“Blacks Can’t Jump”: The Racialization of Transit Police Responses to Fare Evasion

Abstract

This study demonstrates that racially disparate fare evasion citation outcomes are the product of racialized social systems that allow transit police officers to determine the belongingness of Black riders in systems of mass transit. Using citation data from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, we test the impact of race and place attributes on transit officer decisions to allocate punishment for subway fare evasion using mixed effects logistic regression controlling for individual and contextual predictors. Although rider racial identity alone proves statistically irrelevant, Black riders suspected of fare evasion possess an elevated risk for being fined as opposed to merely being warned at stations located within predominately white neighborhoods and as stations increase in ridership. These findings demonstrate how transit police officer discretion challenges Black belongingness on systems of public transportation. Broader implications of this work include the importance of scholarship linking statistical disparities to organizational intent and integrating diverse voices in policing policy development.

Patchwork disclosure: Divergent public access and personal privacy across criminal record disclosure policy in the United States

“…Research has shown that Black and Latinx populations face disproportionate police contact and prosecutorial overcharging. “Order Maintenance Policing” regularly occurs in areas with higher concentrations of Black and Latinx people, resulting in disparate arrest outcomes for these populations (American Civil Liberties Union, 2013; Beckett et al, 2005, 2006; Carter & Johnson, 2021; Geller, 2016; Geller & Fagan, 2011). In the courtroom, Black defendants are also more likely to face more serious charges and less likely to have their charges dropped and case dismissed (Berdejó, 2017; Lynch & Omori, 2018; Petersen & Omori, 2020; Rosenberg et al, 2017; Sutton, 2013).…”

“No One Should Feel Like They're Unsafe”

“…Inequitable mobility hinders accessing health care, employment, education, exercise, and nutritious food, thereby affecting physical and mental health, relationships, and economic security 1,3–9. Infrastructure and policies to improve mobility often advantage the privileged,1,3–9 and policies such as helmet laws10 and transit enforcement11–13 are disproportionately used against people of color. Residential segregation that separates racial/ethnic groups within a geographic area creates health disparities and inequitable access to safe and quality sidewalks, bikeways, public transportation routes, green space, and other built environment amenities 1,14–17.…”

Cooperation in changing groups

“…While persistent discrimination in institutional settings such as the labor and housing market has long been documented (Auspurg et al, 2019;Pager & Shepherd, 2008;Zschirnt & Ruedin, 2016), field research showing everyday discrimination in more informal, unstructured encounters has only recently been gaining traction (Aidenberger & Doehne, 2021;Baldassarri, 2020;Choi et al, 2021bChoi et al, , 2021aKoopmans & Veit, 2014;Zhang et al, 2019Zhang et al, , 2022. There is already evidence that law enforcement targets free-riding by outgroup members more so than by ingroup members, due to so-called 'ethnic profiling' (Carter & Johnson, 2021;Mujcic & Frijters, 2020). As a high-profile example, it recently came to light that the Dutch government targeted citizens with an ethnic-minority background more so in controls for free-riding than citizens with a native-majority background (tax evasion in particular; European Parliament, 2022).…”