Young Black and Latino males are stopped at over eight times their population share

Evidence

It is difficult to pinpoint the independent role race plays in an officer’s decision to pull someone over because the underlying base rates for being stopped are unclear. In other words, in what proportions would we expect people of different races to be pulled over? Representation in the general population is the obvious point of comparison. If, for example, Blacks make up 25 percent of a city’s population, then it might immediately seem equitable for Blacks to also comprise approximately 25 percent of those pulled over by police. Matters quickly become more complicated if, hypothetically, Blacks tend to spend more time driving because of longer commutes, resulting in a statistically higher risk of committing traffic violations. If this were the case, then the 25 percent stop rate among Black community members might be disproportionately low. Driving behavior would become a factor, or benchmark, to take into account when trying to isolate and quantify the influence of race in police decision-making above and beyond legitimate reasons an officer may have in conducting a stop (see Ayres & Borowsky, 2008, for a discussion of benchmarks). Crime rate, as I have already mentioned, is another important benchmark. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 364 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Blacks in Oakland are stopped and handcuffed out of proportion to population share; Drug arrests of Blacks stem from proactive stops while White arrests are reactive — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 1067; Discretionary stops pulled over blacks more though whites more often had drugs — Dorothy A. Brown, Getting to Reparations: How Building a…, 420 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Blacks in Oakland are stopped and handcuffed out of proportion to population share #exemplifies (0.92)
• Measuring racial bias in stops requires choosing an appropriate benchmark #complicates (0.80) — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 364