Racial Profiling

Karen S. Glover investigates the social science practices of racial profiling inquiry, examining their key influence in shaping public understandings of race, law, and law enforcement. Commonly manifesting in the traffic stop, the association with racial minority status and criminality challenges the fundamental principle of equal justice under the law as described in the U.S. Constitution. Communities of color have long voiced resistance to racialized law and law enforcement, yet the body of knowledge about racial profiling rarely engages these voices.

Applying a critical race framework, Glover provides in-depth interview data and analysis that demonstrate the broad social and legal realms of citizenship that are inherent to the racial profiling phenomenon. To demonstrate the often subtle workings of race and the law in the post-Civil Rights era, the book includes examination of the 1996 U.S. Supreme Court's Whren decision-a judicial pronouncement that allows pretextual action by law enforcement and thus widens law enforcement powers in decisions concerning when and against whom law is applied.