The Bureau of Justice Statistics (part of the Dept of Justice) released a new 12-page report: Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police, 2002. The report "provides statistics about various outcomes of traffic stops, including searches conducted by police, tickets issued to drivers stopped for speeding, arrests of stopped drivers, and police use of force during a traffic stop." It "also discusses the relevance of the survey findings to the issue of racial profiling and provides comparative analysis with prior survey findings."
- 16.8 million drivers were stopped by police in 2002.
- About 8.7% of drivers age 16 or older were stopped by police.
- Of young men who were stopped, 11% were physically searched or had their vehicle searched by police. Blacks (22%) and Hispanics (17%) were searched at higher rates than whites (8%).
- White drivers were more likely than black or Hispanic drivers to be stopped by police for speeding. But, once stopped, blacks (78%) and Hispanics (85%) were more likely than whites (70%) to receive a ticket.
- About "664,500 people age 16 or older had force used or threatened against them by police at least once during 2002. About a quarter of these force contacts involved a driver during a traffic stop." Most of these were male: police used or threatened to use force against 520,000 males; 31.2% of those were drivers in a traffic stop.
Graphic by mw.
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