Ethnic Profiling in France and the United States

In Paris, black and Arab youth are three to fifteen times more likely to be stopped by the police than their white counterparts. This is the finding of a recent study by the Open Society Justice Initiative—the first ever to produce quantitative data that supports the longstanding complaints of French minorities.

In New York, of the nearly two million innocent people that were subjected to police stops and interrogations from 2004 to 2008, an overwhelming majority were black and Latino. While racial profiling is a longstanding issue in the United States, it has only recently come to the fore in Europe and is fueling heated debate in France.

Panelists at a recent event examine ethnic profiling in France, with a comparative discussion on documenting and challenging racial profiling in France and the United States. Listen above.