There is racial bias in the US Law Enforcement System.

I will say that Pro should have waited to mention anything from my argument until his third round (as stated in the rules) but I am fine with the manner in which it was done. However I will continue my debate as if debating "racism" which I should have clarified to begin with. Since this debate is on Law Enforcement I will be ignoring Pro's points about the education system and other government institutions as it is beyond the scope of this argument. In particular affirmative action is not something I would deem relevant to prove racial bias in law enforcement as this program is not used for such a thing. While it is an example of racial bias that is legally encouraged this argument is not dealing with legally encouraged racial bias but rather bias that is illegal. So while it is a good example of bias existing in government systems it does not explain why there would be bias in a system that does not legally protect such bias. Keep in mind when referring to racial bias this means either arresting or convincing someone solely because of their race and not simply stating that a larger percentage of one race is arrested/convicted more than the other. The later does not explain the reason for there being an unequal percentage but simply that it is there and to jump to racial bias as an answer avoids any other variables that could contribute. I will agree with pro that there is implicit bias towards your own race as pro has cited many reliable sources and the science has been well defined on the topic for years. There is good consensus in the scientific field that all races are implicitly biased towards their own race. That being said there are very good review documents that give well practiced strategies for reducing such biases [1]. Though it is impossible to completely reduce bias to a null it is possible to monitor law enforcement and analyze data on their actions to see if bias reaches unacceptable levels or levels that should not be possible if proper bias reducing strategies are being practiced.1) New York Stop and FriskWhile pro mentions that the NY frisk program stops more blacks/Latinos, but it takes less searches of whites to find a weapon, he neglects to mention that among young teens that blacks and Latinos are much more likely to be carrying an illegal weapon [2]. Most people stopped are in fact teens and young adults. If pro specified the data by age group we would be able to arrive at a more clear answer and reduce variables that confound this. Thus pro has not provided ample evidence to say for certain that racial bias is clear in this case.2) Driving while Black/Native Again according to [2] among the teen and young adult population minorities (non-Asian) are much more likely to either commit a traffic violation, have previous arrests, carry contraband, or be in possession of an illegal weapon. While I cannot do the calculations with the time left this (as in point 1) brings into question what confounding variables remain in pro's answers and justification for claiming that racial bias is present.3) Sentencing of Black AmericansThis is something I brought up in my argument. It is a consistently driven point that minorities (especially blacks) receive much longer sentences for the same crime. What these studies never control for is previous arrests/convictions, location of the arrest, the judge's record of sentences, and the lawyer available to the defendant. I will refer readers back to my first argument to see it with full citations and claims. My ConcessionsPro takes several of my quotes out of context namely for points 1 and 2. I will refer the reader back to my previous argument and implore them to read the quote in full context both above and below the quote. The reiterate the reason I claimed why minorities (non-Asian) are arrested more or given stricter sentences is that they are statistically much more likely to commit crime (expect for arson), much more likely to have committed multiple crimes, and much more likely to resist arrest and/or shoot at or attempt to harm an officer. Point 3 of mine is also protected by this reasoning. While it is true that blacks are arrested more often then the perpetrator is suspected to be black they are still not arrested more often than they are statistically likely to commit these types of crimes. In fact many cities cite under policing as a major issue in most communities especially with homicide which I mentioned in my argument above.1) . http://www.ncsc.org...2) . http://www.bjs.gov...(I am very sorry for the short and ill formatted counter-arguement. I unfortunately am in the middle of moving and nearly forgot that the debate was due today. I am sorry to pro and all voters for dissapointing in this debate and woud love to debate pro again on another subject on which I promise to dedicate myself to fully to ensure a fun debate for all. I understand if I lose this debate as this was very quickly thrown together but I hope you enjoyed our debate. Thank you! )