Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Research findings across the country have reported that racial and ethnic disparities exist in dispositions received during traffic stops with police. Theories of police behavior suggest, however, that a host of situational and legal factors influence police decision-making during traffic stops over and above the influence of motorists’ race/ethnicity. Other theories suggest that individual officer, organization, and community characteristics may also partially explain officer behavior. Using traffic stop data collected by the Cleveland Division of Police during a six-month period in 2005, these theories of police behavior are examined. Using multivariate statistical modeling, the impact of drivers’ characteristics over coercive police behavior (i.e., citations and arrests) is assessed while statistically controlling for other relevant factors. The implications for future research and policy are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: IR's relationship to policy is at stake again. The issue was absent from IR’s agenda during the second debate and the “technocratic” disappointment after the Vietnam War, but a small but growing body of literature has been addressing the topic since the 1990s. The paper argues that the discussion of the science-policy nexus of IR so far has focussed too narrowly on questions of knowledge transfer and on the impact of IR on policy. In opposition to both positions that postulate the existence of a widening gap between IR and policy, and post-modern positions that seek to eliminate any cultural difference between IR and policy, we propose a network model of IR's science-policy nexus. In the knowledge society, IR and other sciences should be seen as “epistemic cultures” constituted by a variety of practices that are linked to policymakers and other social actors. By drawing on recent insights of practice theory and the concepts of theorists of the Cultural Studies of Scientific Knowledge such as Bruno Latour we first identify the basic practices of IR and their relationship to policy. Second, we set up an analytic framework by which these practices can be studied. We claim that the relevance and impact of IR and any gap that might exist between IR and policy should be empirically investigated before prescriptive conclusions for IR can be drawn. The central task of the reflective IR practitioner therefore not as to avoid or to bridge a gap, but to carefully balance his practices.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Most studies of “racial profiling” in traffic law enforcement find that African American drivers are stopped and ticketed at rates dramatically higher than white drivers, yet virtually all such studies have been criticized for failing to control adequately for factors other than race, among them driving habits. The proposed paper is drawn from a study designed to sort out the relative influence of various factors -- particularly race, social status, and a broad range of controls -- on police traffic stops and tickets. We will summarize our previous research on the factors that influence racial patterns in traffic stops, and will focus our analysis in the paper on the factors that influence racial patterns in the issuance of citations and searches of persons and vehicles. The study is based on a "victimization"-style survey of drivers in the Kansas City metro area, and was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (Law & Social Sciences Section).

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Numerous studies of racial profiling and biased policing have found statistical disparities in the proportions of racial minorities stopped, cited and/or searched in various geographical locations by different law enforcement agencies. Much of the debate has focused on proper methods of so-called "benchmarking" and how to understand the meaning of racial disparities. Analyzing official data from the Washington State Patrol, this paper assesses a range of research strategies for understanding the relationship between race and policing. We discuss our previous research, present new findings and discuss the importance of moving beyond benchmarking to focus on how police exercise discretion after the initial stop. We also emphasize the need for transparency by relevant agencies and for multiple data sources and methodological strategies in researching this complex issue.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This research reports trends in the nature and extent of bias in traffic stops reported by the New Jersey State Police following the implementation of a consent decree and the operation of an independent monitor. Comparisons are made with reports of New Jersey State Police traffic stops prior to the initiation of the decree. These comparison are used to assess the impact of judicial interventions on biased based policing and the relevance of data collection and analysis on police practices.