Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
8-2022
School/College
Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs (SOPA)
Degree Name
Ph.D. in Administration of Justice
Committee Chairperson
David N. Baker
Committee Member 1
Jasmine M. Drake
Committee Member 2
Howard Henderson
Committee Member 3
Glenn S. Johnson
Keywords
Differential Association, Implicit Bias, Police Discretion, Race and Gender, Traffic Stops
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of race and gender disparities in police traffic stops as they relate to the number of tickets issued, number of consent searches, and number of arrests of traffic violators in the southern region of Texas, Harris County. The research will further shed light on how implicit bias affects police discretion and provide implications for police officers. This research will bring attention to the sanction disparity and examine the relationship between race and gender in motorist outcomes at the conclusion of traffic stops. The data for this research was conducted from secondary data obtained from Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) annual reporting and the Houston Police Department. The sample consisted of 21 Texas Law Enforcement Agencies in the Houston metropolis area of the state of Texas, Harris County. This included Law Enforcement Agencies from college/university police departments, Houston Police Department, Harris County Constables Offices, Harris County Sheriff’s Office, and Independent School District Police Officers. To specifically focus on implicit bias and Police discretion, an exhausted review of the literature was conducted. Further analysis examined implicit bias specified in the study as it relates to the use of discretion by police officers when contacting African American men and women in the southern region of Texas Harris County. The Standard Multiple Regression procedures including the multiple correlation procedure were used to test the aforementioned hypotheses. All hypotheses were tested at the .05 level or better. One of the most surprising findings of the current study was the significantly predictable relationship between racial variables (number of African Americans, number of Asians, number of Hispanics and other racial group violators) and the number of arrests given by officers associated with Texas Law Enforcement Agencies. The five racial variables were found to be significant linearly related to the number of tickets issued by officers of Texas Law Enforcement agencies
Copyright
Copyright © for this work is retained by the author. Any documents and information presented are protected by copyright under US Copyright laws and are the property of the author. All Rights Reserved. For permission to use this content please contact the author or the Graduate School at Texas Southern University (graduate.school@tsu.edu).
Recommended Citation
Davis, Casey J., "An Inquiry into the Number of Traffic Tickets Issued and Implications for African Americans Motorists" (2022). Dissertations (2016-Present). 4.
https://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/dissertations/4