Join the conversation
Can you properly explain why racial profiling is a bad idea?
In the discussion about racial profiling, people often point to the overrepresentation of persons with a migration background in crime statistics. "They are also more often criminals, aren't they?"
Yes, there is. Two-thirds of prisoners in the Netherlands have a migration background: Western and non-Western. RTL already wrote this back in 2015, but CBS figures from 2018 paint the same picture. People with a non-Western migration background make up half of the prison population. Considerably overrepresented, because in the Netherlands 13% of people have a non-Western migration background.
Is this overrepresentation justified? No, because the overrepresentation of people with a migration background in crime statistics is not a natural fact. Research shows that young people with and without a migration background equally report committing crimes. Yet it turns out that men with a migration background are checked by the police twice as often as Dutch-Dutch men. Young people with a migration background are two to three times more likely to be considered suspects. Youth with a migration background are ten times more likely to receive a prison sentence instead of a HALT punishment. Moreover, suspects with a migration background are more severely punished by the courts. Offenders with a "foreign appearance" (sic) who speak the Dutch language are five times more likely to be sentenced to unconditional imprisonment than offenders with a "Dutch appearance" (sic) who also speak the Dutch language. Perpetrators with a "foreign appearance" (sic) who do not speak Dutch are twenty times more likely to be convicted.
People suspected of crimes should be checked by law enforcement officers. Good idea! But that is not the question that matters. The core question at issue, in this discussion, is this: should you check people more often because they belong to a group that is overrepresented in crime statistics?
The answer is no. Prime Minister Mark Rutte also answers "no" to this question. He said in the House of Representatives as follows (video here, from minute 1): "for me as a liberal and as a member of this society it is crucial that we always judge people on their individual behavior and never on the group they belong to if they have no responsibility for what that group as a whole does."
The police also answered "no" to this question. As of December 2017, there is a policy stating that this is not allowed. According to this policy, officers are not allowed to check someone because "he belongs (by appearance) to a group that is over-represented in crime statistics or because in terms of just his appearance he 'doesn't belong' in that neighborhood."
You are not responsible for the behavior of others who may look like you. For example, white men should also not be stopped more often by police because pedophiles are often white men. Law enforcement officers should look at behavior, not appearance.
Lastly, two reading tips: read this comprehensive fact sheet on Dutch people with a migration background and crime rates, and check out this article with seven arguments (and counterarguments) for disaggregating crime rates by origin.