Representative Bureaucracy and Racial Profiling in Missouri
Abstract
There have been inquiries regarding the extent, nature, and causes of racial
profiling. Numerous studies have been and continue to explore whether and how the
experience of people of color differ from those of majorities with regards to racial profiling.
Likewise, there has also been interests in understanding whether people of color experience
this practice due in part to the geographic area that specific police officers serves. Though
this issue of staffing is at the center of this phenomena, current findings are divided, and
evidence is mixed. Employing the 2013 Missouri Attorney General racial profiling annual
report along with the 2013 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics
report, this current exploratory study aims to examine whether Missouri law enforcement
agencies that are less racially representative of the population they serve have
correspondingly higher rates of enforcement against people of color. Utilizing a total of 76
Missouri Police Departments, the researcher discovered that on a departmental level, the
most expected relationships between representativeness and outcomes were not observed.
However, among municipal organizations, Black representation was correlated with higher
search rates for Black citizens. Likewise, positive correlations for contraband rates were
observed for Hispanic representativeness. Implications for future research are discussed.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Literature review -- Methodology -- Results -- Discussion -- Appendix A. Variable explanations -- Appendix B. Missouri Revised Statutes
Degree
M.S.