Racial Bias in Policing: Startling Findings from Florida’s Highway Patrol

• The NYPD made over 5 million stops during those 12 years.
• Over 87 percent of those stopped had no prior convictions.
• 83 percent of those stopped were Black or Hispanic, even though these groups comprised only 54 percent of the population.
• The practice was halted in 2013 when a U.S. District Court ruled that it was racially discriminatory and unconstitutional.

• A 2017 study from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences used machine learning techniques to analyze the transcriptions of body camera footage and study how police officers communicate with the community.
• These researchers found that police officers were much more likely to speak disrespectfully to Black residents than to white residents, even after controlling for the crime rate in the neighborhood, the type of interaction (e.g., traffic stop, pedestrian stop), and the outcome of the interaction (e.g., citation, arrest).
• In 2020, a study in Nature Human Behavior analyzed nearly 100 million traffic stops across the United States. The researchers found that Black drivers were stopped more often than white drivers and were searched more frequently, even though searches of white drivers were more likely to yield illegal drugs or contraband.

• The Washington Post has maintained a comprehensive database on police shootings since 2015. As of this writing, Black Americans (5.8 per million per year) have been killed by the police at more than twice the rate of White, non-Hispanics (2.3 per million per year).
• Over 95% of police fatality victims are male, and more than half of them are between the ages of 20 and 40.
• A comprehensive analysis from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2019 found that Black Americans are 2.5 times more likely than white Americans to be killed by police. At current rates, about 1 in 1,000 Black men in the United States will be killed by the police.
• This study also found that Black and Hispanic people are much more likely to experience non-lethal uses of force, like being handcuffed, pushed to the ground, or pepper-sprayed, even when controlling for whether the individual was resisting arrest or the severity of the alleged crime.

• Arrest Rates: For many crimes, people of color are arrested at higher rates than white individuals, even when crime rates are similar across racial groups.
• Bail and Pretrial Detention: People of color are often assigned higher bail amounts and are more likely to be detained pretrial, which can lead to worse case outcomes.
• Charging Decisions: Prosecutors are more likely to throw the book at people of color, charging them with crimes carrying heavier sentences, such as those triggering mandatory minimums.
• Legal Representation: People of color are more likely to rely on public defenders, who are often overburdened with high caseloads, rather than private attorneys.
• Plea Bargaining: Blacks and Hispanics are often offered less favorable plea deals compared to Whites, leading to longer sentences.
• Jury Selection: People of color are often underrepresented in juries, due to both intentional strategies like peremptory challenges, and systemic factors like felony disenfranchisement.
• Conviction and Sentencing: Juries are more likely to convict defendants of color, especially when the victim is White. Furthermore, even after controlling for factors like the severity of the offense and criminal history, people of color, particularly Black men, receive longer and more severe sentences than White convicts.

• Black people, who constitute 13% of U.S. residents, make up a whopping 33% of the sentenced prison population.
• Black and Hispanic men, together representing 32% of the U.S. populace, account for a staggering 56% of the prison population.
• Hispanic men are more than twice as likely as white men to end up behind bars.
• Black men? Six times more likely.

• Black and Hispanic drivers more likely to be stopped by the police than White drivers.
• Once stopped, Black and Hispanic drivers are more likely to be searched than White drivers.
• These disparities are still present even when controlling for other factors, like the reason for the stop and the location.

1. the political affiliation of the officer, and
2. the political context of race relations at the time of the stop

• He found that White Democrats in the Florida Highway Patrol were more than twice as likely to search Black motorists (0.86%) than White motorists (0.38%), even when controlling for other factors.
• White Republicans, meanwhile, were nearly three times more likely to search Black motorists (1.6%) than White motorists (0.63%), even when controlling for other factors.
• The political affiliation of Black and Hispanic officers, by contrast, did not have any significant effect upon their decision to search.

• The propensity of White officers to search Black motorists did indeed increase over time, with the annual percentage gap between White and Black motorists doubling from about 0.6% in 2014 to a peak of 1.25% in 2018. Donahue was able to further show that this increase was not due to turnover: White officers hired after 2016 were not significantly more likely to search Black motorists than those hired before 2016.
• But political affiliation was not a significant factor in explaining changes over time. White Democratic officers and White Republican officers became more likely to exhibit racial bias during the initial years of the Trump era at about the same rate.

• He controls for the location of the stop, the type of stop, the time of day, and whether the motorist is a repeat offender in his analyses.
• He also conducts an analysis specific to repeat offenders, finding that White Republican officers were 4 times more likely to search Black repeat offenders (0.62%) than White repeat offenders (0.15%), compared to their Democratic colleagues.
• Finally, he produces additional models unique to counties with high or low Black populations, high or low White populations, high or low crime rates, and high or low poverty rates. In all 8 of these scenarios, White Republican officers are significantly more likely than White Democratic officers to search Black motorists.

• Republicans, eager to keep the votes of police officers and Whites who are either unwilling or unable to acknowledge systemic racial bias in policing, continue to allege it does not exist.
• Democrats must appear to be doing enough about racial bias in policing to placate their voters. But they also know their base will likely vote for them no matter what, and in their quest to attract moderate and Independent voters, may fail to address this issue as aggressively as they should.
• The media has a perverse incentive to cover the controversy instead of covering the injustice, pretending “both sides” have equal merit, even though the position of only one side is supported by the evidence.

• No, not all prisoners are worth listening to. But as a group, they have an inside knowledge of the criminal justice system the rest of us lack. They are able to see clearly how White people are advantaged and Black people are disadvantaged within it. We cannot address the problem without taking advantage of the lessons they have learned from their lived experience.
• Similarly, people of color know through personal experience what most White people only know through hearsay. Many of the studies social scientists have done to confirm the existence of racial bias in policing have their origins in communities of color publicizing their stories of abuse, motivating scholars to investigate further. Again, we cannot address the problem without taking advantage of the lessons people of color have learned from their lived experience.
• Finally, listen to social scientists. We really are a brilliant, passionate community. We really do know more about how society works than most of the vapid politicians and pundits out there. Subscribe to Society Today to learn more about what the real experts are saying about what’s happening in the world.

• Look at yourself in the mirror.
• Think about what you’ve learned about this problem, on one hand.
• Think about all your other competing priorities, on the other hand.
• Then ask yourself: how much can you realistically give, without overstretching yourself?
• Conversely, how much do you feel you need to give, in order to feel you’re being the best possible version of yourself?

Writing this article is my own way of trying to help. It aligns well with my skills (I’ve been social science-ing since 2007) and my personality (I’ve been fiercely introverted since birth). What are your skills? What are your traits? How are you well situated to contribute?

• Educate yourself and others. Listen to marginalized voices and social scientists. Engage in open conversations. Challenge stereotypes and prejudices. Subscribe to trustworthy media like Society Today. Share on social media.
• Explore formal education and career options. Major or minor in criminology, legal studies, public policy, racial or ethnic studies, social work, or sociology. Consider careers as a criminal justice researcher, civil rights attorney, policy advocate, community organizer, or restorative justice practitioner.
• Document incidents of racial bias. Stay calm, maintain a safe distance, and use your smartphone camera to record video footage, making sure to capture the interaction and identifying details such as badge numbers. If video recording is not possible, record audio to capture the conversation and any discriminatory language used by police. When the incident is over, take written notes of important details such as the date, time, and all incidents of bias. Then submit your evidence to police accountability groups and appropriate authorities.
• Promote the most promising solutions. These include: diversity in law enforcement, implicit bias training, cultural sensitivity training, de-escalation training, mandatory body camera laws, mandatory data transparency, community policing, bail reform, fair sentencing reform, independent oversight bodies, community-based rehabilitation, and restorative justice.
• Engage in your community. Write op-eds, letters to the editor, and engage with local journalists to raise awareness. Write letters, make phone calls, and participate in local community meetings to voice your concerns and advocate for changes. Serve on juries and evaluate cases impartially.
• Support organizations working for justice. These include: research and policy organizations, police accountability groups, civil and human rights organizations, legal aid and public defender organizations, reentry programs, and restorative justice programs.
• Vote for reform-minded candidates and hold them accountable. Take advantage of every single opportunity you have to directly influence our society by showing up to vote and knowing where the candidates stand on the issues. Then, regardless of who wins, let them know they will lose your vote if they don’t deliver meaningful reforms.