Racial Profiling at Traffic Stops Analytical Essay by Nicky

Racial Profiling at Traffic Stops
An examination of the evidence that some officers resort to racial profiling at traffic stops.
# 144984 | 1,557 words | 4 sources | APA | 2010 | US
Published on Oct 22, 2010 in African-American Studies (Racism) , Criminology (Public and Crime)


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Description:

The paper examines several articles on how police officers resort to profiling based on race with regard to traffic stops. The paper points out that there are not many methods for law enforcement to use to gather and analyze data regarding traffic stops, and therefore the evidence is questionable. Further, the paper notes that researchers have to be fully informed as to all the variables that go into traffic stops before reaching conclusions. Notwithstanding, the paper believes that there are some officers who are guilty of racial profiling.

From the Paper:

"Meanwhile, an article in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology (Ridgeway, 2006) reports that due to the public perception that many traffic officers stop drivers based on race, police departments across the nation are gathering data on traffic stops. When the use of "discretion" appears to side "consistently against minorities," then "trust in the fairness of 'the system' degrades," Ridgeway explains. There is a history involved with police and the issue of racial profiling; in fact, Ridgeway writes that in the 1950s the American Bar Association revealed that police in general believed they did not have to determine if a law was being broken or not before stopping citizens on the highways.
"Subsequent to the 1950s, more attention has been paid to the fact that there must be discretion used during traffic stops. But the question remains today as to how effective can law enforcement be in any event, by simply stopping an automobile because the driver is black. In his article, Ridgeway points to a series of studies in 2002 in which "the hit rate" (the rate of recovery of some kind of drug or illegal substance) was "higher for whites detained by police than blacks or Latinos" (Ridgeway, 2006)."

Sample of Sources Used:

  • Fagan, Kevin. (2008). Palo Alto police chief denies racial profiling. San FranciscoChronicle. Retrieved Dec. 2, 2008, from http://www.sfgate.com.
  • Racial Profiling Data Collection Resource Center. (2008). Northwestern University. Retrieved Nov. 28, 2008, from http://www.racialprofilinganalysis.neu.edu/
  • Ridgeway, Greg. (2006). Assessing the Effect of Race bias in Post-traffic StopOutcomes Using Propensity Scores. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 22(1), 1-10.
  • Vito, Gennaro F., & Walsh, William F. (2006). Suspicion and traffic stops: crime controlOr racial profiling. International Journal of Police Science & Management. 10(1),89-100.

Cite this Analytical Essay:

APA Format

Racial Profiling at Traffic Stops (2010, October 22) Retrieved May 30, 2023, from https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/racial-profiling-at-traffic-stops-144984/

MLA Format

"Racial Profiling at Traffic Stops" 22 October 2010. Web. 30 May. 2023. <https://www.academon.com/analytical-essay/racial-profiling-at-traffic-stops-144984/>

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