II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2132

To prohibit racial profiling. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2004

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. CORZINE, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. LAUTENBERG, 

Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. KERRY, Mrs. BOXER, 

Mr. REID, Mr. DODD, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. MIKULSKI, and Mr. EDWARDS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To prohibit racial profiling.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘End Racial Profiling Act of 2004’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

7 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. 

TITLE I—PROHIBITION OF RACIAL PROFILING 

Sec. 101. Prohibition. 

Sec. 102. Enforcement. 

2

•S 2132 IS 

TITLE II—PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE RACIAL PROFILING BY 

FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES 

Sec. 201. Policies to eliminate racial profiling. 

TITLE III—PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE RACIAL PROFILING BY 

STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES 

Sec. 301. Policies required for grants. 

Sec. 302. Best practices development grants. 

TITLE IV—DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE REPORTS ON RACIAL 

PROFILING IN THE UNITED STATES 

Sec.401. Attorney General to issue reports on racial profiling in the United 

States. 

Sec. 402. Limitation on use of data. 

TITLE V—DEFINITIONS AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 

Sec. 501. Definitions. 

Sec. 502. Severability. 

Sec.503. Savings clause.

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Federal, State, and local law enforcement 

4 agents play a vital role in protecting the public from 

5 crime and protecting the Nation from terrorism. The 

6 vast majority of law enforcement agents nationwide 

7 discharge their duties professionally and without 

8 bias. 

9 (2) The use by police officers of race, ethnicity, 

10 religion, or national origin in deciding which persons 

11 should be subject to traffic stops, stops and frisks, 

12 questioning, searches, and seizures is improper. 

13 (3) In his address to a Joint Session of Con14 gress on February 27, 2001, President George W. 

15 Bush declared that ‘‘racial profiling is wrong and we 

3

•S 2132 IS 

1 will end it in America.’’ He directed the Attorney 

2 General to implement this policy. 

3 (4) In June 2003, the Department of Justice 

4 issued a Policy Guidance regarding racial profiling 

5 by Federal law enforcement agencies which stated: 

6 ‘‘Racial profiling in law enforcement is not merely 

7 wrong, but also ineffective. Race-based assumptions 

8 in law enforcement perpetuate negative racial stereo9 types that are harmful to our rich and diverse de10 mocracy, and materially impair our efforts to main11 tain a fair and just society.’’ 

12 (5) The Department of Justice Guidance is a 

13 useful first step, but does not achieve the President’s 

14 stated goal of ending racial profiling in America: it 

15 does not apply to State and local law enforcement 

16 agencies, does not contain a meaningful enforcement 

17 mechanism, does not require data collection, and 

18 contains an overbroad exception for immigration and 

19 national security matters. 

20 (6) Current efforts by State and local govern21 ments to eradicate racial profiling and redress the 

22 harms it causes, while also laudable, have been lim23 ited in scope and insufficient to address this national 

24 problem. Therefore, Federal legislation is needed. 

4

•S 2132 IS 

1 (7) Statistical evidence from across the country 

2 demonstrates that racial profiling is a real and 

3 measurable phenomenon. 

4 (8) As of November 15, 2000, the Department 

5 of Justice had 14 publicly noticed, ongoing, pattern 

6 or practice investigations involving allegations of ra7 cial profiling, and had filed 5 pattern and practice 

8 lawsuits involving allegations of racial profiling, with 

9 4 of those cases resolved through consent decrees. 

10 (9) A large majority of individuals subjected to 

11 stops and other enforcement activities based on race, 

12 ethnicity, religion, or national origin are found to be 

13 law abiding and therefore racial profiling is not an 

14 effective means to uncover criminal activity. 

15 (10) A 2001 Department of Justice report on 

16 citizen-police contacts in 1999 found that, although 

17 African-Americans and Hispanics were more likely 

18 to be stopped and searched, they were less likely to 

19 be in possession of contraband. On average, searches 

20 and seizures of African-American drivers yielded evi21 dence only 8 percent of the time, searches and sei22 zures of Hispanic drivers yielded evidence only 10 

23 percent of the time, and searches and seizures of 

24 white drivers yielded evidence 17 percent of the 

25 time. 

5

•S 2132 IS 

1 (11) A 2000 General Accounting Office report 

2 on the activities of the United States Customs Serv3 ice during fiscal year 1998 found that— 

4 (A) black women who were United States 

5 citizens were 9 times more likely than white 

6 women who were United States citizens to be x7 rayed after being frisked or patted down; 

8 (B) black women who were United States 

9 citizens were less than half as likely as white 

10 women who were United States citizens to be 

11 found carrying contraband; and 

12 (C) in general, the patterns used to select 

13 passengers for more intrusive searches resulted 

14 in women and minorities being selected at rates 

15 that were not consistent with the rates of find16 ing contraband. 

17 (12) In some jurisdictions, local law enforce18 ment practices such as ticket and arrest quotas, and 

19 similar management practices, may have the unin20 tended effect of encouraging law enforcement agents 

21 to engage in racial profiling. 

22 (13) Racial profiling harms individuals sub23 jected to it because they experience fear, anxiety, hu24 miliation, anger, resentment, and cynicism when 

25 they are unjustifiably treated as criminal suspects.

6

•S 2132 IS 

1 By discouraging individuals from traveling freely, ra2 cial profiling impairs both interstate and intrastate 

3 commerce. 

4 (14) Racial profiling damages law enforcement 

5 and the criminal justice system as a whole by under6 mining public confidence and trust in the police, the 

7 courts, and the criminal law. 

8 (15) In the wake of the September 11, 2001, 

9 terrorist attacks, many Arabs, Muslims, Central and 

10 South Asians, and Sikhs, as well as other immi11 grants and Americans of foreign descent, were treat12 ed with generalized suspicion and subjected to 

13 searches and seizures based upon religion and na14 tional origin, without trustworthy information link15 ing specific individuals to criminal conduct. Such 

16 profiling has failed to produce tangible benefits, yet 

17 has created a fear and mistrust of law enforcement 

18 agencies in these communities. 

19 (16) Racial profiling violates the equal protec20 tion clause of the Constitution. Using race, ethnicity, 

21 religion, or national origin as a proxy for criminal 

22 suspicion violates the constitutional requirement that 

23 police and other government officials accord to all 

24 citizens the equal protection of the law. Arlington 

7

•S 2132 IS 

1 Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Cor2 poration, 429 U.S. 252 (1977). 

3 (17) Racial profiling is not adequately ad4 dressed through suppression motions in criminal 

5 cases for two reasons. First, the Supreme Court 

6 held, in Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806 

7 (1996), that the racially discriminatory motive of a 

8 police officer in making an otherwise valid traffic 

9 stop does not warrant the suppression of evidence. 

10 Second, since most stops do not result in the dis11 covery of contraband, there is no criminal prosecu12 tion and no evidence to suppress. 

13 (18) A comprehensive national solution is need14 ed to address racial profiling at the Federal, State, 

15 and local levels. Federal support is needed to combat 

16 racial profiling through specialized training of law 

17 enforcement agents, improved management systems, 

18 and the acquisition of technology such as in-car 

19 video cameras. 

20 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

21 (1) to enforce the constitutional right to equal 

22 protection of the laws, pursuant to the Fifth Amend23 ment and section 5 of the 14th Amendment to the 

24 Constitution of the United States; 

8

•S 2132 IS 

1 (2) to enforce the constitutional right to protec2 tion against unreasonable searches and seizures, 

3 pursuant to the Fourth Amendment to the Constitu4 tion of the United States; 

5 (3) to enforce the constitutional right to inter6 state travel, pursuant to section 2 of article IV of 

7 the Constitution of the United States; and 

8 (4) to regulate interstate commerce, pursuant 

9 to clause 3 of section 8 of article I of the Constitu10 tion of the United States. 

11 TITLE I—PROHIBITION OF 

12 RACIAL PROFILING 

13 SEC. 101. PROHIBITION. 

14 No law enforcement agent or law enforcement agency 

15 shall engage in racial profiling. 

16 SEC. 102. ENFORCEMENT. 

17 (a) REMEDY.—The United States, or an individual 

18 injured by racial profiling, may enforce this title in a civil 

19 action for declaratory or injunctive relief, filed either in 

20 a State court of general jurisdiction or in a district court 

21 of the United States. 

22 (b) PARTIES.—In any action brought pursuant to 

23 this title, relief may be obtained against—

9

•S 2132 IS 

1 (1) any governmental unit that employed any 

2 law enforcement agent who engaged in racial 

3 profiling; 

4 (2) any agent of such unit who engaged in ra5 cial profiling; and 

6 (3) any person with supervisory authority over 

7 such agent. 

8 (c) NATURE OF PROOF.—Proof that the routine or 

9 spontaneous investigatory activities of law enforcement 

10 agents in a jurisdiction have had a disparate impact on 

11 racial, ethnic, or religious minorities shall constitute prima 

12 facie evidence of a violation of this title. 

13 (d) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In any action or proceeding 

14 to enforce this title against any governmental unit, the 

15 court may allow a prevailing plaintiff, other than the 

16 United States, reasonable attorney’s fees as part of the 

17 costs, and may include expert fees as part of the attorney’s 

18 fee. 

19 TITLE II—PROGRAMS TO ELIMI20 NATE RACIAL PROFILING BY 

21 FEDERAL LAW ENFORCE22 MENT AGENCIES 

23 SEC. 201. POLICIES TO ELIMINATE RACIAL PROFILING. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Federal law enforcement agencies 

25 shall— 

10

•S 2132 IS 

1 (1) maintain adequate policies and procedures 

2 designed to eliminate racial profiling; and 

3 (2) cease existing practices that encourage ra4 cial profiling. 

5 (b) POLICIES.—The policies and procedures de6 scribed in subsection (a)(1) shall include— 

7 (1) a prohibition on racial profiling; 

8 (2) the collection of data on routine investiga9 tory activities sufficient to determine if law enforce10 ment agents are engaged in racial profiling and sub11 mission of that data to the Attorney General; 

12 (3) independent procedures for receiving, inves13 tigating, and responding meaningfully to complaints 

14 alleging racial profiling by law enforcement agents of 

15 the agency; 

16 (4) procedures to discipline law enforcement 

17 agents who engage in racial profiling; and 

18 (5) such other policies or procedures that the 

19 Attorney General deems necessary to eliminate racial 

20 profiling.

11

•S 2132 IS 

1 TITLE III—PROGRAMS TO ELIMI2 NATE RACIAL PROFILING BY 

3 STATE AND LOCAL LAW EN4 FORCEMENT AGENCIES 

5 SEC. 301. POLICIES REQUIRED FOR GRANTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—An application by a State or gov7 ernmental unit for funding under a covered program shall 

8 include a certification that such unit and any agency to 

9 which it is redistributing program funds— 

10 (1) maintains adequate policies and procedures 

11 designed to eliminate racial profiling; and 

12 (2) has ceased any existing practices that en13 courage racial profiling. 

14 (b) POLICIES.—The policies and procedures de15 scribed in subsection (a) shall include— 

16 (1) a prohibition on racial profiling; 

17 (2) the collection of data on routine investiga18 tory activities sufficient to determine if law enforce19 ment agents are engaged in racial profiling, and sub20 mission of that data to the Attorney General; 

21 (3) independent procedures for receiving, inves22 tigating, and responding meaningfully to complaints 

23 alleging racial profiling by law enforcement agents; 

24 (4) procedures to discipline law enforcement 

25 agents who engage in racial profiling; and 

12

•S 2132 IS 

1 (5) such other policies or procedures that the 

2 Attorney General deems necessary to eliminate racial 

3 profiling. 

4 (c) NONCOMPLIANCE.—If the Attorney General de5 termines that a grantee is not in compliance with condi6 tions established under this title, the Attorney General 

7 shall withhold the grant, in whole or in part, until the 

8 grantee establishes compliance. The Attorney General 

9 shall provide notice regarding State grants and opportuni10 ties for private parties to present evidence to the Attorney 

11 General that a grantee is not in compliance with condi12 tions established under this title. 

13 SEC. 302. BEST PRACTICES DEVELOPMENT GRANTS. 

14 (a) GRANT AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney General 

15 may make grants to States, law enforcement agencies and 

16 other governmental units, Indian tribal governments, or 

17 other public and private entities, to develop and implement 

18 best practice devices and systems to ensure the racially 

19 neutral administration of justice. 

20 (b) USES.—The funds provided pursuant to sub21 section (a) may be used to support— 

22 (1) development and implementation of training 

23 to prevent racial profiling and to encourage more re24 spectful interaction with the public; 

13

•S 2132 IS 

1 (2) acquisition and use of technology to facili2 tate the collection of data regarding routine inves3 tigatory activities in order to determine if law en4 forcement agents are engaged in racial profiling; 

5 (3) acquisition and use of technology to verify 

6 the accuracy of data collection, including in-car video 

7 cameras and portable computer systems; 

8 (4) development and acquisition of early warn9 ing systems and other feedback systems that help 

10 identify officers or units of officers engaged in or at 

11 risk of racial profiling or other misconduct, including 

12 the technology to support such systems; 

13 (5) establishment or improvement of systems 

14 and procedures for receiving, investigating, and re15 sponding meaningfully to complaints alleging racial, 

16 ethnic, or religious bias by law enforcement agents; 

17 and 

18 (6) establishment or improvement of manage19 ment systems to ensure that supervisors are held ac20 countable for the conduct of their subordinates. 

21 (c) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—The Attorney Gen22 eral shall ensure that grants under this section are award23 ed in a manner that reserves an equitable share of funding 

24 for small and rural law enforcement agencies. 

14

•S 2132 IS 

1 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—The At2 torney General shall make available such sums as are nec3 essary to carry out this section from amounts appro4 priated for programs administered by the Attorney Gen5 eral. 

6 TITLE IV—DEPARTMENT OF JUS7 TICE REPORTS ON RACIAL 

8 PROFILING IN THE UNITED 

9 STATES 

10 SEC. 401. ATTORNEY GENERAL TO ISSUE REPORTS ON RA11 CIAL PROFILING IN THE UNITED STATES. 

12 (a) REPORTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 

14 the enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter, 

15 the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a re16 port on racial profiling by Federal, State, and local 

17 law enforcement agencies in the United States. 

18 (2) SCOPE.—The reports issued pursuant to 

19 paragraph (1) shall include— 

20 (A) a summary of data collected pursuant 

21 to sections 201(b)(2) and 301(b)(2) and any 

22 other reliable source of information regarding 

23 racial profiling in the United States; 

24 (B) the status of the adoption and imple25 mentation of policies and procedures by Federal 

15

•S 2132 IS 

1 law enforcement agencies pursuant to section 

2 201; 

3 (C) the status of the adoption and imple4 mentation of policies and procedures by State 

5 and local law enforcement agencies pursuant to 

6 sections 301 and 302; and 

7 (D) a description of any other policies and 

8 procedures that the Attorney General believes 

9 would facilitate the elimination of racial 

10 profiling. 

11 (b) DATA COLLECTION.—Not later than 6 months 

12 after the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 

13 by regulation establish standards for the collection of data 

14 under sections 201(b)(2) and 301(b)(2), including stand15 ards for setting benchmarks against which collected data 

16 shall be measured. Such standards shall result in the col17 lection of data, including data with respect to stops, 

18 searches, seizures, and arrests, that is sufficiently detailed 

19 to determine whether law enforcement agencies are en20 gaged in racial profiling and to monitor the effectiveness 

21 of policies and procedures designed to eliminate racial 

22 profiling. 

23 (c) PUBLIC ACCESS.—Data collected under sections 

24 201(b)(2) and 301(b)(2) shall be available to the public.

16

•S 2132 IS 

1 SEC. 402. LIMITATION ON USE OF DATA. 

2 Information released pursuant to section 401 shall 

3 not reveal the identity of any individual who is detained 

4 or any law enforcement officer involved in a detention. 

5 TITLE V—DEFINITIONS AND 

6 MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS 

7 SEC. 501. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) COVERED PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘covered 

10 program’’ means any program or activity funded in 

11 whole or in part with funds made available under— 

12 (A) the Edward Byrne Memorial State and 

13 Local Law Enforcement Assistance Programs 

14 (part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

15 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 

16 et seq.)); 

17 (B) the ‘‘Cops on the Beat’’ program 

18 under part Q of title I of the Omnibus Crime 

19 Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 

20 U.S.C. 3796dd et seq.), but not including any 

21 program, project, or other activity specified in 

22 section 1701(d)(8) of that Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 3796dd(d)(8)); and 

24 (C) the Local Law Enforcement Block 

25 Grant program of the Department of Justice, 

26 as described in appropriations Acts. 

17

•S 2132 IS 

1 (2) GOVERNMENTAL UNIT.—The term ‘‘govern2 mental unit’’ means any department, agency, special 

3 purpose district, or other instrumentality of Federal, 

4 State, local, or Indian tribal government. 

5 (3) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The term 

6 ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means a Federal, State, 

7 local, or Indian tribal public agency engaged in the 

8 prevention, detection, or investigation of violations of 

9 criminal, immigration, or customs laws. 

10 (4) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENT.—The term 

11 ‘‘law enforcement agent’’ means any Federal, State, 

12 local, or Indian tribal official responsible for enforc13 ing criminal, immigration, or customs laws, includ14 ing police officers and other agents of Federal, 

15 State, and local law enforcement agencies. 

16 (5) RACIAL PROFILING.—The term ‘‘racial 

17 profiling’’ means the practice of a law enforcement 

18 agent relying, to any degree, on race, ethnicity, reli19 gion, or national origin in selecting which individuals 

20 to subject to routine or spontaneous investigatory 

21 activities, or in deciding upon the scope and sub22 stance of law enforcement activity following the ini23 tial investigatory procedure, except when there is 

24 trustworthy information, relevant to the locality and 

25 timeframe, that links persons of a particular race, 

18

•S 2132 IS 

1 ethnicity, religion, or national origin to an identified 

2 criminal incident or scheme. 

3 (6) ROUTINE OR SPONTANEOUS INVESTIGATORY

4 ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘‘routine or spontaneous in5 vestigatory activities’’ means the following activities 

6 by law enforcement agents: interviews; traffic stops; 

7 pedestrian stops; frisks and other types of body 

8 searches; consensual or nonconsensual searches of 

9 the persons or possessions (including vehicles) of 

10 motorists or pedestrians; inspections and interviews 

11 of entrants into the United States that are more ex12 tensive than those customarily carried out; immigra13 tion related workplace investigations; and such other 

14 types of law enforcement encounters compiled by the 

15 FBI and the Justice Department’s Bureau of Jus16 tice Statistics. 

17 SEC. 502. SEVERABILITY. 

18 If any provision of this Act or the application of such 

19 provision to any person or circumstance is held to be un20 constitutional, the remainder of this Act and the applica21 tion of the provisions of such to any person or cir22 cumstance shall not be affected thereby. 

23 SEC. 503. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 

24 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit legal 

25 or administrative remedies under section 1979 of the ReVerDate jul 14 2003 16:19 Feb 27, 2004 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00018 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2132.IS S2132
19

•S 2132 IS 

1 vised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1983), sec2 tion 210401 of the Violent Crime Control and Law En3 forcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14141), the Omnibus 

4 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 

5 3701 et seq.), and title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

6 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.).

Æ