Press Releases

Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) testified  before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights at a hearing entitled “Ending Racial Profiling in America.”  He spoke to the need for Congress to enact his legislation to end racial profiling by law enforcement and the importance of community based policing as means to not only stop crime but to also protect citizens’ civil rights.  Ranking Member Conyers is the lead House cosponsor of H.R. 3618, the “End Racial Profiling Act.”   

“The majority of public safety officials perform their duties with professionalism and bravery,” said Conyers after the hearing.  “However racial profiling still does occur, undermining the trust between communities and law enforcement officials necessary for effective, proven community policing.  That is why Congress needs to prohibit racial profiling by enacting the ‘End Racial Profiling Act.’  Singling out individuals for additional scrutiny based on race should be illegal because it is ineffective at preventing crime, a violation of citizens’ civil rights, and morally wrong.”      

First introduced in the House of Representatives by Ranking Member Conyers in 2001,  the “End Racial Profiling Act” would prohibit local and federal law enforcement agencies from singling out individuals based on race and provide further training to law enforcement officials in order eliminate racial profiling.  Ranking Member Conyers and Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) reintroduced the “End Racial Profiling Act” in both the House and the Senate this Congress as H.R. 3618 and S. 1670 respectively.