Effects on Race Ethnicity and Gender

Criminology: Driving While Black

In their article "Driving While Black: Effects of Citizen Self-Reports of Traffic Stops and Police Actions," Richard J. Lundman and Robert L. Kaufman present their findings regarding the influence of race and ethnicity traffic stops by the police. In particular, the authors hypothesize that African-American and Hispanic drivers "should be less likely to exit their traffic stop encounters believing police acted legitimately and properly," and the reverse would be true for whites (198). Moreover, total number of stops made by police for traffic violations would be higher for people of color than for whites. Basing their data on a report entitled

Contacts Between Police and the Public: Findings from the 1999 National Survey, the authors base the results of their study on this national survey, which was based on citizen self-reports regarding their encounters with the police 'Driving While Black" is a well-written and informative article that provides impetus for further research into the interplay of race and policing behavior. Lundman and Kaufman's article is strong in several key areas. First, the authors offer a thorough overview of prior research, taking care to point out its limitations and justify the present study. In fact, Lundman and Kaufman devote an entire sub-section of the report to the "Limits of Previous Research," beginning on page 198. This summary and overview offers the reader and researcher a convenient way to draw upon and reference past studies while at the same time thoroughly understanding the motivation for the current research. Furthermore, the section on the limitations of past research also clarifies the limitations of the current study and demonstrates for the reader possible areas of future research. Another key strength of "Driving While Black" is the way in which the material is presented. Lundman and Kaufman divide the report into sections for convenient reading and referencing and state clearly their research hypothesis without relying too much on extraneous facts or variables. Finally, one of the main strengths of "Driving While Black" is in its research design. The authors used the results published in Contacts Between Police and the Public specifically because they filled a gap in current literature on criminology. Namely, the survey was based on self-reports taken from citizens all around the country. Prior research was limited partly because they were based on police reports; moreover, police surveyed knew why the information was being collected, which can contribute greatly to respondent biases in reporting. Also, prior research focused on specific jurisdictions and therefore the results of those studies are locally relevant only and cannot be extrapolated to the entire population. Another limitation of prior research that the current study overcomes is the use of a multivariate analysis technique: the authors controlled for other possibly relevant variables in police encounters such as social class. Finally, Lundman and Kaufman include other variables such as gender in their report to demonstrate that African-American males in particular report perceiving that police treat them unfairly; in other words, that they are being accused of "driving while Black."