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“INTRODUCTION OF END RACIAL PROFILING ACT OF 2010” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1341-E1342 on July 15, 2010.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
INTRODUCTION OF END RACIAL PROFILING ACT OF 2010
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HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.
of michigan
in the house of representatives
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the End Racial Profiling Act of 2010, along with additional cosponsors. As a product of years of extensive consultation with both the law enforcement and civil rights communities, this legislation represents the most comprehensive federal commitment to healing the rift caused by racial profiling and restoring public confidence in the criminal justice system at-large. The introduction of this legislation is a critical step in what should be a nationwide, bipartisan effort to end this divisive practice.
The debate over racial profiling has become a central element in a much larger history of adversarial relationships between the police and communities of color. Over the past two decades, the tensions between police and minority communities have grown as allegations of racial profiling by law enforcement agents, sometimes supported by data collection efforts, have increased in number and frequency. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the ongoing immigration enforcement debate have only complicated the profiling issues that were traditionally centered on state and local law enforcement.
The arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and the passage of Arizona S.B. 1070 have crystalized the terms of the profiling debate and demonstrate that the combination of race and law enforcement represents a volatile mix across all strata of the minority community. Despite the fact that the majority of law enforcement officers perform their duties professionally and without bias--and we value their service highly--the specter of racial profiling has contaminated the relationship between the police and minority communities to such a degree that Federal action is justified to begin addressing the issue.
When I first introduced the Traffic Stops Statistics Study Act of 1997, the racial profiling issue was relatively straightforward in political terms. Profiling was represented by the classic pretext traffic stop, where an African-American driver was pulled over for a minor traffic violation and then asked for consent to search their vehicle. Today, traffic and pedestrian stops have given way to airport passenger profiles and immigrant sweeps. For that reason, racial profiling legislation has evolved from a simple data collection bill to comprehensive multi-tiered legislation--including a private right of action and best practice grants--that is designed to address a more complex law enforcement landscape.
As we move forward, I believe it is important to remind Members of just how far we in Congress have come in developing a bipartisan consensus on the racial profiling issue. By September 11, 2001, there was significant empirical evidence and wide agreement among Americans, including President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft, that racial profiling was a tragic fact of life in the minority community and that the Federal government should take action to end the practice.
Data collected from Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Louisiana, New York, Maryland, Maine, Rhode Island, California, West Virginia, and Oklahoma demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that African-Americans and Hispanics were being stopped for routine traffic violations far in excess of their share of the population or even the rate at which such populations are accused of criminal conduct. Similarly, Justice Department reports found that although African-Americans and Hispanics were more likely to be stopped and searched by law enforcement, they were much less likely to be found in possession of contraband.
Law enforcement officials have similarly evolved in their views. While some still take issue, many in the law enforcement community acknowledge that singling out people for heightened scrutiny based on their race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin has eroded the trust in law enforcement necessary to appropriately serve and protect our communities. Rather than seeking to deny the concerns of minority community advocates, law enforcement officials have joined the effort to create solutions and build trust with their communities. As a result, more than 20 states have passed bipartisan legislation prohibiting racial profiling and/or mandating data collection on stops and searches, in addition to hundreds of individual jurisdictions which have voluntarily commenced to collect data programs.
Congress itself was actually poised to pass racial profiling legislation in the fall of 2001, with the express support of President Bush, before the terrorist attacks changed the legislative paradigm. In the wake of the attacks, however, the Department of Justice promulgated a series of guidelines in 2003 which were designed to end the practice of racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies. These measures do not reach the vast majority of racial profiling complaints arising from the routine activities of state and local law enforcement agencies. Further, the guidelines provide no enforcement mechanism or methods for identifying law enforcement agencies not in compliance. Consequently, they fail to resolve the racial profiling problem nationwide. In this instance, there is no substitute for comprehensive federal anti-profiling legislation.
The End Racial Profiling Act is designed to enforce the constitutional right to equal protection of the laws by eliminating racial profiling through changes to the policies and procedures underlying the practice. First, the bill provides a prohibition on racial profiling, enforceable by declaratory or injunctive relief. Second, the bill mandates training on racial profiling issues and the collection of data on both routine and spontaneous investigatory activities, as a condition of receiving Federal law enforcement funding.
Third, the Justice Department is authorized to provide grants for the development and implementation of best policing practices, such as early warning systems, technology integration, and other management protocols that discourage profiling. Finally, the Attorney General is required to provide periodic reports to assess the nature of any ongoing discriminatory profiling practices.
Decades ago, this country made clear through the passage of sweeping civil rights legislation that race should not affect the treatment of individual Americans under the law. When law-abiding citizens are treated differently by those who enforce the law simply because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin, they are denied the basic respect and equal treatment that is the right of every American. With the cooperation of the administration, we have the opportunity to develop a comprehensive approach to eliminating the practice of racial profiling. I hope that we do not miss this historic opportunity to heal the rift caused by racial profiling and restore much of the community's confidence in law enforcement.
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