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Prejudice in Police Profiling

Assessing an Overlooked Aspect in Prior Research

University of MiamiGwilson1{at}miami.edu

Roger Dunham

University of Miami

Geoffrey Alpert

University of South Carolina

Social science analyses of racial profiling in the context of discretionary police stops and subsequent interrogations have tended to rely on a framework dictated by federal case law, namely, they have focused on disparate impact by race as the basis for deeming profiling discriminatory. Significantly, neglected in profiling studies have been considerations of the role of prejudice. Analogizing to profiling about the sources of prejudice, activators of prejudice, and legitimacy gained from acting on prejudice, among key decision makers in other institutional domains—namely, employers in the workplace and brokers/landlords in the housing market—the authors maintain that prejudice is a source of profiling. In addition, the authors discuss how identifying the prejudicial roots of profiling enhances one’s ability to both judge its propriety and understand the scope of racial prejudice in America. The authors offer suggestions for future research that sheds additional light on the link between racial prejudice and profiling.

Key Words: prejudice • racial profiling • discrimination • race • police

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