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Racial Profiling in South Carolina

S. In South Carolina, the Department of Motor Vehicles issued out guidelines which stated the "common characteristics" of a drug dealer so that police would be aware of who to target. Such guidelines specified to watch out for people who wear a lot of jewelry and don't fit the car they are driving. .
             Today, there are a lot of stories as well as statistical data that proves that law enforcement officers in South Carolina practice racial profiling. In 1999, video was publicized showing a highway patrol officer in Aiken terrorizing a 26-year old black woman named La-Prell Drumming. According to the Bureau of Justice Standards (2001), among licensed drivers 12% of the black population and 10% of the white population was pulled over, (keeping in mind there are only 35 million blacks in the U.S. compared to 210 million whites). Out of these figures, 11% of blacks were physically searched or had their cars searched, compared to 5% of whites. In about 90% of these searches, the police found no criminal wrongdoing or evidence. This data proves that more black drivers are being targeted for criminal activity. With more African Americans being targeted and pulled over, the chance of arresting a black motorist is greater. According to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, the prison population in the past decade has seen a 60% increase in black prisoners compared to a 4% decrease of white prisoners. The high rate of blacks being arrested and imprisoned gives the perception that African Americans are more likely to commit crimes than whites. .
             On June 6, 2001, Representative John Conyers of Michigan introduced a bill to the House of Representatives called the End Racial Profiling Act of 2001. In this bill, the findings that a large majority of individuals that are being stopped based on race are law-abiding citizens, and therefore racial profiling is not an effective mean for finding criminal activity.


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