African Americans most likely to get pulled over while women are least likely to be halted at traffic stops, finds report
A new report has pointed out that African Americans are more likely than any other racial groups to be pulled over at traffic stops while Hispanics are most likely to get a ticket. According to the Department of Justice data that was analyzed by researchers from Autoinsurance EZ, there are more than 19 million traffic stops each year. Out of these stops, Hispanics are least likely to receive a warning.
The report, that is mostly focused on the demographics of the traffic stops made, found that drivers between the ages of 18 to 24 are the most likely age group to experience a police-initiated traffic stop.
It was inspired by the national dialogue that’s taking place around racial disparities in law enforcement and criminal justice, said the company in a statement to MEA World Wide. Although the report could not determine the cause of these differences, noting that it is beyond the scope of the report, they said that these findings raise red flags over the treatment of these ethnic group in traffic stops. There is a need to question whether the disparities found are the result of differences in behavior or preferences of those groups or the result of disparities in the treatments they receive, especially by people in power, they said.
"For example, driving behavior and time spent on the road likely differ by race, ethnicity, gender, etc. But do those differences fully explain the disparities in stop/ticket rates? If not, is it that police officers are more likely to stop or ticket a person of color simply because that person belongs to a minority group? And if so, is that because of explicit (conscious) or implicit (unconscious) bias?" they said.
The report also found that women were more likely to get a reason than men when pulled over, while Hispanics are the least likely among racial groups to receive an explanation. The report also states that both black drivers and Hispanic drivers are significantly less likely to believe they were pulled over justly even when the police officer provides a reason. The report also found that women are less likely than men to be pulled over in the first place.
In a similar study conducted by The Stanford Policing Project confirms the findings of disparity from the DOJ data. According to a report published by the group in March earlier this year, black drivers were about 20 percent more likely to be stopped by police than were white drivers. The group studied data available between 2011 to 2017 that included nearly 100 million traffic stops from more than 20 patrol agencies and police departments.