A SPATIAL AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYIS OF POLICING: EXAMINING BLACK, WHITE AND HISPANIC STOP RATES

Abstract

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, we assess the often neglected issue of police stops involving Hispanic drivers, in addition to those of whites and African Americans. Our spatial analysis, which allows us 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. Our results show the importance of spatial analysis to understanding the racial and ethnic disparities in police stops at the macro-level.