NCJ Number
188473
Date Published
2002
Length
8 pages
Annotation
In analyzing the problem of police racial profiling, this chapter argues that although research shows that race plays a relatively unimportant role in a police officer's decision to issue a traffic citation, it does play a substantial role in the decision to stop or search a vehicle; alternative strategies are offered for addressing flaws in the research on this issue.
Abstract
The chapter begins with a survey of the relevant literature on racial profiling and race-based policing. Following this review, the authors discuss the results of their own content analysis of scenarios that describe officer/citizen contacts wherein the citizens perceive that race was the primary factor leading to the officer's decision to stop them and/or subsequently search their vehicle. The authors' content analysis of 50 scenarios from citizens who alleged racism in police decision making reveals patterns consistent with the previous research. In 47 of the 50 scenarios, the police articulated a bona fide reason for stopping the motorists. Most were stopped for relatively minor traffic violations. Only 13 of the 50 stops resulted in the issuance of a citation or the arrest of the motorists. In 14 of the 50 scenarios, the citizen/officer contacts included actual or threatened physical confrontation. In 10 of the 50 scenarios, the motorists, passengers, and/or vehicle were searched. This information is presented to illustrate the point that there are important qualitative and subjective elements of traffic stops that apparently lead some motorists to believe that the enforcement action was based on something other than their lack of compliance with traffic regulations, specifically race. The chapter concludes with recommendations for further research on this issue. 1 table and 7 references