Jackson Toby

Jackson Toby argues in the following viewpoint that current methods of apprehending drug traffickers are based on the theory that the best way to prevent major crimes is to target minor ones. Since statistics show that drug traffickers are disproportionately black or Hispanic, he maintains that regularly stopping minority motorists for offenses like speeding increases the likelihood that police will confiscate illicit drugs or weapons. Therefore, Toby claims, racial profiling is not racist, but practical. Toby, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, was the director of the Institute for Criminological Research at Rutgers from 1969 to 1994.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Toby, by what percentage did felonies decline in the subways of New York City as a result of William J. Bratton’s policing methods?
2. Why was...