Accounting for membership: an examination of the effects race, sex, and age has on police conduct and force during traffic stops.

Traffic stops are one of the most common police interactions in the daily lives of Americans. Thought to be routine by most, traffic stops are actually some of the most eventful and complicated police interactions. In light of current controversies surrounding discretionary behavior and police conduct during traffic stops, I examine the relationship between race of the driver, race of the officer, sex of the driver, age of the driver, and police conduct/use of force during traffic stops. Using data from the 2011 Police and Public Contact Survey, collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, I examine which factors are associated with both initial contact with officers and incident outcomes, which allow for a better understanding of whether certain groups are more likely to receive a ticket, be exposed to force, or perceive their experience to be unfair. Logistic regression models reveal that being black is significantly associated with a higher likelihood of being stopped in a car compared to white drivers, however Latinos are less likely to be stopped in a car than black drivers. Both Latinos and blacks are also more likely to perceive the outcome of their stop as unfair, even when the officer is non-white. Importantly, being black was only associated with an increased likelihood of getting a ticket in cases where the officer was white. The implications are discussed.M.A.Includes bibliographical referencesby Michael A. Medina Jr