Disparity and Racial Profiling in Traffic Enforcement

Abstract

Although prior research on racial profiling has consistently reported that minorities are overrepresented among traffic stops compared with the population, published research has been exclusively conducted in either large police departments or state highway patrols. Using research from a suburban police department, this study finds that although the police stop a disproportionate number of minorities, the relationship between race and the decision to stop is very weak. Multivariate models indicate minorities stopped by the police are more likely to be stopped at night and to reside outside the city. Minorities are significantly less likely to receive formal sanction than majorities, suggesting officers are using traffic violations for pretextual stops.

Pouvoir discrétionnaire, infractions routières et interventions policières

“…Peu d'études rapportent une réelle influence de ces caractéristiques sur la probabilité d'être intercepté. L'ethnicité et l'âge (Novak, 2004 ;Novak, Brown et Frank, 2005 ;Schellenberg, 2000 ;Smith et Petrocelli, 2001) du policier n'affecteraient pas leurs actions. Finalement, leur disposition à appliquer les règlements de la route et leur humeur expliqueraient le laxisme des policiers à l'endroit des automobilistes qui enfreignent les règlements de la route (Schafer et Mastrofski, 2005).…”

Racial profiling : using propensity score matching to examine focal concerns theory.

“…Specifically, the research has shown that minority drivers were no more likely than White drivers to be given citations (Novak, 2004). In contrast, other studies have indicated that race, along with additional factors (legal and extra-legal), makes it more likely that minorities are issued citations (Barnum & Perfetti, 2010;Ingram, 2007;Tillyer & Engel, 2013 Novak (2004) found that minorities were more likely to be the subject of pretextual stops. Minorities were less likely to be stopped during the day than at night.…”

“…The issue with these types of stops is that they are "pretextual stops" (Engel Calnon, & Bernard, 2002). The pretextual stop allows the officers to stop a vehicle for a minor violation intending to find other or additional legal violations (Gizzi, 2011;Novak, 2004;Withrow, 2007).…”

“…Specifically, some studies in criminology and criminal justice have shown that racial minorities are more likely to be stopped by the police than Whites (Alpert, Dunham, & Smith, 2007;Alpert, MacDonald, & Dunham, 2005;Engel & Calnon, 2004;Jacobs, 1979;Lundman & Kaufman, 2003;Miller, 2008;Novak, 2004;Novak & Chamlin, 2012;Petrocelli, Piquero, & Smith, 2003;Rojek, Rosenfeld, & Decker, 2004;Smith, Makarios, & Alpert, 2006;Stolzenberg, D'Alessio, & Eitle, 2004;Warren, Tomaskovic-Devey, Smith, Zingraff, & Mason, 2006;Withrow, 2004a;Withrow 2004b;Withrow, 2007).…”

“…shown that racial disparities exist in officers' decision-making for these outcomes (Higgins et al, 2008;Novak, 2004;Schafer et al, 2006). Focal concerns theory may explain why and how police officers make these decisions.…”