NCJ Number
231777
Journal
Journal of Crime and Justice Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: 2010 Pages: 1-36
Date Published
2010
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This study examined variations in police stops relative to racial composition of neighborhoods, and the level of disadvantage and disorder in Miami communities.
Abstract
Examining the spatial and contextual features of race and ethnic-specific stop rates, this paper combines structural indicators of concentrated disadvantage and social disorganization with citizen-police contact data on more than 61,000 police stops in the Miami-Dade area. While the existing race-biased policing literature tends to vary greatly in scope and analytical strategy, research that takes into account spatial dynamics coupled with neighborhood characteristics when examining police stop rates has yet to be offered. Furthermore, given the racial and ethnic diversity of the Miami-Dade communities, this paper assesses the often neglected issue of police stops involving Hispanic drivers, in addition to those of Whites and African-Americans. The spatial analysis, which allows for those to account empirically for the theoretical likelihood that what occurs in one neighborhood is influenced by nearby neighborhoods, reveals differences in spatial clustering of stops involving racial and ethnic groups. Spatial multivariate regression analysis shows that racial composition and levels of violence are the most consistent predictors of race and ethnic based stop rates. Additional analysis finds that the effect of racial composition on stop rates is conditioned by community levels of violence. The results show the importance of spatial analysis to understanding the racial and ethnic disparities in police stops at the macro-level. Tables, figures, notes, references, and appendix (Published Abstract)