RACIAL PROFILING OR RACIST POLICING? BOUNDS TESTS IN AGGREGATE DATA

Ruben Hernandez-Murillo () and John Knowles
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: John Knowles () and John A. Knowles

International Economic Review, 2004, vol. 45, issue 3, pages 959-989

Abstract: State-wide reports on police traffic stops and searches summarize very large populations, making them potentially powerful tools for identifying racial bias, particularly when statistics on search outcomes are included. But when the reported statistics conflate searches involving different levels of police discretion, standard tests for racial bias are not applicable. This article develops a model of police search decisions that allows for nondiscretionary searches and derives tests for racial bias in data that mix different search types. Our tests reject unbiased policing as an explanation of the disparate impact of motor-vehicle searches on minorities in Missouri. Copyright 2004 by the Economics Department Of The University Of Pennsylvania And Osaka University Institute Of Social And Economic Research Association.

Date: 2004
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