Special Report No. 1
In 1994, Congress enacted legislation (known as "Section 14141") authorizing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to conduct investigations of and bring suit against police departments alleged to be engaging in a pattern or practice of abusive use of force or racial discrimination such as racial profiling. This authority led to the development of consent decrees with the Los Angeles Police Department, the New Jersey State Police, the Pittsburgh Police Department, and other jurisdictions to address racial profiling, excessive use of force, and other concerns.
Civil rights advocates continued to urge further reforms to eliminate racial profiling -- such as the increased use of data collection programs by law enforcement agencies to assess whether their officers are engaged in racial profiling, establishing accreditation for law enforcement, as well as legislation requiring prosecutors to collect data on exercises of prosecutorial discretion such as charging decisions, bail and sentencing recommendations. Throughout these discussions, civil rights advocates emphasized that fairness and nondiscrimination are entirely consistent with a commitment to tough, effective law enforcement.
In the spring of 1999, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) introduced the Traffic Stops Statistics Study Act (H.R. 1443). This proposal is intended to discourage law enforcement officers from using race as a primary factor in deciding to institute a car search. The Act also seeks to collect statistical data on the nature and extent of racial profiling by authorizing the Attorney General to conduct a study of stops for routine traffic violations by law enforcement officers. H.R. 1443 passed the House Judiciary Committee on March 1st, 2000 by a voice vote with no weakening amendments, but no further action was taken on the bill in the 106th Congress.
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced a Senate counterpart to the Traffic Stops Statistics Study Act (S. 821) in the spring of 1999. The Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights held a hearing on March 31st, 2000 on the legislation; however, no further action was taken by the 106th Congress.
In June of 1999 President Clinton issued an Executive Order calling for the collection of data relating to race, ethnicity and gender in law enforcement activities. The President stated, "We must work together to build the trust of all Americans in law enforcement(8520)topping or searching individuals on the basis of race is not effective law enforcement policy, and is not consistent with our democratic ideals, especially our commitment to equal protection under the law for all persons."
In March 2000, Rep. Conyers introduced the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act (H.R. 3981). The bill's provisions included encouraging the development of national law enforcement standards regarding traffic stops, use of force, and other matters. H.R. 3981 was referred to the House Judiciary Committee where it received no further action in the 106th Congress.
The Reasonable Search Standards Act (S. 2393) was introduced in April 2000 by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Referred to the Senate Finance Committee, the bill would have prohibited any discriminatory profiling by the U.S. Customs Service. The Reasonable Search Standards Act would make clear that the Customs Service is prohibited from profiling passengers based on race, religion, gender, national origin, or sexual orientation in determining who will be subject to detentions and searches.
