Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Management Science & Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Nat Hum Behav. 2020 Jul;4(7):736-745. doi: 10.1038/s41562-020-0858-1. Epub 2020 May 4.
We assessed racial disparities in policing in the United States by compiling and analysing a dataset detailing nearly 100 million traffic stops conducted across the country. We found that black drivers were less likely to be stopped after sunset, when a 'veil of darkness' masks one's race, suggesting bias in stop decisions. Furthermore, by examining the rate at which stopped drivers were searched and the likelihood that searches turned up contraband, we found evidence that the bar for searching black and Hispanic drivers was lower than that for searching white drivers. Finally, we found that legalization of recreational marijuana reduced the number of searches of white, black and Hispanic drivers-but the bar for searching black and Hispanic drivers was still lower than that for white drivers post-legalization. Our results indicate that police stops and search decisions suffer from persistent racial bias and point to the value of policy interventions to mitigate these disparities.
我们通过编译和分析一个详细记录了全美近 1 亿次交通拦截的数据，评估了美国警务中的种族差异。我们发现，天黑后（夜幕掩盖了人的肤色），黑人司机被拦截的可能性更小，这表明在拦截决定中存在偏见。此外，通过检查被拦截司机被搜查的比例以及搜查发现违禁品的可能性，我们发现有证据表明，搜查黑人和西班牙裔司机的标准低于搜查白人司机的标准。最后，我们发现，娱乐用大麻合法化减少了对白人、黑人和西班牙裔司机的搜查次数——但在合法化后，搜查黑人和西班牙裔司机的标准仍然低于白人司机。我们的研究结果表明，警方的拦截和搜查决定存在持续的种族偏见，并指出需要采取政策干预措施来减轻这些差异。
