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Racial Profiling by Store Clerks and Security Personnel in Retail Establishments

An Exploration of "Shopping While Black"

Pennsylvania State University

This article examines Shopping While Black (SWB), which is the practice of racial profiling in retail settings. The study couches this form of racial profiling under the following three criminological perspectives: labeling theory, conflict theory, and the colonial model. Based on a review of the literature and an analysis of appellate cases at the state and federal levels, the author concludes that, like racial profiling in automobiles, the concept of Shopping While Black requires serious scholarly attention. Given the nature of the problem, the following represent viable strategies to reduce such profiling: require clerks and security personnel to receive education on the perils of racial profiling, encourage victims of profiling to sue retailers who engage in these practices, and work with civil rights groups to organize boycotts. The article concludes by urging federal officials to increase current levels of funding to study and remedy these discriminatory practices.

Key Words: Racial profiling • Shopping While Black • retail security • discrimination • false arrest

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, Vol. 19, No. 3, 345-364 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1043986203254531


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