Understanding Police Agencies’ Explanations for Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality in Vehicle Stops

Abstract

Extant literature on traffic stops indicates that disparate enforcement of traffic laws is pervasive, violative of individuals’ constitutional liberties, and can have a lasting impact on the psyches of those subjected to it. This issue takes center stage in Missouri, a state that has often been alleged to engage in racial profiling, because disproportionality has persisted despite legislation to address it. To this point, several quantitative investigations of Missouri traffic stop data have answered many important questions regarding the existence and prevalence of disparities. However, there is a dearth of qualitative research that focuses on police agencies’ reactions to the data outcomes. The current study addresses this gap by analyzing written responses from Missouri agencies submitted with stop statistics. Findings reveal that agencies use responses to provide several types of justifications, excuses, and mitigating circumstances to explain existing disparities.

Vehicle Stops and Group Position: How Missouri Agencies Use Place and Race to Explain Disparities

“…This theory posits that Whites, which represent the ingroup, will be threatened by and have negative attitudes toward outgroup members, such as Black Americans, when they “encroach” upon seemingly White social spaces, including neighborhoods. Race relations scholarship argues that social institutions, such as the police, are racialized in critical ways (Bonilla-Silva, 2014; Bracey, 2015; Craig & Blount-Hill, 2022; Reid & Craig, 2021). Oliver (2017) contends that the state is an instrument for White society, which uses its control of local police to maintain social and physical boundaries between them and outgroups.…”