[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 191 (Thursday, December 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2576]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF END RACIAL PROFILING ACT OF 2007

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 13, 2007

  Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the End Racial 
Profiling Act of 2007, along with additional bipartisan 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.
  Before September 11, 2001, there was wide agreement among Americans, 
including President Bush and Attorney General Ashcroft, that racial 
profiling is wrong and should end. Many in the law enforcement 
community also acknowledged that singling out people for heightened 
scrutiny based on their race, ethnicity or national origin has eroded 
the trust in law enforcement necessary to appropriately serve and 
protect our communities. What was true before September 11, is even 
more true today: racial profiling is inappropriate and ineffective as a 
law enforcement tactic.
  While 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. The guidelines 
provide no enforcement mechanism or methods for identifying law 
enforcement agencies not in compliance and, therefore, fail to resolve 
the racial profiling problem nationwide. In this instance, there is no 
substitute for comprehensive Federal anti-profiling legislation.
  Our legislation is designed to eliminate racial, ethnic, religious, 
and national origin profiling that is well documented. While the 
majority of law enforcement officers perform their duties 
professionally and without bias, and we value their service highly, we 
believe that enough evidence has been presented to warrant federal 
action. For example, an April 2005 Bureau of Justice Statistics report 
showed that African Americans and Hispanics experience physical 
searches and vehicle searches by police significantly more than whites. 
This is especially disturbing given the fact that in only 3.3 percent 
of cases for blacks, and 13 percent of cases for Latinos, did they 
possess criminal evidence, compared to 14.5 percent of cases for 
whites.
  The report also revealed a new troubling trend: While the rate of 
encounters between police and civilians did not change between the 1999 
and 2002 survey, the police dramatically increased their use of force 
and threat of force overall, from less than 1 percent in 1999 to 1.5 
percent in 2002. In addition, law enforcement officials 
disproportionately used force or threatened to use force against blacks 
and Latinos, at rates roughly three times more than against whites.
  The End Racial Profiling Act is designed to track and eradicate 
racial profiling by changing the policies and procedures underlying the 
practice. First, the bill provides a prohibition on racial profiling, 
enforceable by injunctive relief. Second, the receipt of Federal law 
enforcement funding that goes to State and local governments is 
conditioned on their adoption of effective policies that prohibit 
racial profiling.
  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.
  Racial profiling is a divisive practice that strikes at the very 
foundation of our democracy. 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. 
Decades ago, with the passage of sweeping civil rights legislation, 
this country made clear that race should not affect the treatment of 
individual Americans under the law. The practice of using race as a 
criterion in law enforcement undermines the progress we have made 
toward racial equality.
  With the cooperation of the administration, we have the opportunity 
to move bipartisan legislation and end the practice of racial 
profiling. I hope that we do not miss a historic opportunity to heal 
the rift caused by racial profiling and restore community confidence in 
law enforcement.

                          ____________________