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Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

portación de rostro

English translation:

racial profiling

Added to glossary by Andrea Sacchi
Jun 8, 2020 14:33
3 yrs ago
34 viewers *
Spanish term

portación de rostro

Spanish to English Law/Patents Law (general)
Por portación de rostro/cara
La policía de ciertos países tiene un derecho que consiste básicamente en aplastar los de un tercero: detener a un civil "por portación de rostro", es decir, por tener una cara que suscite sospechas acerca de su comportamiento como ciudadano.

Contexto: La famosa "portación de rostro" parece que se mantiene en determinados ámbitos de las fuerzas de seguridad
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 racial profiling
5 because of their looks
3 +1 facial features
3 +1 an appearance which may give rise to suspicions
4 race-based profiling
3 based on (a person's) appearance
2 for their looks (see below ref.)
Change log

Jun 8, 2020 14:32: Andrea Capuselli changed "Vetting" from "Needs Vetting" to "Vet OK"

Jun 8, 2020 14:33: Andrea Capuselli changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"

Jun 8, 2020 14:33: Andrea Capuselli changed "Term asked" from "\"portación de rostro\"" to "portación de rostro"

Jun 22, 2020 06:04: Andrea Sacchi Created KOG entry

Discussion

Andrea Sacchi Jun 11, 2020:
@Marcelo - if you do a further research you will find several mexican articles that mention this term as well. Although in their case, it is "portación de cara" instead of "rostro".
For example:
https://archivo.eluniversal.com.mx/sociedad/5781.html
Marcelo González Jun 10, 2020:
@Michael - well done! Seeing the source text language elevated (to a concept) on being referred to as "la famosa 'portación de rostro'" (in the last line of the asker's post) could be further support that, even if it's not widely used throughout el mundo hispano, it may actually be (fairly?) commonly used in Argentina, for example, which at least one prozian has already indicated.
Michael Grabczan-Grabowski Jun 10, 2020:
On further reading... I think racial profiling really is the term we're looking for.

Take a look at the text in this book: https://bit.ly/3fah8ht

Quote:
"Retomamos aquí un tema ya mencionado. Como dice García, él es culpable de "portación de cara", o sea, de llevar inscriptos en el cuerpo los rasgos estigmatizados: la piel más oscurra, los carácteres físicos que lo identifican con lo indígena o el mestizaje latinoamericano, todo ello amalgamado con la pobreza. Agregaremos que en las cárceles no predomina la Argentina blanca, sino que un buen porcentaje de los internos poseen los rasgos corporales y sociales que acabamos de mencionar."

This is also communicated in the following links:
https://www.lanacion.com.ar/sociedad/otro-caso-de-portacion-...
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/102019-detenido-por-portacion-de...

In https://bit.ly/2AcHeBP it says:
"Darker skin, which is associated with low social status in Argentina, makes an individual more likely to experience abuse. Observers have coined the expression "portación de cara" (which can be loosely translated as racial profiling) to denote the common police practice of violating ...
Michael Grabczan-Grabowski Jun 9, 2020:
@Marcelo I agree. I think that the initial understanding of the term is that of appearance in general, i.e., besides the features of the face and the head.

In the US and Canada, the most common issue discussed in this context is that of racial profiling rather than facial features per se.

Perhaps it matters which country the source text is referring to; is it Argentina, where Italian philosophy from the likes of Cesare Lombroso may have had more influence?

Admittedly, I only got this idea from this link: https://deconceptos.com/general/portacion

The source text might be referring to what I explained above or it might simply be describing racial profiling; however, without more context, we can't be sure.
Marcelo González Jun 9, 2020:
If 'rostro' is to be understood ... ... as part of an idiom (or idiomatic expression), as Pat suggests in an agree, then this would allow for many options. That said, I am not so sure evidence has been provided that it is, and certainly none that suggests that it's widely seen or understood as such. Indeed, the fact that the source text refers to not only 'rostro' but also 'cara' suggests something quite different, i.e, that these parts of the body may be worth singling out, since, according to the writer, they appear to be integral to the phrase's meaning, as s/he uses one to define the phrase containing the other.
Marcelo González Jun 9, 2020:
@Taña Being open to all possibilities is part-and-parcel of the work of translators.

As always, context is important. Going by what the asker has provided, I wonder how the 'es decir, por tener una cara que' part of the sentence might influence choices here.
Taña Dalglish Jun 9, 2020:
@ Marcelo No, not at all! I think we all have to be open to discussion - as this is just brain storming. I also found this: http://nuevadoxaa.blogspot.com/2017/06/delito-de-portacion-d... (I've added this and another link to my entry).
Marcelo González Jun 9, 2020:
@Taña Interesting, though the translation of a book by a French (or now perhaps American) sociologist sounds better (but I may be biased). ;)))
Taña Dalglish Jun 9, 2020:
@ Marcelo On Googling the phrase provided by the Asker: "La policía de ciertos países ...ciudadano", it takes me to: https://definicion.de/portacion/
Portación de rostro
REFERENCIAS
Autores: Julián Pérez Porto y Ana Gardey. Publicado: 2013. Actualizado: 2015.
Definicion.de: Definición de portación (https://definicion.de/portacion/)
Marcelo González Jun 9, 2020:
French > Spanish > English If this comes from Loic Wacquant's book in Spanish, it might be interesting (for some) to see how this was communicated in the original French, "Les prisons de la misere," this to see any possible 'shifts' in nuance.
Michael Grabczan-Grabowski Jun 8, 2020:
Some considerations 2/2 ... Through years of postmortem examinations and anthropometric studies of criminals, the insane, and normal individuals, Lombroso became convinced that the "born criminal" (reo nato, a term given by Ferri) could be anatomically identified by such items as a sloping forehead, ears of unusual size, asymmetry of the face, prognathism, excessive length of arms, asymmetry of the cranium, and other "physical stigmata"."

This very outdated-sounding theory was conceived at a time when eugenics was in vogue. There is no doubt that many police forces still rely on physical profiling to make arrests or pursue individuals.

A more general (and generous) description would be AllegroTrans's option because it is based on a person's appearance. However, in practice, it affects certain population groups far more than others, and it is most commonly known as racial profiling, as Andrea put it. I know that American police very much make use of this.

However, as much as I'm sure racial profiling is the end result in practice, the Spanish term for that is perfilado racial. Perhaps you can decide on your context which term you'd prefer to use.
Michael Grabczan-Grabowski Jun 8, 2020:
Some considerations 1/2 In the link https://deconceptos.com/general/portacion it says

"En ocasiones se sospecha de una persona en sentido negativo por sus particulares características físicas, llamándose a esto “portación de cara o de rostro” siendo una forma grave de discriminación que se basa en la antigua teoría de antropología criminal del siglo XIX, del médico italiano Cesare Lombroso por el cual ciertos rasgos podrían influir en la inclinación hacia el delito (asimetrías en el rostro y en el cráneo, frente achatada, orejas grandes, etcétera)."

In Cesare Lombroso's Wikipedia link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Lombroso it says:

"Lombroso's general theory suggested that criminals are distinguished from noncriminals by multiple physical anomalies. He postulated that criminals represented a reversion to a primitive or subhuman type of person characterized by physical features reminiscent of apes, lower primates, and early humans and to some extent preserved, he said, in modern "savages". The behavior of these biological "throwbacks" will inevitably be contrary to the rules and expectations of modern civilized society. ...

Proposed translations

+3
1 hr
Selected

racial profiling

Racial profiling is different from criminal profiling. Racial profiling is based on stereotypical assumptions because of one’s race, colour, ethnicity, etc. Criminal profiling, on the other hand, relies on actual behaviour or on information about suspected activity by someone who meets the description of a specific individual.

Stereotyping becomes a particular concern when people act on their stereotypical views in a way that affects others. This is what leads to profiling. Although anyone can experience profiling, racialized persons are primarily affected.
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/what-racial-profiling-fact-sheet

Glossary
racial profiling [ˈrā sh əl ˈprōˌfīli ng ] (noun) Racial profiling occurs when law enforcement agents impermissibly use race, religion, ethnicity or national origin in deciding who to investigate.
https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-less...







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Note added at 22 horas (2020-06-09 12:43:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Acá encontré la traducción de un libro donde racial profiling aparece como portación de cara.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SE5tBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&lpg...
Peer comment(s):
agree patinba : Es exactamente esto. "lo del "rostro" es una expresión idiomática.
19 hrs
Gracias. Tal cual como vos lo decís.
neutral AllegroTrans : Whilst I agree that this is the common ocuurrence, the text doesn't use this term. We can still have the scenario where the police on the basis an appearance which they judge to be simply "suspicious", e.g. because they look "scruffy"
22 hrs
In my opinion and experience (the term is quite common in Argentina), it is all related. It is a bias-based policing linked to race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, background etc.
agree Michael Grabczan-Grabowski : After some further reading, I come to the same conclusion. I made some notes in the discussion about it.
2 days 1 hr
Ta!
agree Marcelo González : Yes, despite the use of rostro (and cara in related texts), a broader meaning does appear to be the idea after all. Well done! Saludos :-)
14 days
Ta!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
1 hr

based on (a person's) appearance

books.google.co.uk › books
This effectively permitted the police to stop and search, and even arrest, ... Itallowed the police to make assumptions basedon someone's appearance, that they ... Ministryof Justice (2014) “Vagrancy Act 1824,” This was the basis for the SUS ...
Dean Whittington - 2014 - ‎Psychology

Disproportionate and Discriminatory: Reviewing the Evidence ...
www.stop-watch.org › documents › modern_law_review
PDF
cising their power of arrest'.5 The police are empowered to stop and search by ... example, a person's race, age, appearance, or the fact that the person is ... need to 'cover their backs' or because stop/searches involving black people are.
by B Bowlingn - ‎Cited by 288 - ‎Related articles

Search Results
Web results

A critical review of the use of stop and search powers in England
www.equalityhumanrights.com › sites › default › files
PDF
in a way that is discriminatory, inefficient, and a waste of public ... The police support our ability to live free from violence, crime and fear, and help ... use of stop and search power because we believe that it may be: ... stops and searches or arresting suspects. ... appearance' as the main measure of ethnic group, which is the ...

Towards More Effective Policing. Understanding and ...
fra.europa.eu › files › 1133-Guide-ethnic-profiling_EN
PDF
Problems posed to policing and communities by discriminatory ethnic profiling . ... This is because 'ethnic profiling' as a term has been used widely by the media ... for law enforcement action (such as stop and search, arrest and refusal of ... Police officers stop young men of 'Islamic' or 'Asian'(11) appearance far more often ...
by TME Policing - ‎Related articles
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+1
2 hrs

facial features

Here's another potential option.

My suggestion for the translation of that particular part, in keeping with Cesare Lombroso's discredited theories about physical features determining criminal behaviour:

... detaining a person for their particular "facial features," in other words, a face which may arouse suspicions as to their behaviour as a citizen.

Another option:

... detaining a person for their particular "facial anomalies," in other words, a face which may arouse suspicions as to their behaviour as a citizen.

This is explained in the link https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cesare-Lombroso
Peer comment(s):
agree Marcelo González : Your first option works fine. IMO. Something like "due to their having certain facial features" may also be an option. Cheers
14 hrs
I suspect that portación de rostro is actually a euphemism for what is racial profiling in practice. The term has an air of 'legitimacy' or academic basis, probably from Cesare Lombroso's discredited theory in this regard.
neutral AllegroTrans : I somehow think this is referring to appearance in general not just the face
1 day 23 hrs
Fair enough; that would make more sense, though the asker's text refers to the words rostro and cara, seemingly emphasizing the facial features themselves. For instance, read this article: https://bit.ly/2BRaZIF
Something went wrong...
+1
9 hrs

an appearance which may give rise to suspicions

It's about the rights of the police in some countries and their reasons for detaining an individual.
Example sentence:

La policía de ciertos países tiene un derecho que conste en detener a un civil 'por portación de rostro', es decir, por tener una cara que suscite sospechas acerca de su comportamiento como ciudadano.

In certain countries police have a right stating that they may detain an individual on account of an appearance which may give rise to suspicions concerning his or her behaviour as a citizen.

Peer comment(s):
agree AllegroTrans : This is the right idea
14 hrs
Something went wrong...
11 hrs

because of their looks

that's it
Something went wrong...
22 mins

for their looks (see below ref.)

https://ifa.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/058_Discriminatio...

Discrimination in Argentina - International Federation of Agingifa.ngo › wp-content › uploads › 2012/11 › 058_Discrimi...PDF
the “Citizen of the State”, producing a negation of its own alterity. This is the case of an ... Hence, racism unfolds its two faces in the conformation of the Argen- tine Nation-State: ... of freedom to those behaviors that are misdemeanors – that are being ... al had been arrested due to “for their looks” (portación de rostro) whilst a ...

The criminalization of poverty. Jails of Argentina are crowded with people
pushed into committing felonies because of their situation of poverty – in
their great majority without a job – and without possibilities of paying to
make their law assistance more agile. Lack of possibilities of social insertion pushes them into eternal reincidence. Denounces have been
recieved for arbitrary detentions due to “portación de cara 47” (testimonies
talk here about an interrelationship between ethnic characteristics and
social conditions) and for the death of youngsters in areas of urban
poverty on behalf of police members that is characterized as “happy triggering”.
47 [TN. Due to people’s looks.]


Boys and girls in street situation
Family violence and lack of family and institutional support create difficulties for young boys and girls to imagine life projects, pushing in many occasions times young people to seek survival in the streets. Boys, girls and adolescents in street situation are object of all kind of abuses and mistreatments. Interviewed children with street stories described their lives: several had been arrested due to “for their looks” (portación de rostro) whilst a lot of them stated “rich kids call us shitty negroes” (“los careta nos dicen negros de mierda”) 79
79 Interviews in Mendoza, 2004

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2020-06-08 16:14:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://eurosocial-ii.eurosocial.eu/en/entrevistaarticulo/arg...
More often than not, there is no real reason for this. The commonly used phrase is portación de rostro, or ‘wearing a face’– their appearance is what makes them suspicious. Wearing a tracksuit or a baseball cap is an aggravating circumstance. One minute you are chatting to your friends, the next you are facing a wall, your possessions scattered on the pavement, hands frisking you for weapons or drugs.

***their appearance is what makes them suspicious".


https://digitalcommons.bowdoin.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic...
por portación de rostro > for their facial expression (appearance).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2020-06-09 13:58:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://nuevadoxaa.blogspot.com/2017/06/delito-de-portacion-d...
***"Portación de rostro" o también conocido como "detención por averiguación de antecedentes"*** son las formas en que conocemos una vieja y conocida costumbre de los agentes policiales en la vía pública. Realicemos entonces un repaso sobre los aspectos jurídicos que engloban esta delicada y controvertida cuestión.

¿ALGUNA NORMA PERMITE LA AVERIGUACIÓN DE IDENTIDAD EN LA VÍA PÚBLICA?
La respuesta es un rotundo NO. Nadie está obligado a revelar su documentación frente al pedido de un agente policial sin fundamento. Permitir este accionar significaría legitimar un obrar autoritario y arbitrario del Estado sobre los derechos de libre circulación de los individuos y un atropello sobre su intimidad.
La realidad es que sin mediar orden judicial, requerimiento de paradero o de búsqueda por algún delito que se esté investigando no existen fundamentos válidos para demorar a un ciudadano.

¿POR QUÉ SE LEGITIMÓ ESTA PRÁCTICA INCONSTITUCIONAL?
La realidad demuestra que el avasallamiento de las libertades de los sujetos no responde a una cuestión estrictamente jurídica sino más bien social. Los atropellos de Derechos son sufridos mayoritariamente por una determinada franja de la población. Pensemos que el hecho de ser un joven de clase baja vestido de ropas oscura, con gorra, zapatillas deportivas que transita la vía pública en horas de la noche parecería ser fundamento suficiente para considerarlo sospechoso de delito.
En este contexto es que se legitima un accionar persecutorio por las fuerzas de seguridad del Estado que persiguen ya no delitos sino estereotipo de "delincuentes".

ETIQUETAS: DERECHO EZEQUIEL ESPINA


https://quizlet.com/215554643/unidad-6-derechos-humanos-flas...
Detención por averiguación de antecedentes (DAI)
(detention for background investigation)
•Herramienta de prevención
•Viola principio de legalidad
•Discrecional de la policía
•Es una forma de Etiquetamiento
Something went wrong...
9 days

race-based profiling

I prefer the term race-based profiling over racial profiling. I think it better conveys the sense of bias.
Example sentence:

Opponents of race-based profiling pushed for the End Racial Profiling Act.

Reference:

https://inpublicsafety.com/2018/10/racial-profiling-versus-criminal-profiling-is-there-a-difference/

https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/uclalr48&div=36&id=&page=

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