Candidates' positions are categorized as Pro (Yes), Con (No), Not Clearly Pro or Con, or None Found. Candidates who have changed their positions are listed as Now their most recent position. Candidates are listed by party and in alphabetical order by last name. Black & white photos indicate candidates who have withdrawn or who no longer meet our criteria for inclusion.
Should law enforcement be allowed to use racial profiling?
Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico, stated the following during an Apr. 25, 2012 interview on RT's The Alyona Show, available at YouTube.com:
"Stop and frisk policies in New York. 700,000 New Yorkers have been stopped in the last year and basically searched. And we're not talking about getting on an airplane here. We're talking about on the streets of New York and Mayor Bloomberg had criticism for Arizona's law [SB 1070] said it was going to lead to racial profiling. Well I have got to tell you in New York I think racial profiling is going on right now with regard to the whole stop and frisk. Isn't this why we fought wars when it comes to protecting our civil liberties? Well this is civil liberties out the window." Apr. 25, 2012 Gary Johnson
Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States, stated the following during his July 22, 2009 "News Conference by the President," available at www.whitehouse.gov:
"...[T]there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact.
As you know, Lynn, when I was in the state legislature in Illinois, we worked on a racial profiling bill because there was indisputable evidence that blacks and Hispanics were being stopped disproportionately. And that is a sign, an example of how, you know, race remains a factor in this society. That doesn't lessen the incredible progress that has been made. I am standing here as testimony to the progress that's been made.
And yet the fact of the matter is, is that this still haunts us. And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently and oftentime for no cause casts suspicion even when there is good cause. And that's why I think the more that we're working with local law enforcement to improve policing techniques so that we're eliminating potential bias, the safer everybody is going to be." July 22, 2009 Barack Obama
Jill Stein, MD, former Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, was quoted in an Apr. 9, 2012 article "Stein Calls for Elimination of Racist Violence," available at www.jillstein.org:
"It is terrible that some individuals now believe they can shoot Black people on our streets and get away with it, but it is not surprising given that they have seen that police forces across the country make use of racial profiling and that our prison and criminal justice systems reinforce racial disparities in every imaginable way." Apr. 9, 2012 Jill Stein
Ron Paul, US Representative (R-TX), stated the following on Nov. 22, 2011 during the Republican presidential candidate debate in Washington DC, sponsored by CNN, American Enterprise Institute, and the Heritage Foundation, available at archives.cnn.com:
"BLITZER: So just to be precise, is it ethnic profiling, religious profiling? Who would be profiled?
SANTORUM: Well, the folks who are most likely to be committing these crimes...
BLITZER: Congressman Paul?
PAUL: That's digging a... That's digging a hole for ourselves. What if they look like Timothy McVeigh? You know, he was a pretty tough criminal.
...terrorism is a tactic. It isn't a person. It isn't a people. So this is a very careless use of words...
...I would be very cautious about protecting the rule of law. It will be a sacrifice that you'll be sorry for." Nov. 22, 2011 Ron Paul