Talk - Frank Baumgartner: "Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us about Policing and Race"
Time
Monday, 27. May 2019
15:15 - 16:45
Location
Y 213
Organizer
Christian Breunig / Marius Busemeyer
Speaker:
Frank Baumgartner (Chapel Hill)
Frank R. Baumgartner is Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is giving a talk on:
"Suspect Citizens: What 20 Million Traffic Stops Tell Us about Policing and Race"
Hosts: Christian Breunig, Marius Busemeyer
Abstract:
We evaluate the factors associated with an officer’s decision to search the driver or vehicle after a routine traffic stop. Racial disparities in search rates by race of driver are similar for all types of officers; all tend to search Black male drivers at higher rates than any other demographic, but White male officers have higher search rates for all types of drivers. We discuss the implications of these findings both in terms of racial disparities in policing as well as with regard to theories of bureaucratic representation. Demographic representation in the police force has powerful implications not only for the satisfaction of citizens in their interactions with police, a finding others have previously noted, but for the outcomes of these interactions. Search rates are reduced by increased diversity on the force, but racial differences in those searches may not be.