Date of Award

Summer 8-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Abstract

Racial profiling occurs when law enforcement officers initiate traffic stops based solely upon a driver's racial or ethnic background. Because of the increasing amount of public attention that has been focused on this issue, due in part to some recent court rulings and some research studies claiming that racial profiling was indeed occurring, a growing number of state and local police agencies have begun to study the issue by gathering data on the race/ethnicity of those drivers police officers stop within their jurisdictions. In 1999, the San Jose, California Police Department (SJPD) was one of the first agencies in the nation to conduct such a voluntarily racial profiling study. Coupled with a comparison between SJPD's experiences and those of the San Diego, Sacramento, and Riverside, California police departments, this research focuses on the results of SJPD's most recent effort to study the searches its officers conduct during traffic stops, with emphasis given to studying whether or not SJPD officers engaged in racial profiling when determining whose vehicle to search.

Download

Share

COinS