(note: actual reports can be found here)

(press coverage is here)

Sept. 24, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Lynn Nelson, IRP Communications Consultant
612-990-0126, nelso355@umn.edu

Results of racial profiling study to be released today on Web

Minneapolis -- Law enforcement officers stopped Black, Latino, and American Indian drivers at greater rates than White drivers, searched Blacks, Latinos, and American Indians at greater rates than White drivers, and found contraband as a result of searches of Blacks, Latinos, and American Indians at lower rates than in searches of White drivers, according to a joint study recently completed by the Council on Crime and Justice (CCJ) and the Institute on Race & Poverty (IRP) at the University of Minnesota Law School.

“These disparities are particularly large for Blacks and Latinos,” says IRP Executive Director Myron Orfield. “If officers had stopped drivers of all racial/ethnic groups at the same rate, approximately 18,800 fewer Blacks, 5,800 fewer Latinos and approximately 22,500 more Whites would have been stopped in the 65 jurisdictions in 2002.”

If officers in the participating jurisdictions had subjected stopped drivers of all racial/ethnic groups to discretionary searches at the same rate, 2,114 fewer Blacks, 428 fewer Latinos and 2,645 more Whites would have been searched. “The significant disparities in search rates is of particular concern, given that contraband is found on Black and Latino drivers at much lower rates,” says CCJ president Tom Johnson. “And contraband was found in a higher percentage of searches of Whites than of any other group.”

“The pattern for Blacks and Latinos existed in nearly every participating jurisdiction,” reports Gavin Kearney, IRP’s director of research, who oversaw the data analysis. Given the similarities in disparity patterns throughout the state, the report suggests that these kinds of racial disparities are not limited to these jurisdictions.

During the 2001 legislative session, the Minnesota Legislature enacted Minnesota Statute § 626.951, providing for a statewide racial profiling study. The analysis was recently completed and shared with the 65 participating jurisdictions that volunteered to participate in the study; a list of the jurisdictions can be found on the report page.

The reports for each jurisdiction and an aggregate report will be released this morning at 9 a.m. via CCJ’s and IRP’s Web sites, at www.crimeandjustice.org and www.umn.edu/irp/, respectively. They are embargoed until 1 p.m., Wed., Sept. 24.

From 4-6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, CCJ and IRP will host a public forum to share the study findings and to answer questions in Room 30 at the University of Minnesota Law School, 229 19th Ave. S, in Minneapolis. The event is free and open to the public.

IRP was founded in 1993 to focus on the dynamics created by the intersections of race and poverty. The strategic research center is based at the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, Minn. The Council on Crime and Justice is a Minneapolis-based independent, non-profit organization integrating research, demonstration projects and advocacy to better understand the causes and consequences of crime.