No-Fly Lists

Michael Welch

Racial profiling, typified in the phrase “driving while Black,” remains an important feature in the study of discrimination in criminal justice. Moreover, the tendency for such tactics to extend to other sectors of social control is being witnessed in the form of “no-fly lists,” whereby certain individuals have been barred from boarding commercial aircrafts. Since the hijackings on September 11, 2001, government officials along with airlines have compiled names of persons who may not be permitted access to air travel due to concerns over national security. A closer look at the controversy, however, reveals that those persons have been subject to a distinctive type of profiling that some critics call “flying while Muslim.” This entry points to some well-publicized incidents involving no-fly lists so as to illuminate the significance of profiling based on ethnicity, religion, and in some cases political affiliation. In 2004, while traveling to the United States from ...

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