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Study summary Essay The issue of â€Å"profiling† among in policing is not a new concern and considering the efforts devoted against the practice as well as other forms of discrimination, the evidence of its prevalence in the study of Alpert, MacDonald and Dunham (2005) is alarming. The researchers’ main objective was to determine if racial, situational and demographic variable influence police discretion in the establishment of types of suspicion. In doing so, the researchers hoped to determine the vulnerability of minority populations for police suspicion and stops: whether the reasons cited to justify the suspicions were determined by behavioral or non-behavioral factors and if there are any predictors to determine discretion. The research points out that police officers are supposed to be suspicious in that they are specifically trained to develop cognitive schemas or map seemingly unrelated individual, places or events. Several of the researches cited for the study indicate that there are specific cues for suspicion that often coincides with racial, cultural or ethnic characterizations. When something does not fit the schema, there is a natural prompt to pay more attention to it. Though this is not simply a case of one person being the odd man out, the suggestion is that people, not just police officers, have a tendency to see contrasts more easily. This has been indicated by in the case of Terry v.Ohio where the U. S. Supreme Court decided that, â€Å"There is also a realization of the variances on culture that exists which leads both to a realization of unique cultural characteristics as well as awareness of differences, value systems, trade and cross cultural politics† (p. 415) The researchers assume that police suspicion is based on their prior knowledge, observation or experience of similar cases. Thus, there is also a need to understand how knowledge, experience or observations are acquired. The researchers believe that understanding the said factors will not only enhance insights to whether the hypothesis that minorities are more vulnerable to police suspicion but also how they determine the value systems of police officers. According to the study, race remains to be a critical factor in behavioral suspicion. Based on the same research, there is greater association of juvenile delinquency among minorities. Non-behavioral factors also dominate the basis of police suspicion which includes matching descriptions of individuals, activities or transportation. In either case, though suspicion may be influenced by race, it did not directly mean that police action will be directed to the individual. This also implies that based on the factors that influence police suspicion: there was no direct correlation to actual stops made by the police. In making a critique of the study, there is a need to consider the limitations and scope of the researchers’ subjects and methodology. The researchers admit that current data for the research is limited to the observed officers and neither was there significant investigation was made to the origin and nature of suspicion cues amount these officers. It should be noted as well that developments in criminal justice systems follow changes in society: customs, politics, and economics all influence what is determined to criminal behavior, what the corresponding punishment should be and what compensation can be made available to victims. Thus, as much as suspicion cues are determined by social factors, social behaviors are also determined by these cues. Another question that can be further studied by the research is from its determination that suspicions are influenced by race but not actual actions taken by the police. What discriminates the influence of social characterization in the development of suspicions? Are police stops not vulnerable to racial identification or is the presence of criminal justice mechanisms that deter its impact? Furthermore, the study was not able to determine if there are measures to deter the prevalence of discriminatory factors in police suspicions. Essentially, there is a need to further investigate the mechanism of race and other discriminatory factors to be able to reinforce its significance. Based on researches on motivation, there is greater realization that people are motivated by internal factors and external factors that they can be either aware of or not. In the case of profiling, it can then be assumed that the factors that raise the suspicion of police officers are both influenced by their experience and their own personal orientations. Thus, another enhancement of the study can be to determine the dominance of internal and external factors against each other suspicion formation and the subsequent police action. The research admit that their study will not so much answer questions but rather more of them. In any setting, the study of what influence perceptions is always difficult because of its dependence of so many variable both measurable and not. Regardless of the lack of definitiveness, is a good study of social perceptions and policing. Utilizing the study, further researchers can be effectively developed to enhance the performance and discretion of police officers in dealing with issues regarding race and other social characterizations. Reference Alpert, Geoffrey P. , Macdonald, John M. And Dunham, Roger G. (2005). Police Suspicion And Discretionary Decision Making During Citizen Stops. Criminology,43(2): 407-434.