Statistics released last November showed that 73 percent of drivers who were stopped and searched on Interstate 95 between Baltimore and Delaware were African-American. A corresponding American Civil Liberties Union study concluded that only 14 percent of drivers on the highway were black. And in central Florida, black drivers on the Florida Turnpike were 6.5 times more likely to be searched than white drivers, according to an analysis by the Orlando Sentinel , which studied more than 3,800 traffic stops between January 1996 and April 1997. Outside of law enforcement, profiling is used widely with little objection. Market researchers use profiles to predict what type of person will buy a particular brand of soap.
Political consultants profile voters to spot hot-button issues.
Television networks develop viewer profiles to determine new programming. And jury consultants profile prospective jurors to help lawyers select sympathetic panels. But as predictors of criminal behavior, profiling has a checkered past. But over the years, the art of profiling has greatly improved, advocates say. It then distributes those guidelines to the airlines, which mix random searches with searches based on the guidelines.