The Influence of Defendant Race/Ethnicity and Police Body-Worn Cameras on Traffic Case Processing

Abstract

The current study evaluates the impact of defendant race/ethnicity and police body-worn cameras (BWCs) on dismissals and guilty pleas in traffic violations. Despite the frequency of traffic violations and the potential for racial/ethnic bias in these incidents, researchers have yet to examine the outcomes of these violations in court. Research is also needed to assess the potential for BWCs to provide evidence and reduce charging disparities and differential pleas for minority defendants. Traffic violations processed in the Tempe, Arizona Municipal Court before and after BWC deployment were examined using logistic regression. Black and Hispanic defendants were less likely to have their violations dismissed than White defendants, regardless of the presence of a BWC. Hispanic defendants were significantly more likely to plead guilty to traffic violations than White defendants, and BWCs did not eliminate this disparity. BWCs did significantly reduce the likelihood of a guilty plea for Black and White defendants, but the finding was not robust to the inclusion of an interaction term between race and BWCs. BWCs did not significantly moderate the impact of defendant race/ethnicity on either dismissals or guilty pleas. Overall, the results suggest that BWCs have little impact on reducing racial/ethnic disparities in traffic violation processing.

Do body‐worn cameras reduce disparities in police behavior in minority communities? Evidence of nuanced influences across Black and Hispanic neighborhoods

“…Furthermore, BWC activation did not change the influence of neighborhood context on police use of force. Prior research examining the influence of BWCs on racial/ethnic disparities across different contexts similarly finds no effect on misdemeanor traffic case processing in Tempe, Arizona (Huff et al., 2021) and increased proactivity but decreased felony arrests in Black neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky (Hughes et al., 2020), pointing to nuanced influences of this technology on disparities across outcomes and contexts. This is the first study to assess the influence of BWCs on the use of force in minority neighborhoods specifically, finding no moderating effect of BWC activation.…”

“…This benefit is often tied to improving police outcomes in minority communities and during interactions with minority civilians by reducing the influence of extralegal factors on police decision making. Although this argument is widely invoked, almost no research has assessed whether police BWCs have resulted in more equitable outcomes across racial/ethnic groups (see, for exceptions, Huff et al., 2021; Hughes et al., 2020).…”

Testing the Evidentiary Value of Police Body-Worn Cameras in Misdemeanor Court

“…We build on research by White et al (2021) and Huff et al (2021), which tested the impact of BWCs on drug, alcohol, and traffic cases. Specifically, we expand their data set to include all misdemeanor cases filed in Tempe’s City Court during the same timeframe.…”

A call to dismantle systemic racism in criminal legal systems.

“…Also, laws requiring body-worn cameras may produce significant reductions in civilian complaints against the police (Lum et al, 2019). Even so, body-worn cameras, by themselves, are not a sufficient tool for eliminating racially and ethnically disparate treatment by police (Huff et al, 2021), one reason being that implicit bias and deliberate profiling can affect officers’ decisions concerning when to activate cameras (Murphy, 2019). Instead, police must prioritize understanding which policies can maximize the utility of body-worn cameras as well as how the resulting footage can be harnessed to facilitate police training and internal investigations in ways that diminish disparities and promote accountability (Lum et al, 2019).…”