Racial profiling in decisions to search: a preliminary analysis using propensity-score matching

摘要

Whether race or ethnicity is a deciding factor in an officer's decision to conduct a search following a traffic stop is the question in this study. The authors assess this in the context of racial profiling; where previous studies imply that officers disproportionately stop racial/ethnic minorities. Based on the limitations in the study of traffic stops and searches, the authors examine the effect of race/ethnicity in the decision to search by utilizing a propensity-score matching to differentiate between searches conducted on blacks and whites and whites and Hispanics. By utilizing propensity-score matching the authors were able to obtain results comparable to those that would result from random assignment.