Profiling, Cajun Style: Racial and Demographic Profiling in Louisiana's War on Drugs

Abstract

Few topics are more sensitive to police and minority ethnic groups than racial profiling. Because this is a relatively new area of inquiry, researchers lack a comprehensive methodology for conducting inquiries into allegations of racial profiling. To date, most studies of profiling focus on alleged disparities between policing activities and aggregate population statistics. However, as a vast majority of this research cannot account for possible differences in group behaviour, it is impossible to conclude definitively that officers actually target minorities. By contrast, this study examines accusations of racial and demographic profiling by comparing arrest statistics between two overlapping police forces patrolling the same stretch of highway, during the same period of time. We theorise that the Louisiana State Police Criminal Patrol Unit (LSP-CPU) and certain deputies of the St Martin Parish Sheriff's Office (SMSO) conducted focused traffic stops on suspect populations in an effort to interdict drug trafficking along Interstate 10. Indeed, an examination of the arrest statistics between the CPU/SMSO and our baseline (Louisiana State Police Traffic Patrol) reveals dramatic discrepancies which are logically consistent with racial and demographic profiling on the part of the CPU/SMSO. Beyond its specific findings, the study provides a more reliable method by which researchers can assess accusations of profiling by other law enforcement agencies.

The consumer racial profiling experiences of Black students at historically Black colleges and universities: An exploratory study

“…A. Harris, 1999D. A. Harris, , 2002Lange, Johnson, & Voas, 2005;Ramirez, McDevitt, & Farrell, 2000;Reitzel & Piquero, 2006;Rice, Reitzel, & Piquero, 2005;Ruiz & Woessner, 2006;Russell, 1999;Schafer, Carter, Katz-Bannister, & Wells, 2006;E. L. Smith & Durose, 2006;M.…”

Investigating Discriminative Bail Setting: Multivariate Analysis on Louisiana Drug Interdiction

“…NOTE 1. For additional research on racial profiling in St. Martin Parish, see Bowling, Ruiz, & Reynolds, 2008;Ruiz & Lee, 2009;Ruiz & Woessner, 2006;Ruiz, 2000. …”

“…The current hypotheses were based on previous findings of the same data that supported the claim that the demographic variables were factored in for drug traffic stops (Ruiz, 2000;Ruiz & Woessner, 2006). Logically, it would follow that discrimination found at the previous two levels of the criminal justice system will also be present in the setting of bails.…”

Perceptions of Consumer Racial Profiling and Negative Emotions

“…A. Harris, 1999D. A. Harris, , 2002Lange, Johnson, & Voas, 2005;Onwudiwe, 2005;Ramirez, McDevitt, & Farrell, 2000;Reitzel & Piquero, 2006;Rice, Reitzel, & Piquero, 2005;Ruiz & Woessner, 2006;Schafer, Carter, Katz-Bannister, & Wells, 2006; E. L. Smith & Durose, 2006;M. R. Smith & Alpert, 2002;Weitzer & Tuch, 2002Withrow, 2006).…”