I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2074
To prohibit racial profiling.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JUNE 6, 2001
Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. SCOTT, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of
Texas, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. WU, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr.
HONDA, Mr. STARK, Mrs. MORELLA, Mr. GREENWOOD, Mr. FRELING-
HUYSEN, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. FERGUSON, and Mr. WALSH) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To prohibit racial profiling.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘End Racial Profiling Act of 2001’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
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.
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 REPORT ON RACIAL
PROFILING IN THE UNITED STATES
Sec. 401. Attorney General to issue report 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.
Sec. 504. Effective dates.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings:
(1) The vast majority of law enforcement
agents nationwide discharge their duties profes-
sionally, without bias, and protect the safety of their
communities.
(2) The use by police officers of race, ethnicity,
or national origin in deciding which persons should
be subject to traffic stops, stops and frisks, ques-
tioning, searches, and seizures is a problematic law
enforcement tactic. Statistical evidence from across
the country demonstrates that such racial profiling
is a real and measurable phenomenon.
(3) As of November 15, 2000, the Department
of Justice had 14 publicly noticed, ongoing, pattern
or practice investigations involving allegations of ra-
cial profiling and had filed five pattern and practice
lawsuits involving allegations of racial profiling, with
four of those cases resolved through consent decrees.
(4) A large majority of individuals subjected to
stops and other enforcement activities based on race,
ethnicity, or national origin are found to be law-
abiding and therefore racial profiling is not an effec-
tive means to uncover criminal activity.
(5) A 2001 Department of Justice report on
citizen-police contacts in 1999 found that, although
African-Americans and Hispanics were more likely
to be stopped and searched, they were less likely to
be in possession of contraband. On average, searches
and seizures of African-American drivers yielded evi-
dence only eight percent of the time, searches and
seizures of Hispanic drivers yielded evidence only 10
percent of the time, and searches and seizures of
white drivers yielded evidence 17 percent of the
time.
(6) A 2000 General Accounting Office report on
the activities of the United States Customs Service
during fiscal year 1998 found that black women who
were United States citizens were 9 times more likely
than white women who were United States citizens
to be X-rayed after being frisked or patted down
and, on the basis of X-ray results, black women who
were United States citizens were less than half as
likely as white women who were United States citi-
zens to be found carrying contraband. In general,
the report found that the patterns used to select
passengers for more intrusive searches resulted in
women and minorities being selected at rates that
were not consistent with the rates of finding contra-
band.
(7) Current local law enforcement practices,
such as ticket and arrest quotas, and similar man-
agement practices, may have the unintended effect
of encouraging law enforcement agents to engage in
racial profiling.
(8) Racial profiling harms individuals subjected
to it because they experience fear, anxiety, humilia-
tion, anger, resentment, and cynicism when they are
unjustifiably treated as criminal suspects. By dis-
couraging individuals from traveling freely, racial
profiling impairs both interstate and intrastate com-
merce.