Study Says Blacks and Arabs Face Bias From Paris Police

By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: June 29, 2009

PARIS — The Paris police stop young Arab and black men for identity checks far more often than they stop young whites, according to a study to be published Tuesday, lending factual substance to widespread accusations of racial profiling.

Racial and ethnic profiling by the police is illegal in France, but the study of more than 500 stops at major Parisian transit stations showed that those who appeared to be of Arab origin were at least 7.5 times more likely than whites to be stopped, and that those perceived to be black — of sub-Saharan African or Caribbean origin — were six times more likely than whites to be stopped.

The study, “Ethnic Profiling in Paris,” was carried out from November 2007 to May 2008 by the Open Society Justice Initiative, a program of the Soros Foundations Network, and the French National Center for Scientific Research. Trained monitors observed police officers as they made identity checks in and around the Gare du Nord and Châtelet-Les Halles transit stations. The monitors then followed the people who had been stopped to interview them out of the sight of the police.
Full article at New York Times web-site
Link to Open Society Justice Initiative