Minorities in Society

Race and ethnic based strategies would be termed as racial profiling if used by law enforcement officers. Usually, it is observed that a number of the gangs that are involved in crime are homogenous in terms of their racial or ethnic make up. However, this should not be the main determinant of their criminal status. Law enforcement officers should look into other factors that may make the said gangs develop the attitudes that they have (Shusta, Levine, Harris & Wong, 2002). This include level of education, socio economic status, parental up bringing among other factors.

Law enforcement strategies in my opinion should be ethnically and racially neutral. The reason for this is that often, the victims of the crime that is committed by the gang members are also of the same race or ethnicity as the gang members. Without proper care, it is easy to prosecute them and disregard their part of the story. Racially and ethnically neutral make sure that law enforcement officers can assess the situation even from the side of the victims, and be sure to come up with better solutions(Shusta, Levine, Harris & Wong, 2002). Another thing is that often, racially based strategies can be blinding, and may miss some criminals or gangs if they do not fit into the race that is targeted.

Dilemmas for police on each strategy

One of the dilemmas in the case of using racially and ethnically based strategies is the fact that it is impossible to do so without being guilty of racism. In fact, such a strategy could easily be termed as institutional racism. The result may be discrimination on an institutional basis. This is wrong, and dangerous for the progress of society(Shusta, Levine, Harris & Wong, 2002). Another dilemma is in the fact that such a strategy is not likely to capture people outside the main racial and ethnic gangs in terms of crime. This may make the police incompetent. 

In the case of racially neutral strategies, a dilemma is realized since the gangs are often racially homogenous. This kind of predictability often makes it hard to ignore racial clues in the struggle to be racially neutral. Another disadvantage is that hate crimes exist. These usually target victims mainly based on their race or ethnicity. Based on this, the race of the perpetrator can be known. Ignoring such racial clues in the struggle to remain neutral may be time wasting for the police and others in the law enforcement sector (Shusta, Levine, Harris & Wong, 2002). 

Racial profiling is likely to end in institutional racism. Institutional racism means that people are treated differently by the law based on their race or ethnicity. Racially based strategies are likely to result in this since they dictate that gangs with racial homogeneity represent the people from the ethnicity they come from. Innocent people from target races or ethnicities are likely to suffer in the fight against crime. Sometimes, these innocent people may never get justice as they are viewed as criminals solely based on their race. This is dangerous and is the start of institutional racism

In the US, gang crime is best explained by Social disorganization theory. According to this theory, the circumstances in the inner cities are the ones that affect the crime rates the most. These circumstances include gentrification in the cities and high poverty rates. People join gangs when they have no pride in where they come from and do not see the need to preserve it (Franzese, Covey & Menard, 2016). Sometimes, it is because they have many dreams but have no way of achieving them. They turn to crimes and gangs as a result of this disorientation. Social disorganization theory is therefore, the best theory to explain this. 

References

Franzese, R. J., Covey, H. C & Menard, S. (2016) Youth gangs. Charles C Thomas Publishers

Shusta, R. M., Levine, D.R., Harris, P. R., & Wong, H. Z. (2002) Multicultural Law enforcement: Strategies for Peace keeping in a diverse society. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.