Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Minorities and Traffic Stops


Study: Minorities fare worse in traffic stops

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Black, Hispanic and white drivers are equally likely to be pulled over by police, but blacks and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched and arrested, a federal study found.

Police were much more likely to threaten or use force against blacks and Hispanics than against whites in any encounter, whether at a traffic stop or elsewhere, according to the Justice Department.

The study, released Sunday by the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics, covered police contacts with the public during 2005 and was based on interviews by the Census Bureau with nearly 64,000 people age 16 or over. (Read the full report)

"The numbers are very consistent" with those found in a similar study of police-public contacts in 2002, bureau statistician Matthew R. Durose, the report's co-author, said in an interview.

"There's some stability in the findings over these three years."

Traffic stops have become a politically volatile issue. Minority groups have complained that many stops and searches are based on race rather than on legitimate suspicions. Blacks in particular have complained of being pulled over for simply "driving while black."

"The available data is sketchy but deeply concerning," said Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington bureau. The civil rights organization has done its own surveys of traffic stops, and he said the racial disparities grow larger, the deeper the studies delve.

A call for more data
"It's very important to look at the hit rates for searches -- the number that actually result in finding a crime," Shelton said. "There's a great deal of racial disparity there." He called for federal legislation that would collect uniform data by race on stops, arrests, use of force, searches and hit rates.


"This report shows there are still disturbing disparities in terms of what happens to people of color after the stop," said Dennis Parker, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's racial justice project.

He also said better reporting is needed.

Like the 2002 report, this one contained a warning that the racial disparities uncovered "do not constitute proof that police treat people differently along demographic lines" because the differences could be explained by circumstances not analyzed by the survey.

The 2002 report said such circumstances might include driver conduct or whether drugs were in plain view.

Traffic stops are the most frequent way police interact with the public, accounting for 41 percent of all contacts. An estimated 17.8 million drivers were stopped in 2005.

Black, Hispanic and white motorists were equally likely to be pulled over by police -- between 8 percent and 9 percent of each group. The slight decline in blacks pulled over -- from 9.2 percent in 2002 to 8.1 percent in 2005 -- was not statistically significant, Durose said, and could be the result of random differences.

The raw numbers
The racial disparities showed up after that point:

Blacks (9.5 percent) and Hispanics (8.8 percent) were much more likely to be searched than whites (3.6 percent). There were slight but statistically insignificant declines compared with the 2002 report in the percentages of blacks and Hispanics searched.

Blacks (4.5 percent) were more than twice as likely as whites (2.1 percent) to be arrested. Hispanic drivers were arrested 3.1 percent of the time.

Among all police-public contacts, force was used 1.6 percent of the time. But blacks (4.4 percent) and Hispanics (2.3 percent) were more likely than whites (1.2 percent) to be subjected to force or the threat of force by police officers.

People interviewed described police hitting, kicking, pushing, grabbing, pointing a gun or spraying pepper spray at them or threatening to do so. More than four of five felt the force used was excessive, but there were no statistically significant racial disparities among the people who felt that way.

Two years ago, the Bush administration's handling of the 2002 report and its finding of racial disparities generated considerable controversy.

Departing from normal practice, the earlier report was simply posted on the statistics bureau's Web site without any press release announcing it.

The bureau's director at the time, Lawrence A. Greenfeld, appointed by President Bush in 2001,
wanted to publicize the racial disparities, but his superiors disagreed, according to a statistics bureau employee.

Greenfeld told his staff he was being moved to a new job following the dispute, according to this employee, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

This time there was a press release.

20 comments:

Tara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tara said...

I think that people of racial minorities are unfairly judged as a whole. There are certain stereotypes placed on them by society. For some people these stereotypes get so ingrained into their minds that they become reality thus causing them to make hasty judgments. Now I’m not saying that all cops pre- judge people based on their race, what I’m saying is that I think that for some it highly influences them. I sure that for the vast majority of the time the people being pulled over whether they are black, white, or Hispanic are being pulled over because they were breaking the law. I also think that sometimes the person being pulled over is the problem. They may think that they are being pulled over because of their race so they put off a certain vibe that may lead the cop suspicious that they are hiding something. I’m not really sure if cops are pulling people over based on their race or not. Even after seeing the statistics it makes me wonder if it was just coincidence that more racial minorities are being pulled over or if there is some underlying reason to it.

viper10 said...

About this article; it is a true fact, blacks and other minorities do get pulled over and stopped more than whites. But does this mean they are being singled out. In some cases yes, but most of the time it is mere coincidence. Where the article refers to "driving while black", that was proven to be true; however, they failed to mention that another study was done in the same area in Los Angeles. In this study they had drivers put racial and slanderous bumper stickers on their vehicles to see how that affected the police's decision to stop them. The result was that it didn't matter whether they were black or white, but cars with these bumper stickers were pulled more than others. So what the study proved, was that it didn't always matter what color your skin was, rather what determined if you got pulled over was how the officer saw you, and what his demeanor was. Still, that doesn't change the fact that blacks and minorities are stopped by the police more than whites. I think a persons skin color needs to play no part in whether or not someone is stopped by the police or not.

Anonymous said...

DancingChef said. . . .

Everything in this blog is true. I have heard minorities talk about how police always profile them, always pulling them over and searching there cars, when they have not broken any traffic laws to their knowledge. How can officers feel that they can just pull minorities over for no real just reasoning other than, they are a minority; they must be breaking the law. In the blog it states the number of different minorities being arrested by the police: That blacks were more likely to be arrested by police at 4.5% while whites were had a 2.1% chance. Hispanics were at a 2.3% chance at being arrested. Let me ask you, what kind of world do we live in when our authority does not trust it people? In class we have discussed the writing by Locke and he says that men should treat other men as he would treat himself. In our society today, fairness and equality is not here. It is outrageous that police can see give equality in judging pulling over and arresting of different minorities. Has our society really become that raped-up in stereotypes/media entertainment, to understand that those are just stereotypes and does not make them true for everyone? Police are out of control with pulling over and arresting minorities and this madness needs to come to a stop otherwise who is to know what else will come from this.

east_ky said...

I am not surprised by the results of this study in the least. It has been a longstanding fact that minorities fare worse with law enforcement officials than Caucasians. They are arrested more of the time and often are arrested through the use of excessive force. This is not some phenomena that is confined to one part of our country, but true in all parts of the nation. There has to be some type of reason. I believe that our culture has taught us to be naturally suspicious of minorities. There is no trust. This is why this problem is not going to simply go away. It’s almost impossible with the stereotypes portrayed by the media about these minorities in programs like cops which make it entertaining to watch minorities get chased down and arrested. I believe that there needs to be another part of police training that involves the importance of not discriminating against all races. However, this is not likely to happen. Law enforcement officials do not like to be told how to do their jobs. This has been culturally embedded the minds of the American psyche for so long that we often simply dismiss that racial profiling is a daily thing that happens everyday.

Unknown said...

I feel that was found in the study is absolutely correct. I think that a lot of times minorities are pulled over unjustly. The reason the minorities are arrested is because law enforcers find them suspicious because of the color of their skin. A lot of the time blacks or Hispanics are targeted by what kind of car they drive. I think that some cops just still feel that certain cars could not be purchased by blacks. Especially young minorities I think they are especially a target of force being used on them by police. When they get pulled over I think it is probably twice as likely that they be forced and threatened by the police. Great American is wrong. I feel that he himself knows that there are certain stereotypes law enforcers have. And all you talk about is suspicions being suspicious is not a crime. How would you like to be harassed for being suspicious? I know from fact that after making a left turn right after someone and a person making the same left turn after me that’s three cars making the illegal left turn I was targeted and pulled over and ticketed. When I told the officer about the other cars they said we can’t catch everybody but we did catch you.

Anonymous said...

420ComfortablyNumb said....
The report and statistics within it are undoubtedly true, I see no argument there. The statistic that I would like to see is how many police contacts actually constituted an arrest. This is essentially the reason for pulling over somebody. If the greater percentage of blacks and Hispanics that are pulled over are actually committing a crime, then I see no racial issue. However, if blacks and Hispanics are pulled over simply for a stereotypical suspicion then there is a problem. I cannot comment on this report form personal experience because none of my black and Hispanic friends have ever had unfair contact with police officials (at least to my knowledge). But if blacks and Hispanics are pulled over more regularly and unjustly, which may be the case, then this a clear indication of racial stereotypes used by the police.

DemocratLove said...

I would honestly have to say that racial profiling occurs more often in the presence of minorities than rather in the white majority. Sometimes, I often think how I would feel if I were racially profiled if I were a minority. But, then it occurred to me that I am. In the majority as well as the minority people are profiled everyday. From what they wear to what kind of job they have. Even to the extent to what type of education they have or who their parents were. I have to agree with the statistics though, I see more african-american and hispanics being searched or taken out of their vehichles in traffic stops than I do whites. I also want to point out that white cops are going to racially profile someone of a different nationality more so than their own kind. Albert Schweitzer once said, "an optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while the pessimist sees only the red stoplight. The truly wise person is colorblind." Every individual has to overcome majorities and minorities, because in the end every person deserves to be treated as equal as the next

raiden5060 said...

I have to say that I definitely disagree with the first post (Dr. Caric, is that you trying to stir debate!? LOL). Of course they are more likely to be suspicious of minorities—not because these groups have been “known to cause trouble or commit a crime”, but rather as a result of their institutionalized racism. These results are based on a Federal study and are therefore stratified for the whole population, rather than just being indicative of minorities committing more crime in a particular area. If indeed these findings are correct, then that proves that racism is still very much alive in America. I don’t think anyone would be too surprised by that conclusion. Racism has become much more concealed since the Civil Rights Movement; so much so that many people (mostly Whites) complain that minorities whine too much about something that no longer exists. Racism does still exist and manifests itself whenever the opportunity presents itself. I think anyone who pays attention knows that Blacks and Latinos are more likely to be stopped, searched or arrested than Whites. Minorities represent an immensely disproportional segment of the prison population. All these factors are proof that racial profiling does indeed occur. “Driving while black” is not just an urban legend, in fact, it is an urban reality.

spiegelglanz said...

So we all think, at least to some extent, the study's findings represent the truth. Just to correct some earlier postings--different races were about equally likely to be pulled over, but the pulling over of blacks and hispanics led to more searches, uses of force, and arrests.

But you guys are touching on the concept that there's some institutionalized racist conspiracy here. Maybe true. But think about both sides of the coin. Not only are cops trained to be more suspicious of minorities, not only are they falling in line with previous generations--but blacks and hispanics are growing up in roles where "traditional" means "drugs and violence." A friend of mine who now attends UCLA had a problem in high school--she was half black, half hispanic, but never did drugs and had a 4.0 GPA. The problem? She was accused of and alienated for "acting white." Speaking in full sentences with a rich vocabulary, getting a higher education, staying off of substance abuse and gun crimes have become traditional white roles, in most cases starting in elementary school. Both parties are growing up and being taught that these statistics should be true.

Should they be true, from an objective, moral, logical standpoint? Of course not. But the institutional aspect of the racial imbalance comes from both sides. The sad fact is, yes, there is a disproportionate amount of minorities in the prison system. I'd put money on it that there's a disproportionate amount who were framed. But there's also a disproportionate amount of minorities who are actually committing the crimes, also victims of institutional racism.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with this article. When you read something like this you may expect this to be the case in larger cities, but coming from a small town I can honestly say this happens everywhere. I come from a place where at the most ten percent of our population is black, and often times when I see a black person pulled over there are two or maybe even three cop cars on the scene, just for a little traffic stop. I had a friend in high school, which is from India so of course the cops in my small town consider her black. She was pulled over one evening for nothing. They told her she was going to slow. They ended up letting her go once they heard her last name, considering her dad is a major doctor in town, but the fact they even did that was disturbing. Either way, it is unjust and wrong. When this happens to people there should be an easy and quick way for these people to report this incident. If our cops don’t trust us because of our skin color, then who does trust us?

Mr. Moneybags said...

John Gibson said it best, "If ninety-percent of the people getting arrested are black in an area that is ninety-percent black then that is simple statistics." Police officers should not have to abide by the law of stereotyping when allowing a person to role through a checkpoint. This is an injustice and wrong. Once again this argument comes back to Bill Bennett’s view on a color-blind society. People need to strive to see everyone the same. However, I want the person arrested that authorities have the most evidence against. Yes your friend got pulled over, but how do you know it was for "no reason"? Did you read the police report? This does not constitute profiling. I myself come from a very rural location and a majority of people convicted are white. Yes, white. Law of statistics and common since shows that if people are in a tight quarters they are more prone to unlawful behavior. African-American do habituate in closer residential quarters (i.e. "the hood") making them more prone to violence. I don't agree with profiling, but the latitude of the law enforcement has to be allowed to protect people in the country. If you are not willing to give up some autonomy for you and your neighbors protection then you do not deserve freedom.

Anonymous said...

As many of the others have said, this directly isnt an complete indictor that race is the case, but i am in agreement with the leader of the NAACP that more indepth studies do have to be done. For example stuides should be conducted to see how many successful convictions arose from these arrest and how many where said to be superficial cases. But i do believe this statistics could very well be a scary indicator, a warning sign, that racial descrepencies still occur regularly in society and we are not always as progressive as we like to think of ourselves as being.I think the point of the article is that this DEFINATLY warrents a deeper inquiry into what is going on.

Jrhorne

Anonymous said...

I read this article because in many of my sociology and criminology classes this has been discussed and analyzed. It is disturbing to think that minorities are that much more likely to be pulled over than whites. And if that’s not enough they are more likely to be arrested and more likely for force to be used against them. These statistics are unacceptable and should not be tolerated. If I was a minority I would be extremely upset and I would demand change for the better. Even though I am not a minority I feel that change should be brought and the training of police officers should be changed and improved. I am glad that someone appointed by Bush wanted to report these findings and I am glad now that these reports are given the proper attention and are met with a press release so they can not be so easily ignored. It is ridiculous that minorities should feel uneasy when driving because they are always thinking “Will I get pulled over or arrested or will pepper spray be sprayed in my face?” This is a way for whites to enforce power over minorities and is a way to racially treat others unfair. It is oppression and it is wrong!

retro_liberal said...

What I find most interesting is that minorities, specifically blacks, were searched and arrested almost twice as often as whites. Does this mean whites commit fewer crimes? Not at all, an officer searches someone because they have a reason to suspect them of engaging in illegal activity. One way to interpret the data is that racial profiling does play a role. Perhaps it isn’t that black commit more crimes than whites, but that the cops generally believe whites are better, more civil, citizens than blacks. What would such an assumption lead to? It leads to a higher ratio of blacks being searched and arrested than whites.

Viper10 points out a study done in L.A. and says. “In this study they had drivers put racial and slanderous bumper stickers on their vehicles to see how that affected the police's decision to stop them.” A key concept in that citation, racial bumper stickers; this further supports my assertion that it’s racial profiling as opposed to any significant deviation in the amount of crimes committed. It’s just that these policemen assume that blacks commit more crimes. When they see these “racial bumper stickers” the also likely tend to assume that it’s a minority drive. It’s not like they can see the persons face from the rear of the car (where most bumper stickers are placed.)

Hendrix said...

I do agree that minorities get judged unfairly in traffic stops. But this is the smae anywhere else. It's like the woman who clutches her purse as she walks by a black man. Racial profiling is inbedded into our brains from childhood. We are told urban areas have a lot of drugs, guns, gangs, etc. That there are a significant amount of more blacks in jail than whites and thats why blacks are dangerous criminals. I don't necessarily put full blame on the cops for the harsh treatment of minorities, I would put that blame on society in general. a persons personality is gained by there environment and when that evironment is unhealthy "blacks are bad" they will act in that manner, we need to focus on the environmental and societal factors here not the cops. Though we have our civil rights, America is a far cry from equality.

Anonymous said...

No_names_avaibale

I do not like the fact that just as many white people get pulled over as minorities, but minorities are just more likely to get arrested. What a skewed statistic. This article takes me back to when we read Martian Luther King and Bell Hooks. In the reading from King, he states that the majority will never give up their power; it has to be taken from them. Bell Hooks mentions in her article that everywhere she turns, racism still exists, even in New York City!
I know this has to be truth because I see it happen all the time. My aunt is scared to drive on the main road to get back to her house from work because she is scared she is going to get pulled over. On average she told me she gets pulled over five or six times a year for going one or two over the limit. From personal experience, I go at least five over every time I got through her town and the cops never have pulled me over.
All I can do it picture a bunch of cops sitting in a room being brainwashed to only pull over white drivers for excessive speeding, but arrest the minorities for the same thing…. Wow makes you wonder if we are the land of the free…

budbud said...

Racial disparity is still with us all today. Although we think that we like to live in a “Color Blind” society, racism is still with us all today, and it’s bad rather we like to believe we are all racist or not, its still here. I think it is absurd that it statistically proven that blacks and Hispanics are stopped at traffic stops by the police more than whites and they were more likely to get searched. But, after reading the article I feel that it is good that people get searched and all of the people that get arrested probably deserve to get arrested no matter what color they are. I do also believe that people of color and racial minorities are judged more and stereotypes still exist so bad due to the past and previous racial discrimination. Although the facts are true and I have heard of friends of mine who are minorities and they too argue that minorities get pulled over and stopped more than whites. This is a problem that we face and racism is still here today. Our country does seem to be unjust a lot of the times when discrimination and minorities come into the picture and I believe that this article says a lot because we as a country need to realize our discrimination when it is not necessary.

Aaron said...

Although I agree that racial minorities are treated unfairly sometimes in todays world I do not believe the idea that someone will be pulled over for "driving while black" this article was too general and seemed to draw the conclusion that all police officers act in this way or on those beliefs but this simply isn't true. I strongly agree with the first comment, most of the time when someone is arrested its because they are actually breaking the law. An officer can't just pull someone over and arrest them for no apparent reason. Yes an officer does have the right to use their personal judgment to decide whether or not to pull them over in the first place. If they didn't then either everyone would be stopped constantly or no one would be and many criminals would go unpunished. I have several friends of different race and I asked them about this, I asked whether or not they think that any time they have been stopped by an officer if it was because of their race. All 4 questioned said no. They said that it could happen to anyone it just happened to be them. I'm living proof of this. I'm a white male but that doesn't stop the Morehead and University police from stopping me (which they have on many occasions unfortunately.

John said...

Minorities and Traffic Stops
Study: Minorities fare worse in traffic stops

Even though been stopped or detained for any moving violations does not apply to me, the census in these narrative points out that Blacks and Hispanics, get the shorter end of the stick. Therefore, stopped during a moving violation, so what, what is the problem with that? Then, why most often than never the rough treatment and threatening follows it? Some Blacks and Hispanics I have had a chance to talk too have had close encounters with law peace offices. The results of those stops have been mostly due to; the type of vehicle and the area they were driving in and the way they were dressed—during the stopped they were asked if any drugs or alcohol were in their vehicles, for their-were-abouts, and their home of residence a typical racial profiling act.

The statistical numbers clearly show the disparities between race and class; also observed is the level or intensity of the issue. Nevertheless, the statistical numbers do not lie; scrutiny and harassment will always be a part of our society and not just in the streets.

I feel there is a small amount of police officers that just don’t get it, they are driven by their own prejudice and completely ignore their doctrine. Color-coding often works to confuse race, age, class, gender, incivility, and criminality, and express itself most concretely in the person of the anonymous Black or Hispanic male.

“How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. Any law that uplifts human personality is just.” (Martin Luther King, JR.)

I feel the police are primarily agents of the middle-class citizen, working to make the certain areas more welcoming and safe, often at the expense of the lower class citizens. Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities will always have to look back and around when ever they are in an unfamiliar setting, whether is on the road or outside their backyard—there will always be an unscrupulous officer of the peace doubting their intentions and invading their God given human and civil rights.

Read and heed “Police were much more likely to threaten or use force against blacks and Hispanics than against whites in any encounter, whether at a traffic stop or elsewhere, according to the Justice Department.” Will this non-sense change or stop one day? yes, but not anytime soon.