Study Shows Racial Profiling Alive And Well

In the midst of the debate surrounding the arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has released their annual study showing that minority motorists are more likely to be pulled over and asked for consent to search their vehicles than white drivers. In Chicago, minority drivers are four times more likely to be searched in their vehicles than white drivers. In last year's study, minority drivers were five times more likely to be searched. The most interesting numbers from the study show that police are much more likely to find drugs in vehicles driven by white drivers than minority drivers. When vehicles driven by minorities were "consent searched," drugs were found 15.4 percent of the time. When vehicles driven by white drivers were "consent searched," drugs were found 24.7 percent of the time. Statewide, minority drivers were 13% more likely to be stopped than minority drivers. That number is slightly higher than last year's study.

We first reported about this issue on a July 27, 2008 post about a similar study by the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety. The current study by the ACLU indicates that the numbers are improving but lots of work needs to be done to correct this problem.

These numbers show that racial profiling is a real problem. But the numbers also show the predisposition that officers have that minorities are more likely to be up to no good are not supported by the numbers. The numbers show that officers are more likely to find drugs in vehicles driven by white drivers than minorities.

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