Driving While Black (DWB): Examining Race as a Tool in the War on Drugs

Abstract

Research has pointed toward the conclusion that there is racial disproportion in motorists who are stopped and searched for drugs; particularly in situations where police are afforded high degrees of discretion. Absent from the current research are measures of the effectiveness of using race as a law enforcement tool in the apprehension of drug offenders. This research explores the question of whether race is correlated with the detection of drug offenders, the type of drugs detected, and the quantities found. The findings lend some support to the notion that race may be correlated with the type and amount of drugs discovered during motor vehicle stops and searches.

Keywords:

• Racial Profiling
• Consent Searches
• War on Drugs
• Police
• Fourth Amendment

Notes

[1] It should be noted that this statistic is analyzed from the assessment of the MSP. In the data‐set the MSP created a variable that specifically stated whether the motorist was found in possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance (CDS). The recoding of the data‐set by the author resulted in a lower rate of drug discovery than that of the MSP. The difference between the rates of detection is largely attributable to the fact that the recoding involved only those instances where the MSP identified the existence of a CDS. If no CDS was specified it was not coded as a detection, although any quantity, for example, one‐tenth of one gram of marijuana was coded as a detection. The differences in the findings are not addressed in this paper. Thus, there may be unexplained differences in the total rate of drugs discovered and the tables where each drug is analyzed independently. Additionally, some motorists were found in possession of more than one drug. Each drug was coded as a separate discovery. Thus, the total hit rate should not equal aggregate hit rate of the specific drug types.

[2] Percentages add to less than 100% because of rounding.