Racial Profiling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Racial Profiling - Essay Example Arguing that racial profiling does exist within Canadian law enforcement and that colorblind justice in this country is an idea which is not yet been attained, the following will address the racial profiling issue in holistic perspective. This research paper will begin with an introduction to racial profiling, both in Canada and throughout the world and will discuss what has been done to address this issue from a social policy perspective. While both descriptive and prescriptive, a significant portion of this research paper will explain what should be done in order to address this problem within Canadian law enforcement. Accordingly, this research paper will advocate a public policy which will address issues of criminal justice and social inequality with the aim of tackling racial profiling in this country. As with United States, racial profiling is an important issue which has garnered much media attention but which remains problematic for visible minorities as well as for the polic e services in this country. The following now turns to introduction to racial profiling. According to the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, racial profiling is defined as â€Å"as "the practice of police and other law enforcement officers relying, to any degree, on race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin as the basis for subjecting persons to investigatory activities or for determining whether an individual is engaged in criminal activity" (United Nations Commission for Human Rights, 2009). Although many would like to think that racial profiling is a thing of the past, the issue of racial profiling by police services was brought to the fore of international media attention with the arrest of African-American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Junior. His arrest was quite controversial and was predicated on the fact that Prof. Henry