The Influence of Driver Race on Traffic Enforcement: Using Theory to Guide Evaluations and Policy

• In Event: Organizational Analysis to Explain Racialization and Other Vulnerability in Policing

Abstract

Traffic stops are the most common interaction between police officers and citizens. As these encounters may be racially discriminatory, it is important to evaluate these incidents. Prior research has primarily focused on the rates of stops, searches, seizures, and arrests made by law enforcement officers of minority drivers. As traffic stop research has been subject to several reviews and discussions of methodological issues inherent to these studies, it is necessary to understand how theory can guide future analyses. Theories used to evaluate traffic enforcement in previous studies tend to fall into one of three realms: those addressing the structural construction of racial treatment in society, those emphasizing individual officer thought processes and perceptions, and organizational theories. Implications of each of these realms for policy will be discussed. The current paper is differentiated from prior research through the emphasis on the theoretical frameworks in traffic stop evaluations, as well as a critical overview of the commonly used data sources in order to identify research trends, gaps, and future areas of study. Due to the lack of comprehensive reviews addressing these components in particular, the current project fills an important gap in the traffic stop literature.

Author

• Jessica Lee Huff, Arizona State University