Wrong Color, Wrong Clothes: Accounts of Ethnic Profiling in France & United States

In Paris, black and Arab youth are three to fifteen times more likely to be stopped by the police than their white counterparts. This is the finding of a recent study by the Open Society Justice Initiative—the first ever to produce quantitative data that supports the longstanding complaints of French minorities. 

Of the nearly two million innocent New Yorkers that were subjected to police stops and interrogations from 2004-2008, an overwhelming majority were black and Latino. While racial profiling is a longstanding issue in the United States, it has only recently come to the fore in Europe and is fueling heated debate in France.

This Open Society Justice Initiative event examines ethnic profiling in France, with a comparative discussion on documenting and challenging racial profiling in France and the United States.

Speakers

Dr. René Lévy, Center for Sociological Research on Law and Penal Institutions, France, and co-author of Profiling Minorities: A Study of Stop-and-Search Practices in Paris

Reginald T. Shuford, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's Racial Justice Program

The conversation will be moderated by Rachel M. Neild, senior advisor with the Equality and Citizenship Program of the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Light refreshments will be served.