The purpose of this essay is to study how perceived racial profiling have affected young people beteween the ages of 12 and 18 years, concerning mental health and trust in the police. The purpose is furthermore to study what kind of support those young people wished from social workers. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews we collected narratives about perceived racial profiling by the police in Sweden. The results show that racial profiling had several negative consequenses such as nigthmares, anger, memory loss, feelings of guilt and shame. Further, the results also show that trust in the police was very low among those who experienced racial profiling. In this regard social workers have an important role to fill, the respondents wished to receive support and counseling from culturally sensitive and empathetic social workers with knowlegde of racial profiling as an existing fenomena in Sweden.

On May 26th, 2020, the world was shocked after learning that George Floyd had died at the hands of the police while being wrongfully arrested. Protests took place worldwide, demanding justice for Floyd as well as the end of the systematic racism present institutionally in police forces. In Europe, people started raising their voices, denouncing that this phenomenon was no stranger to the Old Continent. Indeed, the last few years have witnessed the media coverage of multiple cases of police violence based on ethnic grounds. The media play a key role as the source of information for the population, they decide what is going to be on the headline, catching people’s eye. France has especially attracted attention with its racial profiling practices that go against the 2001 European Code of Police Ethics acting as recommended guidelines for the Member States. Therefore, this study aims to analyse media discourses depicting three specific cases of police violence: the Adama Traoré Case, the Theo Luhaka Case, and the Michel Zecler Case. Following the model of Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis, the point of this thesis is to find whether the power relations regulating the world can be identified within these discourses. By analysing the articles and finding similarities in how they portray the events then an idea of the institutional and societal power relations in France.

This study aims to explore the relationship between racist police practices and the production of space in the city of Malmö, Sweden. Acknowledging the systemic inequalities inherent in Nordic welfarism and how past Swedish colonialist efforts inform such systems, it presupposes that racist police practices should be considered structural rather than dependent on individual actors. To holistically explore how intersections of essentialist categorizations such as race, gender, and class are imposed on individuals, it focuses on the intertwined concepts of space, mobility, power, resistance, and subjectification. Building on three interviews with racialized men with different ethnical backgrounds and class affiliations living in Malmö, the study suggests that the impacts of racist police practices on the informants’ everyday lives are profound. Such practices do not merely restrict and determine physical movement but also shape the production and perception of space, both public and private. While room to maneuver is limited, it is important to recognize that resistance, too, is an element in the production of space. The experiences and narratives of the informants highlight both explicit and implicit acts of resistance as well as self-protection, challenging dominant narratives and protecting them from the gaze and sometimes the violence of the police, and reclaiming space and mobility. Moreover, racist police practices significantly impact processes of self-formation, as racializing and criminalizing stereotypes are internalized through conforming to society’s expectations and through challenging such expectations. In mitigating the impacts of police encounters, the informants modify their daily actions and appearances.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) caused thousands of deaths, national and global panic, and immediate action by the federal government to protect the borders of the United States of America (USA) from terrorism. In response to these attacks, the United States (U.S.) government enacted laws for law enforcement agencies to protect against terrorist activities. Law enforcement agencies are effective in combating terrorism, but their measures contain a major flaw - the improper use of race in profiling to address national security and public safety concerns. Racial profiling is an ineffective measure for preventing terrorism. There are solutions to correct this flaw through reconstructing training and implementing policies for all law enforcement agencies. The intent of this thesis is to discuss the history and the effectiveness of profiling in U.S. post-9/11 counterterrorism through theoretical research of peer-reviewed journals and articles, relevant laws, and United States Supreme Court cases to offer solutions to the problems racial profiling presents. The discussion will generate a search for new ways law enforcement agencies could conduct daily counterterrorism operations.

Ce mémoire explore le vécu et la construction de l’expérience de jeunes racisés ayant reçu des constats d’infraction dans le cadre de leur occupation de l’espace public montréalais. Il s’agit spécifiquement d’appréhender, à partir de la sociologie de l’expérience de Dubet (1994), le profil et les conditions de vie, la présence dans l’espace public, les raisons et la nature des constats d’infraction, les stratégies mises en œuvre face au profilage racial ainsi que les conséquences du profilage racial sur les jeunes racisés. Se situant dans une perspective qualitative, la méthodologie de recherche a reposé sur le recueil de dix entrevues semi-dirigées, soit neuf jeunes hommes et une jeune fille entre 18 et 30 ans ayant eu des contacts avec la police dans le cadre du contrôle de l’espace public à Montréal. Basée essentiellement sur l’approche mixte de Miles et Huberman (2003), l’analyse du corpus a permis de rendre compte de l’hétérogénéité de l’expérience des jeunes racisés et profilés interrogés et de dégager deux types d’expérience de profilage racial : les contestataires et les résignés. Si les interactions avec les forces de l’ordre engendrent des traitements perçus comme discriminatoires, l’expérience se construit en fonction de la nature des interactions, du niveau de maturité et de la tranche d’âge des jeunes et elle se décline en une logique de soumission et une logique de lutte pour la contestation des constats d’infraction. Les résultats de la recherche démontrent par ailleurs la pertinence de l’accompagnement du jeune au niveau de la prise de conscience de ses droits et de la contestation des tickets reçus. / This memoir explores the real-life experience and the construction of the experience of racialized youths who have received statements of offense for having occupied the Montreal public space. Using the Sociology of experience theorized by Dubet (1994), the profile and the living conditions, the presence in public areas, the reasons and nature of the statements of offense, the strategies implemented for racial profiling along with its consequences on the racialized youths all must be apprehended. Based on a qualitative perspective, the research method was founded on 10 semi-structured interviews where 9 young men and 1 one young lady between the ages of 18 and 30 who have had encounters with the police concerning the control of the public space in Montreal. Essentially based on the mixed approach of Miles and Huberman (2003), the corpus analyze helped to understand heterogeneity of the experience of racially profiled youths questioned. It was possible to distinguish two types of racial profiling experience: the protesters and the resigned. If the interactions with law enforcement create treatments that are perceived to be discriminatory, the experience is constructed according to the nature of the interaction, the maturity level and the age group of the youths and comes in submission or contest strategies. The results of the research demonstrate otherwise the relevance of the youth's accompaniment at the level of realization of their rights and the protestation of the received infractions.

Through the simple action of covering one’s head with the wrong type of apparel, at the wrong time, and in the wrong spaces, Black and racialized youth exist in a hostile environment where their identities are reconstructed and relabeled according to dominant economic-political needs. This study interrogates and ruptures dominant notions of how space, identity and power are constructed, confronted, engaged, negotiated and resisted by Black and racialized youth in greater Toronto Area (GTA) schools. In an atmosphere of zero-tolerance toward policing youth violence, the anti-gang focus of the Safe Schools headwear policies institutionalize a ‘colour-coded’ link between crime, violence and race. Through ethnographic narrative inquiry this study critically interrogates the multiplicity of ways how the collision between zero-tolerance approaches toward regulating school violence and the policing of specific types of headwear and bodies results in differential outcomes and impacts on Black students and other racialized groups.

Through the simple action of covering one’s head with the wrong type of apparel, at the wrong time, and in the wrong spaces, Black and racialized youth exist in a hostile environment where their identities are reconstructed and relabeled according to dominant economic-political needs. This study interrogates and ruptures dominant notions of how space, identity and power are constructed, confronted, engaged, negotiated and resisted by Black and racialized youth in greater Toronto Area (GTA) schools. In an atmosphere of zero-tolerance toward policing youth violence, the anti-gang focus of the Safe Schools headwear policies institutionalize a ‘colour-coded’ link between crime, violence and race. Through ethnographic narrative inquiry this study critically interrogates the multiplicity of ways how the collision between zero-tolerance approaches toward regulating school violence and the policing of specific types of headwear and bodies results in differential outcomes and impacts on Black students and other racialized groups.

Four fatal shootings, during police interactions, of unarmed people-of-color occurred in the Portland, Oregon Metro Area from 2003 to 2010 calling into question from members of the community whether or not the officers involved and hence their representative police departments had been racially profiling. Of interest in this study is whether or not cutting edge anti-racial profiling police officer trainings have an impact on how officers in Oregon perceive members of racial minority groups. A review of literature found that previous inquiries into racial prejudice among police officers may be present and that previous efforts to address racial ethics in law enforcement have had mixed results on officer perceptions of race. Using Whiteness Theory an examination was undertaken in Oregon utilizing a mixed methodological approach to answer three questions; 1) Do police officers report their perceptions of people-of-color being impacted as a result of participating in a racial profiling training seminar?, 2) Do police officers from the state of Oregon express having held a perception of members of the racial / ethnic community as individuals prior to attending a racial profiling training?, and 3) Do police officers from the state of Oregon report having held a stereotyped perception of racial / ethnic community members before attending a racial profiling training? Findings include that some officers may be racially prejudiced and others not, but that the training, according to those participating was not impactful upon their personal perceptions of people-of-color for reasons that they saw none or little personal bias within themselves although the seminar they attended brought police - race issues back into their conscious awareness. Despite the training being well-received by all the participants they suggested the training title and description may have dissuaded other officers from attending who may have benefited from its content and format. Transferability of the data's findings is weak due to a small sample size and other limitations of the study discussed. Nevertheless, conclusions about the effectiveness of the racial-profiling-training-under-review's ability to impact these officers' perceptions and attitudes of people-of-color are made and recommendations for police and social policy as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.

This phenomenological study explored Black male law enforcement officers’ perspectives of how racial profiling shaped their decisions to explore and commit to a law enforcement career. Criterion and snow ball sampling was used to obtain the 17 participants for this study. Super’s (1990) archway model was used as the theoretical framework. The archway model “is designed to bring out the segmented but unified and developmental nature of career development, to highlight the segments, and to make their origin clear” (Super, 1990, p. 201). Interview data were analyzed using inductive, deductive, and comparative analyses. Three themes emerged from the inductive analysis of the data: (a) color and/or race does matter, (b) putting on the badge, and (c) too black to be blue and too blue to be black. The deductive analysis used a priori coding that was based on Super’s (1990) archway model. The deductive analysis revealed the participants’ career exploration was influenced by their knowledge of racial profiling and how others view them. The comparative analysis between the inductive themes and deductive findings found the theme “color and/or race does matter” was present in the relationships between and within all segments of Super’s (1990) model. The comparative analysis also revealed an expanded notion of self-concept for Black males – marginalized and/or oppressed individuals. Self-concepts, “such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, and role self-concepts, being combinations of traits ascribed to oneself” (Super, 1990, p. 202) do not completely address the self-concept of marginalized and/or oppressed individuals. The self-concept of marginalized and/or oppressed individuals is self-efficacy, self-esteem, traits ascribed to oneself expanded by their awareness of how others view them. (DuBois, 1995; Freire, 1970; Sheared, 1990; Super, 1990; Young, 1990). Ultimately, self-concept is utilized to make career and life decisions. Current human resource policies and practices do not take into consideration that negative police contact could be the result of racial profiling. Current human resource hiring guidelines penalize individuals who have had negative police contact. Therefore, racial profiling is a discriminatory act that can effectively circumvent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission laws and serve as a boundary mechanism to employment (Rocco & Gallagher, 2004).

In this thesis, I have studied the United Nations concluding observations on Sweden in relation to international human rights obligations. Specifically, in regards to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).  The Committee on the Rights of the Child have, in their Concluding Observations from 2023, expressed a deep concern about continued racism and discrimination of many children in Sweden. Meanwhile, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recommended Sweden to take immediate measures for the purpose of eliminating all forms of racial discrimination.  In terms of critical analysis, the aim of this thesis has been to study how the Swedish state's international human rights obligations for the purpose of eliminating racial discrimination relates to the implementation of children's rights according to the principle of non-discrimination. According to my study, it is necessary for the Swedish state to promote and respect the human dignity inherent in every child, to be able to guarantee every child within the jurisdiction the rights under the CRC. A central example is the child's right to education in alignment with general human rights principles. Therefore, it is required for the state to prevent the normalization of racism in Sweden, in accordance with the international human rights obligations under the ICERD. This includes, for example, the prohibition of racist organizations in national law, for the purpose of eliminating racist hate speech, and the elimination of racial profiling by national law enforcement. Many children's living conditions and access to the rights under the CRC are affected by racism in several ways, through structural and everyday racism, when they themselves are exposed to racism and when people in their close surroundings experience racism. This has led me to the conclusion that active and immediate measures by the Swedish state, for the purpose of eliminating racial discrimination, are necessary for the possibility of guaranteeing the children who are victims of racism their rights in alignment with the CRC.