Define and describe racial profiling by police forces.

Racial profiling refers to the tendency of police departments to view members of certain minority groups as more likely to commit crimes than the general population, and to then use that assumption in making decisions about who to arrest for traffic violations, whose suitcases to search in customs investigations, and so on. One source of evidence of racial profiling is a report from the New Jersey attorney general that showed that 77 of the motorists stopped and searched by New Jersey state troopers are African American or Hispanic, even though only 13.5 of the drivers on New Jersey highways are African American or Hispanic. In addition, lack of access to high-quality legal services, along with patterns of bias in jury selection, also help account for much higher conviction rates among people of color. These patterns of racial injustice are examples of what is known as institutional racism. A major reason African Americans make up a disproportionate share of prison populations (as compared to Whites) is institutional racism. African Americans and Hispanic Americans are more than twice as likely as Whites to be searched, arrested, or subdued with force when stopped by police.