Pulling back the veil of darkness
A proposed road map to disentangle racial disparities in traffic stops, a research note
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9680787 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jedidiah L Knode (0009-0008-9770-3939, School of Criminal Justice Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USA, corresponding author), Scott E Wolfe (0000-0002-1485-2541, School of Criminal Justice Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USA), Travis M Carter (0000-0001-5793-4451, School of Criminal Justice Michigan State University East Lansing Michigan USA) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 62 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 364-375 |
| Publication date | 2024-05-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Criminology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0011-1384 • E-ISSN: 1745-9125 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1745-9125.12366 |
| OpenAlex | W4398218868 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
| References cited | 15 |
The veil of darkness (VOD) is a practical and rigorous methodology for examining racial disparities in police traffic stop behavior. Past research, however, has been littered with methodological inconsistencies inhibiting cross‐study comparison and decisions regarding policy. Accordingly, we clarify four aspects of its implementation: 1) coding daylight, our treatment condition; 2) constructing an intertwilight period; 3) accounting for seasonal differences in driving or patrol patterns; and 4) modeling VOD multivariable regression equations. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of methodological decisions as they pertain to the method's functionality as a natural experiment. Furthermore, we propose a novel weighting procedure to account for seasonal driving population differences. We examined more than 50,000 traffic stops conducted by Michigan State Police during 2021 to demonstrate our suggested framework for future analyses
Darkness · Physics · Race (biology · Sociology · Crime Patterns and Interventions · Gender Studies · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Policing Practices and Perceptions · Psychology
Evidence-Based Policing
Testing for Racial Profiling in Traffic Stops From Behind a Veil of Darkness
How Dark Is Dark? Bright Lights, Big City, Racial Profiling
Methodological Challenges and Opportunities in Testing for Racial Discrimination in Policing
A large-scale analysis of racial disparities in police stops across the United States
| Citations per year | 4.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |