detained or stopped at high rates for reasons that may not have been readily apparent other than the fact that they were Black. In 1998, the bill passed in the House. Although it had strong bipartisan support, it never made it out of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate.

Now, in 2001, as local police officials find them selves being heavily scrutinized by the public for arrest and actions against African American men that may be questionable, some have begun to keep information on their traffic stops as a way to defend themselves against these assertions. All communities have not addressed the practice of racial profiling. In response to the widespread belief that there is a continuing and growing epidemic of racial profiling, hundreds of police departments have begun to voluntarily collect detailed records of traffic stops. Nine states have adopted legislation requiring their police departments to collect data, including the gender and perceived race and ethnicity of the person stopped as well as whether a search was initiated and if any warning or citation was issued.

Representative John Conyers (D-MI) is the primary sponsor in the House with Senator Russ Fiengold (D-WI) in the Senate. The bill numbers are HR2074 and S989. Again, there is strong bipartisan support. This new bill builds on those introduced on the past. It would specifically:

Concretely define racial profiling and declare it illegal.

Give victims of racial profiling the ability to sue police departments that have violated their rights.

Allow the Attorney General to mandate data collection by federal and state law enforcement agencies on any police "stops," including those done by police departments, immigration and customs agents.

Provide grants to police departments to establish data collection and other management programs.

Require the Attorney General to report on the results of the data.

To make racial profiling less desirable as a practice of our law enforcement agencies, we need to get as many sponsors as possible on the proposed legislation. In order for communities of color to gain trust in the judicial system, we will need to put this safe guard in place. We need a system that is seen as fair. The NAACP quotes statistics that say that approximately 72 percent of all routine traffic stops on as interstate in the Northeast occur with African American drivers despite the fact that African Americans make up only about 17 percent of the driving population.

The United Nations is preparing for the "World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances". How the United States has handled the issues of race will be on the minds of those who attend from various nations of the world as they gather in Durban, South Africa beginning on August 25 through September 7, 2001.

The 1996 General Assembly urged all Presbyterians to "commit themselves to working for policies and programs, nationally and locally, that will help redeem our society from the grip of racism and racial intolerance."

Contact your Member of the House and your two Senators and ask that they join with those above in the introduction of this legislation.

Stop racial profiling

[6-2-01]

from the Presbyterian Washington Office

Support the End Racial Profiling Act of 2001! In response to the widespread belief that there is a growing epidemic of racial profiling, hundreds of police departments have begun to voluntarily collect detailed records of traffic stops. Nine states have adopted legislation requiring their police departments to collect data, including the gender and perceived race and ethnicity of the person stopped as well as whether a search was initiated and if any warning or citation was issued.

Congress, however, has stubbornly refused to act. Some courageous Senators and Representatives - including Sens. Russ Feingold, D-WI, Jon Corzine, D-NJ, and Hillary Clinton, D-NY, and Rep. John Conyers, D-MI - are refusing to give up and are preparing to introduce new legislation that would:

	Concretely define racial profiling and declare it illegal.
	Give victims of racial profiling the ability to sue police departments that have violated their rights.
	Allow the Attorney General to mandate data collection by federal and state law enforcement agencies on any police "stops," including those done by police departments, immigration and customs agents.
	Provide grants to police departments to establish data collection and other management programs.
	Require the Attorney General to report on the results of the data collection studies.

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