TY - JOUR

T1 - Racial bias in police traffic stops

T2 - White residents' county-level prejudice and stereotypes are related to disproportionate stopping of Black drivers

AU - Stelter, Marleen

AU - Essien, Iniobong

AU - Sander, Carsten

AU - Degner, Juliane

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.

PY - 2022/4/1

Y1 - 2022/4/1

N2 - Racial disparities in policing are well documented, but the reasons for such disparities are often debated. In the current research, we weighed in on this debate using a regional-level bias framework: We investigated the link between racial disparities in police traffic stops and regional-level racial bias, employing data from more than 130 million police traffic stops in 1,413 U.S. counties and county-level measures of racial bias from more than 2 million online respondents. Compared with their population share in county demographics, Black drivers were stopped at disproportionate rates in the majority of counties. Crucially, disproportionate stopping of Black drivers was higher in counties with higher levels of racial prejudice by White residents (rs = .07−.36). Furthermore, county-level aggregates of White people’s threat-related stereotypes were less consistent in predicting disproportionate stopping (rs = .00−.19). These observed relationships between regional-level bias and racial disparities in policing highlight the importance of the context in which police operate.

AB - Racial disparities in policing are well documented, but the reasons for such disparities are often debated. In the current research, we weighed in on this debate using a regional-level bias framework: We investigated the link between racial disparities in police traffic stops and regional-level racial bias, employing data from more than 130 million police traffic stops in 1,413 U.S. counties and county-level measures of racial bias from more than 2 million online respondents. Compared with their population share in county demographics, Black drivers were stopped at disproportionate rates in the majority of counties. Crucially, disproportionate stopping of Black drivers was higher in counties with higher levels of racial prejudice by White residents (rs = .07−.36). Furthermore, county-level aggregates of White people’s threat-related stereotypes were less consistent in predicting disproportionate stopping (rs = .00−.19). These observed relationships between regional-level bias and racial disparities in policing highlight the importance of the context in which police operate.

KW - Psychology

KW - open data

KW - open materials

KW - police traffic stops

KW - regional-level bias

KW - systemic bias

KW - prejudice

KW - stereotypes

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127350344&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/09567976211051272

DO - 10.1177/09567976211051272

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 35319309

VL - 33

SP - 483

EP - 496

JO - Psychological Science

JF - Psychological Science

SN - 0956-7976

IS - 4

ER -