Working Paper: NBER ID: w27761
Authors: Benjamin Feigenberg; Conrad Miller
Abstract: During traffic stops, police search black and Hispanic motorists more often than white motorists, yet those searches are equally or less likely to yield contraband. We ask whether equalizing search rates by motorist race would reduce contraband yield. We use unique administrative data from Texas to isolate variation in search behavior across highway patrol troopers and find that, across troopers, search rates are unrelated to the proportion of searches that yield contraband. Our results imply that, in partial equilibrium, troopers can equalize search rates across racial groups, maintain the status quo search rate, and increase contraband yield.
Keywords: Racial Disparities; Motor Vehicle Searches; Efficiency; Policing; Contraband Yield
JEL Codes: J15; K42
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| search rates across troopers (R48) | contraband yield (J47) |
| increasing search rates for black and Hispanic motorists (J15) | contraband yield (J47) |
| equalizing search rates across racial groups (J78) | contraband yield (J47) |
| search rates (R31) | contraband yield (J47) |
| equalizing search rates among different racial groups (J78) | overall contraband yield (Q37) |
| increased search rates (R23) | contraband carrying behavior (K42) |