Racial or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting, or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity or religion, rather than on individual suspicion. Racial profiling often involves discrimination against the minority population and is based on any negative stereotypes of the targeted demographic. Racial profiling, however, is not limited only to an individual's ethnicity, race, or religion and can also be based on the individual's nationality. In European countries, the term "ethnic profiling" is also used instead of racial profiling.
Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement. It is an extreme form of police misconduct or violence and is a civil rights violation. It also refers to a situation where officers exercise undue or excessive force against a person. Police violence includes but is not limited to physical or verbal harassment, physical or mental injury, property damage, the inaction of police officers, and in some cases, death. In the United States, qualified immunity is a legal doctrine used to protect officers from litigation after incidents of police violence. This law was issued by the Supreme Court in 1982. In recent years, particularly since the fatal shooting
… Read more of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, police brutality has become a hot-button issue in the United States. Police officers in America are killing around 1,000 people every single year.
The Black Lives Matter Movement, formed in 2013, has been a vocal part of the movement against police brutality in the U.S. by organizing “die-ins”, marches, and demonstrations in response to the killings of black men and women by police.
While Black Lives Matter has become a controversial movement within the U.S., it has brought more attention to the number and frequency of police shootings of civilians.