• Corpus ID: 14932041

Racial Bias in Traffic Stops: Tests of a Unified Model of Stops and Searches

@article{Ritter2013RacialBI,
  title={Racial Bias in Traffic Stops: Tests of a Unified Model of Stops and Searches},
  author={Joseph A. Ritter},
  journal={Miscellaneous Publications},
  year={2013}
}
This paper develops a model of traffic stops and subsequent searches in which police officers use information about the race of drivers to maximize a well defined objective. The model provides a behavioral foundation absent from Grogger and Ridgeway’s (2006) elegantly simple test and, by incorporating searches, adds two complementary tests. Using data collected during 2002 by the Minneapolis Police Department, the tests rule out (1) statistical discrimination, (2) taste-based discrimination by… 
ageconsearch.umn.edu
3 Citations
Background Citations
2

Figures and Tables from this paper

3 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Frisky business: race, gender and police activity during traffic stops
Since the United States Supreme Court laid the foundation for “stop-and-frisk” activity by police departments, a substantial amount of research has explored the behavior of police departments,…
Traffic Enforcement Through the Lens of Race: A Sequential Analysis of Post-Stop Outcomes in San Diego, California
Research has shown that Black and Hispanic drivers are subject to disproportionate stop and post-stop outcomes compared with White drivers. Yet scholars’ understanding of how and why such disparities…
The heat: temperature, police behavior and the enforcement of law
Despite ample investigation into the influence of ambient temperature on behavior, and especially on criminal activity, little research exists on the impact of temperature on police behavior. As…

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 14 REFERENCES
Racial Profiling or Racist Policing? Bounds Tests in Aggregate Data
State-wide reports on police traffic stops and searches summarize very large populations, making them potentially powerful tools for identifying racial bias, particularly when statistics on search…
A New Look at Racial Profiling: Evidence from the Boston Police Department
This paper provides new evidence on racial profiling using information on the race of both motorists and officers. Extending the model of Knowles, Persico, and Todd (2001), we develop a new test for…
Racial Bias in Motor Vehicle Searches: Theory and Evidence
Police checking for illegal drugs are much more likely to search the vehicles of African‐American motorists than those of white motorists. This paper develops a model of police and motorist behavior…
After the Traffic Stops: Officer Characteristics and Enforcement Actions
Abstract This study examines the relationship between officer characteristics and racially biased policing. In particular, we explore the relationship between the officer's race/ethnicity and the…
Testing for Racial Profiling in Traffic Stops From Behind a Veil of Darkness
The key problem in testing for racial profiling in traffic stops is estimating the risk set, or “benchmark,” against which to compare the race distribution of stopped drivers. To date, the two most…
Analysis of Racial Profiling as Policy Analysis
Policy analysis techniques emphasize the tension between efficiency and equity in public decision-making (Friedman; 1984, 2002). This tension is aptly illustrated by the problem of racial profiling.…
Detecting Racial Profiling in Minneapolis Traffic Stops : A New Approach
Being singled out for special attention from the police because of your racial or ethnic identity, rather than your actions, seems profoundly inconsistent with the principle of equal treatment under…
A Critical Reanalysis of Maryland State Police Searches
This article argues that previous analyses of the Maryland State Police search data may be unreliable, since nonstationarity of these data precludes the use of standard statistical inference…
Police-Community Relations in Cincinnati: Year Three Evaluation Report
In 2002, the Cincinnati Police Department, the Fraternal Order of Police, and the American Civil Liberties Union initiated a collaboration to resolve social conflict, improve community relations, and…
Minnesota Statewide Racial Profiling Report: Minneapolis Police Department
  • Council on Crime and Justice and Institute on Race and Poverty
  • 2003
...
...