PROFILING (January 16, 2014)

American newspapers are proudly announcing today that the Justice Department will shortly expand its definition of racial profiling to prohibit federal agents from considering religion, national origin, gender, and sexual orientation in their investigations. Apparently, the move addresses a decade of criticism by civil rights groups. The federal authorities thus singled out Muslims in counterterrorism investigations and Latinos for immigration investigations. The new rules cover federal law-enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigations. For example, narcotics investigators may not increase traffic stops in minority neighborhoods on the belief that some minorities are more likely to sell drugs than others. Disappointingly, though, the article does not mention criticism by civil rights groups that is still pending. In particular, federal agents should also be prohibited from considering age in their investigations. Body weight and height surely come next in this regard. And so does eye color, no doubt. Perhaps even the criminal record should be prohibited in profiling, for it unjustly singles out those who have already been punished for their crimes. And so on. In the long run, the Justice Department should ensure that profiling is stripped of all profiles. Period.