The U.S. Department of Justice presents the full text of an article entitled "A Resource Guide on Racial Profiling Data Collection Systems: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned," by Deborah Ramirez, Jack McDevitt, and Amy Farrell. The article discusses the problems related to racial profiling, data collection goals and limitations, and recommendations for traffic stop data collection systems.

The report was funded by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services under the grant #2001-CKWXK046 in 2004. The points of view expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Department of Justice, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services or the Police Executive Research Forum or its members.

The text includes both classic pieces and original essays that provide the reader with a comprehensive, even-handed sense of the theoretical underpinnings, methodological challenges, and existing research necessary to understand the problems associated with racial and ethnic profiling and police bias.

Many racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including blacks, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, and others, have historically faced severe discriminationâ€"pervasive and open denial of civil, social, political, educational, and economic opportunities. Today, large differences among racial and ethnic groups continue to exist in employment, income and wealth, housing, education, criminal justice, health, and other areas. While many factors may contribute to such differences, their size and extent suggest that various forms of discriminatory treatment persist in U.S. society and serve to undercut the achievement of equal opportunity. Measuring Racial Discrimination considers the definition of race and racial discrimination, reviews the existing techniques used to measure racial discrimination, and identifies new tools and areas for future research. The book conducts a thorough evaluation of current methodologies for a wide range of circumstances in which racial discrimination may occur, and makes recommendations on how to better assess the presence and effects of discrimination.

Argues that racial profiling by police officers, highway troopers, and customs officials is morally reprehensible and does not help catch criminals, but rather contributes to the moral decay of American society.