Is Crime "Profiling" a Reasonable Premise?

• Position: Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

The practice of police "profiling" made headlines in March, 1999, when New Jersey's Superintendent of State Police was fired for maintaining that minorities are disproportionately involved in drug crimes. According to state police statistics, three out of four people arrested on the New Jersey Turnpike over a two-month period were minorities, principally blacks, who make up 13% of the national population. Similarly, FBI Uniform Crime Reports data show that 63% of drug arrests in New Jersey were of minorities. Nationwide, the most recent (1997) FBI data show that 30% of those arrested for "serious" crimes were black, as were 41% of those arrested for violent crimes and 56% for murder.

According to the Statistical Assessment Service, Washington, D.C., these statistics, which only track crimes reported to the police, pose a "chicken and egg" problem. As criminologist Katheryn Russell, University of Maryland, College Park, puts it, "The high number of blacks arrested are partially the result of police targeting them in the first place." Are black Americans more likely to commit crimes, or are their higher arrest rates a function of discriminatory police profiling?

The National Household Survey of Substance and Drug Abuse finds that nearly the same proportion of blacks and whites say that they use illegal substances--roughly 12-13% for both groups. Yet, 37% of those arrested for drug-related crimes such as trafficking or possession are black. Bureau of Justice Statistics data trace the higher rate of black arrests to the type of drug used (more often crack cocaine or heroin), the amount possessed or trafficked, and the frequency and circumstances of use, often on city streets in areas of intensive police surveillance.

Are differential arrest results the outcome of more intensive police attention to blacks rather than their greater involvement in crime? For homicides, the FBI keeps supplemental statistics providing data on the age, sex, and race of perpetrators and victims. These data show that 37% of murderers...