A/HRC/11/36/Add.3 page 8 III. PUBLIC POLICIES AND MEASURES TO FIGHT RACISM, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, XENOPHOBIA AND RELATED INTOLERANCE A. Law enforcement 16. Law enforcement in the United States involves agencies at the federal, state and local levels. While the Special Rapporteur met with several officials at the local level, his analysis is based primarily on agencies, and policies developed, at the Federal level. 17. Racial discrimination by law enforcement agencies is prohibited by the Constitution and federal statutes.6 These include the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. Officials at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice underscored the fundamental importance that it attaches to combating police misconduct, including racial discrimination by police officers, which amounts to approximately half of its Criminal Section’s caseload. 18. Officials at the Civil Rights Division as well as at the Department of Homeland Security highlighted the importance of training of law enforcement officials. A Federal Law Enforcement Training Center exists since 1970 and currently provides law enforcement training to over 80 Federal agencies. Particular trainings focusing on cultural awareness and relations with minority communities have also been developed. 19. In what concerns overrepresentation of minorities in the criminal justice system, it was recognized that disparities in incarceration rates exist between minorities, particularly African Americans, and whites. However, as the United States affirmed in its latest periodic report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the reasons for such disparities are complex and do not necessarily indicate differential treatment of persons in the criminal justice system.7 Racial profiling 20. The Supreme Court has produced solid jurisprudence prohibiting racial profiling. For example, in Wren v. United States (1996), the Court stated that “the Constitution prohibits selective enforcement of the law based on considerations such as race”, making explicit reference to the Equal Protection Clause. In United States v. Armstrong (1996), repeating Oyler v. Boles (1962), the Court further affirmed that “the decision whether to prosecute may not be based on ‘an unjustifiable standard such as race, religion, or other arbitrary classification”. The ruling in United States v. Montero-Camargo (1996) further cautioned against the use of factors that are facially race-neutral but in effect can be discriminatorily used against minorities (e.g. searches against individuals living in “high-crime” areas that are also predominantly inhabited by minorities). 6 See CERD/C/USA/6, para. 153. 7 CERD/C/USA/6, para. 165.