Data reported by police agencies were at the core of most analyses of Driving While Black in the 1990s and 2000s. There is, however, no previous macro-level research directed exclusively at the accuracy of the Driving While Black traffic stop data reported by police agencies. This article remedies that omission by reaching back across a little more than 10 years to examine data reported by 308 Massachusetts police agencies during April and May of 2001, a time when collection of driver race and ethnicity data was still relatively new. The baseline data show that race and ethnicity missingness is nonrandom on several important dimensions. The article concludes that the Driving While Black data reported by most of the 308 Massachusetts police agencies during April and May of 2001 appear to underestimate the frequency with which police stopped Black and African American drivers for traffic law violations.
AlexN. (1969). Black in blue: A study of the Negro policeman. New York, NY: Appleton-Century Crofts.
2.
AllisonP. D. (2001). Missing data. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
3.
AndersonE. (1999). Code of the street: Decency, violence, and the moral life of the inner city. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.
4.
BejeranoD. (2001). Vehicle stop study year end report: 2000. San Diego, CA: San Diego Police Department.
5.
BerkR.MacDonaldJ. M. (2008). Overdispersion and poisson regression. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 24, 269–284.
6.
BittnerE. (1970). The functions of police in modern society: A review of background factors, current practices, and possible role models. Chevy Chase, MD: National Institute of Mental Health.
7.
BlackD. J. (1970). Production of crime rates. American Sociological Review, 35, 733–748.
8.
BlackD. J.ReissA. JJr.. (1970). Police control of juveniles. American Sociological Review, 35, 63–77.
9.
BlauP. M.ScottW. R. (1962). Formal organizations: A comparative approach. San Francisco, CA: Chandler.
10.
BoivinR.CordeauG. (2011). Measuring the impact of police discretion on official crime statistics. Police Quarterly, 14, 186–203.
11.
Center for Biostatistics. (2003). Analysis of traffic stop data. Columbus, OH: Department of Public Safety and The Ohio State University.
12.
CobbJ. C. (1992). The most southern place on earth: The Mississippi delta and the roots of regional identity. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
13.
ColemanJ. S. (1990). Foundations of social theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14.
CordnerG.WilliamsB.VelascoA. (2002). Vehicle stops in San Diego: 2001. San Diego, CA: San Diego Police Department.
15.
CorlettJ. (2011). Profiling color. Journal of Ethics, 15, 21–32.
16.
DedmanB. (2004). Police chiefs decry profiling study: Racial disparities found in traffic stops. Boston Globe, May 5, B1.
17.
DedmanB.LaTourF. (2003). Romney backs tracking racial profiling: New task force to determine cases of abuse. Boston Globe, March 5, B3.
18.
DonohueB. (2000). 10 troopers cleared of charges as Dunbar sees profiling ending. The Star Ledger, April 15, A1.
19.
DowneyD. B.Von HippelP. T.BrohB. A. (2004). Are schools the great equalizer? Cognitive inequality during the summer months and the school year. American Sociological Review, 69, 613–635.
20.
DuroseM. R.LanganP. A.SmithE. L. (2007). Contacts between the police and public, 2005. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
21.
DuroseM. R.SchmittE. L.LanganP. A. (2005). Contacts between the police and the public: Findings from the 2002 national survey. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
22.
EckE.LuiL.Growette BostaphL. (2003). Police vehicle stops in Cincinnati: July 1-December 31, 2001. Cincinnati, OH: Department of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Police Department.
23.
EngelR. S.CalnonJ. M.BernardT. (2002). Theory and racial profiling: Shortcomings and future directions in research. Justice Quarterly, 19, 249–273.
24.
EngelR. S.CalnonJ. M.TillyerR.JohnsonR.LiuL.WangX. (2005). Project on police-citizen contacts: Year 2 final report(May 2003-April 2004). Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Police (and University of Cincinnati).
25.
EngelR. S.SobolJ. J.WordenR. E. (2000). Further exploration of the demeanor hypothesis: The interaction effects of suspect's characteristics and demeanor on police behavior. Justice Quarterly, 17, 235–258.
26.
FarrellA.McDevittJ. (2006). Rhode Island traffic stop statistics data collection study 2004-2005. Boston, MA: Institute on Race and Justice, College of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University.
27.
FarrellA.McDevittJ.BaileyL.AndresenC.PierceE. (2004). Massachusetts racial and gender profiling study: Final report. Boston, MA: Institute on Race and Justice, College of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University.
28.
Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2010). Law enforcement officers killed and assaulted 2009. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
29.
FedoM. (2000). The lynchings in Duluth. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press.
30.
GardinerJ. A. (1969). Traffic and the police: Variations in law enforcement policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
31.
GarlandD. (2005). Penal excess and surplus meaning: Public torture lynchings in America. Law and Society Review, 39, 793–833.
32.
GoldbergJ. (1999). The color of suspicion. New York Times Sunday Magazine, June 20, 56.
33.
GoveW.HughesM.GeerkenM. (1985). Are uniform crime reports a valid indicator of the index crimes? An affirmative answer with minor qualifications. Criminology, 23, 451–501.
34.
GreenwaldH. P. (2001). Final report: Police stops in Sacramento, California. Los Angeles, CA: School of Policy, Planning, and Development, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
35.
GroggerJ.RidgewayG. (2006). Testing for racial profiling in traffic stops from behind a veil of darkness. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 101, 878–887.
36.
HaddenS. (2001). Slave patrols: Law and violence in Virginia and the Carolinas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
37.
HallJ. (1996). Pretext traffic stops: Whren v. United States. Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation.
38.
HarrisD. A. (1999). Driving while black: Racial profiling on our nation’s highways. Washington, DC: American Civil Liberties Union.
39.
HarrisD. A. (2002). Profiles in injustice: Why racial profiling cannot work. New York, NY: New Press.
40.
HoffmanD. (2003). Negative binomial controls for count data with extra-poisson variation. Pharmaceutical Statistics, 2, 127–132.
41.
HolbertS.RoseL. (2004). The color of guilt and innocence: Racial profiling and police practices in America. San Ramon, CA: Page Marque Press.
42.
Institute on Race and Poverty. (2003). Minnesota state wide racial profiling report: All participating jurisdictions. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Law School.
43.
JacobsD.CarmichaelJ. T.KentS. L. (2005). Vigilantism, current racial threat, and death sentences. American Sociological Review, 70, 656–677.
44.
JohnsonK. (2010). How racial profiling in America became the law of the land: United States v. Brignoni-Ponce and Whren v. United States and the need for truly rebellious lawyering. Georgetown Law Journal, 98, 1005–1071.
45.
KaufmanR. L. (1996). Comparing effects in dichotomous logistic regression: A variety of standardized coefficients. Social Science Quarterly, 77, 90–109.
46.
KlingerD. A. (1994). Demeanor or crime? An inquiry into why “hostile”citizens are more likely to be arrested. Criminology, 32, 475–493.
47.
KochelT. R.WilsonD. B.MastrofskiS. D. (2011). Effect of suspect race on officers’ arrest decisions. Criminology, 49, 473–512.
48.
KowalskiB. R.LundmanR. J. (2007). Vehicle stops by police for driving while Black: Common problems and some tentative solutions. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35, 165–181.
LamberthJ. (1996). In the courts: Report of John Lamberth, Ph.D. Washington, DC: American Civil Liberties Union.
51.
LanganP. A.GreenfieldL. A.SmithS. K.DuroseM. R.LevinD. J. (2001). Contacts between police and the public: Findings from the 1999 national survey. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
52.
LangeJ. E.BlackmanK. O.VoasR. B. (2005). Testing the racial profiling hypothesis for seemingly disparate traffic stops on the New Jersey Turnpike. Justice Quarterly, 22, 193–223.
53.
LatourF. (2002). Racial profiling study set to begin: NU team to analyze traffic stop data. Boston Globe, June 6, B1.
54.
LatourF.DedmanB. (2003). Speed trap, who gets a ticket, who gets a break? Minority officers are stricter on minorities. Boston Globe, July 20, A19.
55.
LeinenS. H. (1984). Black police, white society. New York, NY: New York University Press.
56.
LittleR. J. A.RubinD. B. (1987). Statistical analysis with missing data. New York, NY: Wiley.
57.
LoewenJ. W. (2005). Sundown towns: A hidden dimension of American racism. New York, NY: The New Press.
58.
LongJ. S. (1997). Regression models for categorical and limited dependent measures. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
59.
LundmanR. J.KaufmanR. L. (2003). Driving while Black: Effects of race, ethnicity, and gender on citizen self-reports of traffic stops and police actions. Criminology, 41, 195–220.
60.
LundmanR. J. (1979). Organizational norms and police discretion: An observational study of police work with traffic law violators. Criminology, 17, 159–171.
61.
LundmanR. J. (2010). Are police-reported driving while black data a valid indicator of the traffic law violators police stop? A negative answer with minor qualifications. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 77–87.
62.
MartinS. E. (1994). “Outsider within” the station house: The impact of race and gender on Black women police. Social Problems, 41, 383–400.
63.
Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety. (2001). Racial and gender profiling law effective sunday (press release). Boston: Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety.
64.
MastrofskiS. D.ReisigM.McCluskeyJ. (2002). Police disrespect toward the public: An encounter-based analysis. Criminology, 40, 519–551.
65.
MastrofskiS. D.SnipesJ. B.ParksR. B.MaxwellC. D. (2000). The helping hand of the law: Police control of citizens on request. Criminology, 38, 307–342.
66.
McMahonJ.GarnerJ.DavisR.KrausA. (2002). How to correctly collect and analyze racial profiling data: Your reputation depends on it! final project report for racial profiling data collection and analysis. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
67.
MeeksK. (2000). Driving while black. New York, NY: Broadway Books.
68.
MoonB.CorleyC. J. (2007). Driving across campus: Assessing the impact of drivers’ race and gender on police traffic enforcement actions. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35, 29–37.
69.
MoskosP. (2009). Cop in the hood: My year policing Baltimore’s eastern district. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
70.
MuirW. K. (1977). Police: Streetcorner politicians. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
71.
OstromE.ParksR. B.WhittakerG. (1982). Police services study, phase II, 1977: Rochester, St. Louis, and St. Petersburg (ICPSR 8605). Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.
72.
Reuss-IanniE. (1983). Two cultures of policing: Street cops and management cops. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.
73.
RiceM.WhiteM. (2010). Race, ethnicity, and policing: New and essential readings. New York, NY: New York University Press.
74.
RiksheimE.ChermakS. M. (1993). Causes of police behavior revisited. Journal of Criminal Justice, 21, 353–382.
75.
RousseyD. C. (1996). Policing the southern City: New Orleans, 1805-1889. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
76.
RobergR.NovakK.CordnerG. (2009). Police and society. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
77.
RubinsteinJ. (1973). City police. New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux.
78.
SaporuD. F.PattonC. L.KrivoL. J.PetersonR. D. (2011). Differential benefits? Crime and community investments in racially distinct neighborhoods. Race and Justice, 1, 79–102.
79.
SchaferJ. L. (1997). Analysis of incomplete multivariate data. Boca Raton, FL: Chapman & Hall.
80.
SchaferJ. A.MastrofskiS. D. (2005). Police leniency in traffic enforcement encounters: Exploratory findings from observations and interviews. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33, 225–238.
81.
SchweitzerS. (2001). Effects of racial profiling law debated. Boston Globe, March 31, B1.
82.
SeronC.PereiraJ.KovathJ. (2006). How citizens assess just punishment for police misconduct. Criminology, 44, 925–960.
83.
ShermanL. W. (1980). Causes of police behavior: The current state of quantitative research. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 17, 69–100.
84.
SkolnickJ.FyfeJ. (1993). Above the law: Police and the excessive use of force. New York, NY: Free Press.
85.
StamperN. (2005). Breaking rank: A top cop’s expose of the dark side of American policing. New York, NY: Nation Books.
86.
SunI. Y.PayneB. K. (2004). Racial differences in resolving conflicts: A comparison between black and white police officers. Crime and Delinquency, 50, 516–541.
87.
SykesR. E.BrentE. E. (1983). Policing: A social behaviorist perspective. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
88.
SykesR. E.ClarkJ. P. (1975). A theory of deference exchange in police-civilian encounters. American Journal of Sociology, 81, 587–600.
89.
The Alpert Group. (2004). Miami-Dade police department racial profiling study. Columbia, SC: The Alpert Group.
90.
ThomasD.HansenR. (2004). 2nd annual report Denver police department contact card analysis June 1, 2002 through May 31, 2003. Denver, CO: Denver Police Department and Department of Geography, University of Colorado at Denver.
91.
TolnayS. E.BeckE. M. (1992). Racial violence and black migration in the American south. American Sociological Review, 57, 103–116.
92.
Tomaskovic-DeveyD.MasonM.ZingraffM.2004. Looking for the driving while black phenomena: Conceptualizing racial bias processes and their associated distributions. Police Quarterly, 7, 3–29.
93.
VernieroP.ZoubeckP. H. (1999). Interim report of the state police review team regarding allegations of racial profiling. Trenton, NJ: Attorney General’s Office.
94.
VisherC.A. (1983). Gender, police arrest decisions, and notions of chivalry. Criminology, 21, 5–28.
95.
WalkerS.KatzC. M. (2011). The police in America: An introduction. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
96.
WardJ. T.NoblesM. R.Lanza KaduceL.LevettL. M.TillyerR. (2011). Caught in their own speed trap: The intersection of speed enforcement policy, police legitimacy, and decision acceptance. Police Quarterly, 14, 251–276.
97.
WarrenP.Tomaskovic-DeveyD.SmithW.ZingraffM.MasonM. (2006). Driving while black: Bias processes and racial disparities in police stops. Criminology, 44, 709–738.
98.
WebsdaleN. (2001). Policing the poor: From slave plantation to public housing. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
99.
WeidnerR. R.TerrillW. (2005). A test of Turk’s theory of norm resistance using observational data on police-suspect encounters. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 42, 94–109.
100.
WeitzerR.TuchS. A. (2005). Racially biased policing: Determinants of citizen perceptions. Social Forces, 83, 1009–1030.
101.
WilsonJ. Q. (1968). Varieties of police behavior: The management of law and order in eight communities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
102.
WithrowB. (2006). Racial profiling: From rhetoric to reason. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
