Profiling teenagers

"SOME police that deal with anyone between the ages of 15-25 are treating the young adults unjustly"

Treating the young adults unjustly? Unsubstantiated claim.

"and are expecting them to do something illegal."

Well people between the ages of 15 and 25 do illegal stuff. It's a fact. Almost half of all violent crimes were commited by people under 25 years old. (http://ezinearticles.com...) So people that age do commit crimes.

"I, personally have been stopped and patted down while walking down the street, in a park, alone, at noon, and looking normal."

My opponent's sole personal experience doesn't mean that police everywhere profile teenagers and treat teenagers unfairly.

"The police have been doing this for years and should be penalized for such behavior."

A few examples of the police doing this please?

"Teens already have to pay higher car insurance, pay for college, work society's worst jobs, and extracurricular activities."

Ok what point does this make? Besides the fact that life isn't always fair?

"The last thing they want is to be harassed by police. Also, the court system will never side with a "punk teen"."

Well in America anyway everyone is innocent until proven guilty, and there is no reason to actually believe the court would treat a "punk teen" unfairly and give them an unfair trial. That is pure speculation on my opponent's part.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

profiling - recording a person's behavior and analyzing psychological characteristics in order to predict or assess their ability in a certain sphere or to identify a particular group of people

The burden of proof lies on my opponent's shoulders, to prove that people between the ages of 15 and 25 are profiled unfairly by police. Up to now, the only real evidence he has tried to provide for his claim is his own personal experience. This does not provide good support if any support for his argument. For example, if I told you a certain restaraunt's sushi made me sick, does that mean you would stop eating sushi completely for the rest of your lfe? No, because my one personal experience isn't enough to carry that type of reaction.


Profiling is actually a necessary tool for police today. Sure, you can point out a few unfair circumstances where a few police departments have been wrong to profile, but let's look at profiling as a whole. Profiling is meant for police to PREVENT crime instead of just react to it. If you take a neighborhood that is usually dominated by teenage gangs, and you have a teenager walking down the street with certain characteristics of a gangster or certain features of a known gangster, then the police are going to stop that teen and make sure he's not ready to harm someone.

When profiling is used correctly, it is meant to prevent crime. In this debate the few corrupt police departments that might profile unfairly or take drastic measures when profiling cannot have a substantial impact, because the practice of profiling, profiling as a WHOLE, must be taken into account here. When a police department can profile correctly and fairly, they can essentially prevent crime rather than just react to it.

Vote Pro!